Job hunting over the past couple of years has been difficult, and the increase in ghost jobs has made it worse. The phenomenon could have several underlying drivers, including the tight labor market, changes in interviewing since the pandemic, and ongoing economic uncertainty. Ghost jobs frustrate job seekers and the Federal Reserve, which treats new job openings as an economic indicator.
Ghost jobs are job listings by employers that either don’t exist or have already been filled. According to a Revelio Labs and Bloomberg study, only half of job postings result in a hire. That is not to say they are all ghost jobs. Sometimes, the right talent may not be found, the posting is taken down, hiring slows down due to economic conditions, or the position is put on hold.
A recent article from SHRM examines ghost jobs to determine whether they are more of a media creation or an actual practice. The answer is likely somewhere in the middle. There are no laws on the books today that monitor or ban ghost-posting. We all know job hunters who apply to a specific job posting and never hear back, yet continue to see the posting up months later. LinkedIn has come out publicly to say it will monitor the issue on its platform.
Feedback from recruiters and hiring managers indicates that companies keep ghost jobs posted to make it look like they’re growing or to maintain a presence on job boards. According to SHRM, “The most credible of these claims is that some employers are keeping job listings open indefinitely because they are collecting resumes for a future talent pool in case of turnover—the digital version of a traditional job fair—or posting for “evergreen” roles, an acknowledged practice where job ads stay open rather than closing after a set period to attract a steady stream of applicants for in-demand roles.”
According to the latest labor market data, hiring time has increased, and hiring rates are down. But that does not mean companies are posting ghost jobs. One explanation could be outdated job listings that need to be removed. Job postings are not programmatic and often need to be manually removed, which can take some time. Companies holding out for their unicorn hire in today’s market keep posts up for longer and frustrate job seekers, but these are usually challenging roles to get filled.
According to author and SHRM-SCP Tim Sackett, “No recruiting team wants to post jobs that aren’t real,” he said. “There are only negative outcomes when doing that. The jobs posted, at the time they are posted, are real jobs, but then reality creeps in. Some jobs are posted because it’s policy when they know they already have an internal candidate selected. Some jobs are posted, and then the hiring manager puts hiring on hold but doesn’t want the job taken down. Some jobs are posted and eventually canceled.”
To his point, companies that want to build a candidate pool for future hiring needs in evergreen roles can only do so by engaging with candidates. Ghost job posts negatively impact a company’s reputation for potential candidates and can sour potential candidates down the road.
Therefore, most perceived ghost jobs can be chalked up to human shortcomings, not nefarious intentions. Hence, don’t take it personally if you don’t hear back from a company. For every relevant resume they receive from a job posting, there is an even more significant amount where they can quickly tell a candidate did not read the job description.