Ghost Jobs, Job Scams, and Data Vampires

//Disclaimer: All opinions are my own//

A spectre is haunting job boards (to paraphrase K. Marx) – the spectre of job postings that are not alive. Yes, it’s the ghost jobs. We can joke about them as a part of the spooky season, but the job ads that have no actual roles behind them are becoming more ubiquitous. The discussion about ghost jobs has recently been going on across TikTok, YouTube, and Linkedin, especially after the CBS News article highlighting the reasons for such misleading postings.

What is a ghost job? It’s a position advertised without an objective to fill it. Usually, it’s a job that has been open for a long period; in some cases companies even set up interviews with candidates, but don’t end up hiring anyone.

About 10-15 years ago, ghost jobs were often used for immigration purposes – a company would put together an ad so specific that it would be nearly impossible to fill the position on the local market. With these impossible requirements, the company would then justify relocation and work permit request of a candidate of choice (usually a relative or an acquaintance).

Over the last couple of years, ghost jobs have been on the rise again. This increase coincided with layoffs in tech companies, starting in late 2022, and (sadly) ongoing. With the market so competitive, candidates are even more inclined to make a good impression with their application: they do research about the company, tweak their CV, and put together a solid cover letter. All this can take a few hours, then you finally send your application in. And then… nothing. No response for days and weeks. Or worse, you get invited to the interviews, only to be told that the hiring team “went ahead with someone else” – and then see the same job reposted on Linkedin. The frustration it causes is immeasurable.

What makes companies do this? Clarity Capital ran a survey in 2022 in which they talked to more than 1000 managers. 68% of them confirmed that they had a job ad running for more than 30 days; 10% admitted they had a job posting open for over 6 months; finally, 50% of managers keep jobs postings open because they are “always open to new people”. Personally, I wonder how this statement aligns with rigorous headcount planning and budgeting practices most companies have.

More realistically, the survey highlighted other common reasons for running ghost job ads:?

• Keeping current employees motivated: it could be done both in a positive way – “hey, look, we’re doing so great, we have the budget to hire so much!”. Or it can be negative – “you better work hard, or we’ll replace you.” Funny enough, two-thirds of hiring managers admitted that employees, applicants or investors found out about fake ads. But never hear about it, so there seems to be no repercussions.
• Give the impression the company is growing: This part has to do with branding and putting on a good face, but in this case, aimed at potential customers, competitors or investors. A company that is actively hiring appears to be growing and be financially stable. In some cases, it can be done in preparation for an acquisition. It’s what some call, performing economic optimism.
• Build an active pool of candidates: this one is straightforward and maybe least offensive. Companies expect to have hiring budgets later on, or they know some of their roles are harder to fill, and they want to start building up a pipeline of candidates or a database to tap in when time comes.
• Give the impression to overworked employees that help is coming: it’s a good way to deflect the blame for the unrealistic workload on the recruitment department, and later on the market.

These are fairly harmless reasons for keeping job posts up. But it can be done for more nefarious purposes:

• Job scams: The Observer article mentions jobs and fake offers being used to harvest personal data by scammers. In the particular example they mention, the candidate got hired and was asked to fill W9 form. Only their attention to detail and follow-up with the real HR of the company allowed them to figure out they were talking to someone not related to the employer at all.
• Data harvesting for AI: ghost jobs allow companies to hoover up the data. The data could be used for a variety of purposes: from building a typical candidate profile for a particular role, to benchmarking salaries, to understanding the size of available talent pool on the new market a company wants to enter. Potentially, this practice is a GDPR violation, since they misuse applicants’ information and entice people to provide their data. So maybe less of a ghost job, and more of a data vampire.

Ghost jobs create additional problem because they misrepresent the state of labour market. In the US, the Federal Reserve looks at the monthly Job Openings and Labour Turnover Survey (JOLTS) as one of the many factors that helps manage interest rates and inflation. Having fake postings skews the picture, and impacts the quality of forecasting. Forbes writes that in September 2023, the JOLTS reported 9.6 million available jobs; in October, the number of people hired was around 150,000, which is less than 2% of what was advertised in the previous month. Unfortunately, so far there is no way to regulate job ads or hold employers accountable for misleading candidates.

It's worth saying a few words on how to spot and avoid a ghost job, though I’m in no way expert on detecting fraud online:

• Probably obvious, but needs to be said: beware of job offers coming via messaging platforms, like WhatsApp and Telegram. They are often used by low-level scammers who target more gullible people
• Another obvious one: the job has been reposted, especially if you’ve been seeing the role popping up for some time. Unless it’s a highly specialized job, one month on Linkedin is usually enough to gather a good number of applicants and make a hire.
• The job description is vague or generic: especially for more senior and specialized roles, you are likely to see very specific requirements – both for hard and soft skills. If the role reads like a template, it possibly is one. A lengthy job descripting
• Cross-referencing the job on the company careers page is a good way to verify if it’s real – and find out more about the kind of roles a company hires for. Are they hiring in the new market? Are they growing sales teams? Or does it feel like same job was copy-pasted with different title line?
• And what if the company profile is a bit of a mystery? Few details on Linkedin, the website wouldn’t load or shows error? Probably another sign of a phishing job post, best to avoid!

What to do instead? Personally, I wish I knew. But there is a strong argument for returning to the human connections and networks we naturally develop. Asking former colleagues or your network for referrals is a good place to start; joining discussion groups and professional interest groups is another way to find more people who may help you in your search. But – I don’t have a silver bullet to solve this problem (or – kill off this monster).

Instead, I have a call-to-action: let’s help those we know who have been impacted by layoffs by connecting them to hiring managers, sharing their profiles, and promoting them on our social media.