Can you imagine spending your time applying for a job that isn't even real? Not only that: you may even pass a recruitment interview, which will not at all be aimed at offering a job. Where do they come from ghost-jobs and why are they ruining the job market?
research
According to a May study by Resume Builder, four out of ten companies posted fake jobs in 2024, and three out of ten are now announcing recruitment for positions that don't actually exist. Spectral work, because that is how it is also defined ghost jobs, are offers from real, legitimate companies, which, however, are not authentic offers - they are not for employment for actual positions. So why do they appear on classifieds portals? There may be several reasons.
One of the most common problems associated with ghost jobs is that there are still outdated advertisements on recruitment portals, to which candidates — rightly considering them active — continue to apply. This is not surprising - in times of intense job search, many of us submit resumes for any interesting job offer. Sometimes companies post job advertisements to give current employees a signal that they plan to grow their team. This can give hope that their workload will soon decrease, as new employees will take over part of the tasks. However, this mechanism can also work in the other direction - as a kind of “scarecrow”. The publication of announcements may suggest that employees are not irreplaceable and that the company will easily find new candidates to replace them. As a result, current employees may be more likely to work harder for the same (or lower) pay. New York Company Clarify Capital, which specializes in lending to companies, conducted a survey of 1,000 hiring managers. The results revealed that almost 70% of the positions remain open for more than a month and 10% are not staffed for at least six months. Half of those surveyed admitted that they keep job offers indefinitely because “they are always open to new hires.” More than a third of respondents keep active announcements to build a candidate base for the future, and not because they actually need to fill the position at any given time.
There is a fourth, probably the most common reason — companies open recruitments in order to appear dynamically developing and successful. In this way, they build their image as stable and attractive employers. This can be confirmed by the rest of the study data Clarify Capital: More than 40% of hiring managers admitted that they post job advertisements despite not actively recruiting in order to give the impression of dynamic growth of the company. A similar percentage of respondents said that such announcements are intended to motivate current employees, and 34% indicated that the publication of job offers is to reassure overworked staff, giving them hope for support in the form of new hires.
American Analytical Company Revelio Labs, a labour market analyst, found that the employment rate per job advertisement has halved in the past five years. In 2019, there were 8 jobs for every 10 vacancies. By 2024, this number had dropped to 4 jobs out of 10 offers. It is worth noting that the phenomenon ghost jobs It also makes it difficult to analyse the labour market and understand this reality.
Candidate Time
The digital age and the availability of recruitment portals were supposed to improve the form of job search - however, as it turns out, by practices such as ghost jobs - Applicants struggle with wasting their effort and time applying for jobs that don't even exist. The number of applicants for each position has increased rapidly around the world in the last few years, while the economy has tightened and so any additional problem in the job search process is really of great importance to applicants. Given data such as those showing that in the US alone 1.7 million potential phantom jobs were discovered on LinkedIn and in the UK more than a third of jobs in 2023 were phantom jobs, defined as jobs posted for more than 30 days, one can imagine how disrespected the time of job applicants is. It can take several hours to submit a single job application, as the committed candidate takes the time to thoroughly familiarize themselves with the company, customize their resume and cover letter, and overcome the various formal stages of recruitment. These include, among others, detailed listing of existing positions and answering qualification questions.
How to recognize ghost ads?
You can start by verifying the date the ad was added — a red flag is the old date or its absence. You can also find the direct phone number of the hiring manager to check if the job is real. However, the truth is that it is also an additional dedication of your time, for an action that may not give any result. Unfortunately, this system does not work as it should and this problem should be publicized.
From us for you:
IN Jobs Door we make sure that recruitment is fair, effective and responds to the real needs of both employers and candidates. We question the standard approach to job advertisements, that's why we propose visibility of offers in weekly time blocks. We believe that recruitment should reflect the real demand for employees — if a company really needs an employee for a specific task, it should act dynamically and candidates should receive a clear answer as soon as possible.
We also undermine unbalanced expectations of companies towards candidates. We believe that the organization should not only require, but above all teach new employees the processes and Use their current knowledge and skills — also those acquired during studies, courses or internships.
Another problem that we want to face is unavailability of jobs for full-time students. Too often it happens that young people apply for positions, go through complicated recruitment processes, only to hear in the end that the job requires full-time. In extreme cases, companies even suggest that they give up their studies in favor of full-time work.
Moreover, paradoxically day students, for lack of choice, find a way to circumvent this system — during the holidays or semester breaks, they declare their readiness for full-time work, and after a few weeks they leave, which harms both them and their employers.
At Jobs Door, we believe that the job market should be more flexible, transparent and tailored to the real possibilities and expectations of all parties. We strive for changes that will make the recruitment process fairer and more efficient.
Sources:
- https://www.theguardian.com/money/2024/oct/30/ghost-jobs-why-do-40-of-companies-advertise-positions-that-dont-exist
- https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20240315-ghost-jobs-digital-job-boards
- https://www.cnbc.com/2024/08/22/ghost-jobs-why-fake-job-listings-are-on-the-rise.htmlhttps://www.cnbc.com/2024/06/27/4-in-10-companies-say-theyve-posted-a-fake-job-this-year-what-that-means.html
