#47: What's Up With All These Ghost Job Posts?
Ghost posts are REAL. 👻 👻👻
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What’s Up With All These Ghost Job Posts?
Ever been excited about a job listing, only to apply and never hear hide nor hair again? And then, adding insult to injury, you see the job still open months later? Well, you’re in good company. I’ve been piecing together a theory about these mysterious job listings I’m calling ghost posts™. You know, those listings that seem to float around, haunting eager job seekers but never actually getting filled. Here’s how, with my non-scientific methodology, I’ve been playing detective to spot SUS job listings:
Big Brand, High Level: It’s a well-known brand, and the position is mid to high-level.
Healthy Salary: The salary is attractive—maybe even too good.
Lingering Listings: The listing has been up for more than 60 days.
Overloaded with Applicants: There are thousands of applicants.
Reappearing Acts: The listing is up for more than 60 days, gets pulled, and then reposted.
There can only be one reason for a ghost post, IMO: the job is FAKE. What do I mean by FAKE?
Having worked at a global media company and having hired for many roles over the years, FAKE can mean a few things:
Hiring Freeze: The job was listed in good faith, but the company is on a hiring slowdown or a complete hiring freeze.
Internal Candidate: The job was listed because it needed to be in order to push an internal candidate through.
Changed Needs: The job was listed, but the hiring manager or division changed their mind about what they needed. Or worse, they have absolutely no idea what they need and they are wasting everyone’s time.
Good PR: The job was listed for “good PR” to show competitors, potential buyers, Wall Street, internal employees, etc. that the company is prospering when they in fact, are not. This is the most insidious possibility. I have never personally had this happen with a role I was hiring for, but I know this does happen and it’s absolute CRAPOLA.
All of these scenarios are major red flags when it comes to applying for one of these ghosts jobs because you’ve effectively been manipulated into getting your hopes up AND wasting your time writing a bespoke cover letter. UGH.
I know I’m onto something here, because others have noticed it as well.
Dan Shuftan of the ShuftanJobReport recently wrote about the ghost post phenomena on LinkedIn specifically calling out suspected ghost posts from the meditation app Calm for a slew of job listings, including a VP of Brand Marketing job:
“I feel I have a good grasp on this marketplace, and this is the "strangest" one that I have seen…These roles at Calm have been around for at least two months at a ridiculously high salary, with one version for NYC and the other for California. There is no way in this job market that they don't have thousands and thousands of applicants already in their system over these months. Why do they keep paying to get this reposted? If they can't find a suitable candidate (Which I can't believe), that is one thing. But there is no reason to dangle this carrot in front of people who are working day and night to get a new role.”
AGREED! And isn’t Calm supposed to help promote mental health, not exacerbate it? C’mon!!!
Career and leadership coach Phoebe Gavin also joined the fake job listing convo, with a plea for people to think critically about the methodology behind a recent Resume Builder survey that found a staggering 40% of companies posted a fake job listing this year and 3 in 10 companies currently have active fake listings, based on their survey results. While Phoebe implies that this statistic may have been arrived at dubiously (and it probably was) there are indeed enough ghost posts out there for us to take notice.
The question on all of our minds: WHY???
According to Resume Builder, hiring managers say fake job postings led to boosted revenue, morale, and productivity. 🤢
If that’s actually true (and it’s hard to believe it is) it’s really shitty —and I would venture to say CRUEL — to do that to job seekers in a saturated market.
My hot take: this is part of the hangover from the pandemic and ensuing Great Resignation. A way to ensure a company is retaining and attracting “top talent.” But things have changed. There’s no longer a need to retain and attract talent by creating smoke and mirrors around a company’s bountiful employment opportunities. I think we can all agree that what the workforce wants most from employers is TRANSPARENCY. Just stop jerking us around and tell us the truth!
So, how can we be fake job ghostbusters?
Network Connections: Before applying, find someone in your network who works at the company or someone who can connect you to someone who does.
Ask Questions: Don’t be afraid to ask around. Sleuth company employees and find out who used to fill this supposed role or others who work in that division.
Research: Look into the company’s hiring practices and employee reviews. If something seems off, it probably is…
By being proactive and doing some recon, you can save yourself the frustration of chasing after ghost jobs and find yourself a real one.
Share you thoughts on or experiences with ghost posts in the comments.
Worthy Time Wasters
Here are my weekly recs to combat doom scrolling.
📺 Aside from House of the Dragon Season 2 (Max) and The Bear Season 3 (Hulu) which I am working my way through slowly and will refrain from commenting until I have seen entire seasons, I’ve been focusing on unscripted shows for the time being.
Lately, I’ve been in a real estate reality rabbit hole. I binged Owning Manhattan and Buying London (Netflix) and have to say that the genre seems to have reached its peak with the perfect blend of house porn and interpersonal drama that feels like a nice, relaxing massage for your brain (and a sad reminder that you will never be able to afford luxury property).
Also binged: Perfect Wife: The Disappearance of Sherri Papini (Hulu) and America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders (Netflix). Both stories were disturbing to me for entirely different reasons — one undermined credulism and the other undermined feminism.
🎥 A Family Affair (Netflix) got some scathing reviews, but ultimately, it was the much more palatable version of The Idea of You (Amazon). I mean, is it wrong to enjoy a “cloying” romantic comedy in 90-degree weather? NO!!!
📚 I’m chipping away at my summer reading list starting with the memoir Theatre Kids written by my good friend
. (I have A LOT more to say about this book, so stay tuned for a deep dive in a future installment of Laid Off Life). Another memoir I loved was Sociopath by Patric Gagne, who so deftly articulates her experience of being a sociopath. I highly recommend the audiobook, which Gagne narrated. Finally, the summer is the time for frothy romances — especially ones set at summer camp. One Last Summer by Kate Spencer (former co-host of the Forever 35 podcast) was an absolute delight. It follows 35-year-old Clara Millen, who’s life is spiraling out of control: she’s burnt out at work, her fiancee dumped her and is engaged to another women, and it’s been years since she’s gone on vacation. She joins her friends on their annual summer vacation to their beloved childhood sleepover camp Pine Lake for a much-needed escape. There, she reconnects with Mack, her old camp competitor, who's still just as annoying (and annoyingly handsome) as he was when he was 15.Have a question, suggestions, or thoughts? Message me!
Have thoughts about what you read, have suggestions for future topics, or a question you want me to answer? Send me a message!
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Love this article Ami!