Ghost job

A fake job, ghost job, or phantom job is a job posting for a non-existent or already filled position.

The employer may post fake job opening listings for many reasons:

• Inflating statistics about their industries
• Protecting the company from discrimination lawsuits
• Fulfilling requirements by human-resources departments
• Identifying potentially promising recruits for future hiring
• Pacifying existing employees with the premise that the company is looking for extra help
• Retaining desirable employees ^{[1] [2] [3]}
• Information-gathering on competitor wages ^{[4] [5] [6] [7] [8]}

There is a rising trend ^[9] in employers promising remote work as "bait," ^[10] and it underscores the relative power of the employers in the job market. ^[2]

According to the career coaching service SamNova, a fake job listing can often be spotted as one that is either continuously open or repeatedly posted. ^[11] These listings may have catchy titles, vague descriptions, a lack of detail, or contain reposts of previous listings.

A survey conducted by Clarify Capital has concluded that many companies and government entities have tricked job seekers with fake ads without the intent of hiring. ^[4] A 2025 study by recruiting platform Greenhouse Software showed at least one in five job postings in the US is fake or never filled. ^{[12] [13]}

See also

• Employment fraud
• Featherbedding
• Recruitment advertising
• Sinecure  –Legally benefiting the employee
• Fictitious employment  –Illegally benefiting the employee

References

1. Bienasz, Gabrielle (September 20, 2022). "What Are 'Ghost Jobs' and Why Are They Everywhere Now?". Entrepreneur. Archived from the original on July 26, 2023. Retrieved August 10, 2023.
2. Weber, Lauren; Kwoh, Leslie (January 8, 2013). "Beware the Phantom Job Listing". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on May 12, 2016. Retrieved December 3, 2023.
3. Thapa, Anuz (August 22, 2024). "Ghost jobs: What the rise in fake job listings says about the current job market". CNBC.
4. Mercurio, Joe (September 1, 2022). "Survey: Job Seekers Beware of Ghost Jobs" . Retrieved August 11, 2023.
5. Knight, Rebecca; Kaplan, Juliana. "That's not a real job opening: Some companies are posting 'ghost jobs' but don't actually plan to hire you — or anyone". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 2023-07-05. Retrieved 2023-08-10.
6. Berwick, Isabel; Smith, Sophia (October 12, 2022). "Beware of 'ghost job' listings". Financial Times. Archived from the original on November 25, 2022. Retrieved August 10, 2023.
7. "Breakingviews - Fake jobs hide cooler reality for US workforce". Reuters. April 4, 2023. Archived from the original on 2023-06-04. Retrieved 2023-08-10– via www.reuters.com.
8. Chen, Te-Ping (March 20, 2023). "Job Listings Abound, but Many Are Fake". Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on August 7, 2023. Retrieved August 10, 2023– via www.wsj.com.
9. Rogers, Taylor Nicole (June 4, 2022). "Are 'fake' job ads inflating America's employment data?". Financial Times. Archived from the original on November 29, 2022. Retrieved August 10, 2023.
10. Moore, Cortney (April 25, 2023). "Fake remote, hybrid jobs shared online to trick candidates". Fox Business . Archived from the original on May 23, 2023. Retrieved August 10, 2023.
11. Kim, Soo (June 21, 2023). "Seven red flags to look out for on a job ad, according to business experts". Newsweek. Archived from the original on August 7, 2023. Retrieved August 10, 2023.
12. Ropek, Lucas (2025-01-14). "1 in 5 Online Job Postings Are Either Fake or Never Filled, Study Finds". Gizmodo. Retrieved 2025-01-20.
13. Cook, Lynn (2025-01-13). "Fake Job Postings Are Becoming a Real Problem". WSJ. Retrieved 2025-01-20.