The Wall Street Journal published a piece this week about the rise in fake job postings online. The reasons for these range from some companies using those listings to try and appear larger or more successful than they are, to some that are fraudulently listed to try and capture data. There are even some organizations who are creating and then uncreating job openings after they fill part of it or decide they don’t want to hire after all.
There is a real human cost to these “ghost jobs” as hiring platform Greenhouse suggested they make up as much as 22% of all jobs advertised online. People who spend time and emotional energy applying can take a hit to their confidence at the worst possible time when they either don’t hear back or get rejected from a job that never really existed in the first place.
It may seem like there isn’t an obvious solution to this problem. Actually, I can think of two. The first is for any of us working at a company to advocate for our colleagues and HR teams to only post job openings if they are real and actually available. Putting a job listing online for a role that you really don’t need is not a victimless crime. The thing we can all do is support our friends and family who may be job seeking at the moment by reminding them that they have a lot to offer. A string of rejections (from fake roles or not) can erode anyone’s confidence. If you really care, reach out and help someone build it back up.
