A job listing advertisement on a digital platform costs next to nothing, but the intelligence it can provide a company — even without any intent

Beware the rise of ‘ghost jobs’ — fake job openings with no intent to hire

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2024-11-27 10:00:04

A job listing advertisement on a digital platform costs next to nothing, but the intelligence it can provide a company — even without any intent to fill the position — can be significant.

A job listing alone can help a company build a potential talent base to draw on for the future, enable it to investigate market trends, or draw attention to the company as one experiencing growth.

These are just a few of the reasons why the phenomenon of “ghost jobs” is growing rapidly. Ghost jobs are open positions published by companies with no intention of hiring for them. The practice has obvious negative social and economic consequences. It affects the efficiency of the labor market, increases costs for candidates, and complicates the analysis of data by researchers and policy makers.

Hunter Ng of City University of New York recently published a research paper, “Why is it so hard to find a job now? Enter Ghost Jobs.” In investigating this phenomenon, Ng found the practice is becoming increasingly common, especially at large companies and in sectors requiring high skills, such as information technology.