Posting Ghost Jobs Could Be Illegal: 7 Better Ways to Recruit

Lawmakers in several states have proposed bills targeting Ghost Jobs – roles posted that don’t exist or employers don’t intend to fill immediately. One state attorney general is investigating the legality of posting Ghost Jobs and profiting from it.

The numbers speak some truth behind lawmakers’ concerns. About 25% of employers that have an open position don’t plan to fulfill it for three months or longer, according to research from Clarify Capital. About 20% use AI to automate postings for inactive roles.

Greenhouse estimates that at any given time, 20% of posted roles are Ghost Jobs.

These kinds of actions frustrate employees. Not only are they upset about not hearing back on applications, more than 90% believe Ghost Jobs inflate perceptions of a healthy job market.

“Posting ghost job ads is both misleading and disrespectful to candidates,” says Josh Millet, Founder & CEO at Criteria. “Unless the opportunity is genuine, it can have serious negative consequences to the employer brand. You only need to look at Glassdoor or Reddit to see just how damaging.”

What Legislators Want

Specifically, legislators in Pennsylvania and New York proposed bills this year that would require employers to list hiring timelines and remove job posts after the roles are filled. 

In Texas, Attorney General Ken Paxton (who is also running for Senate) opened an investigation, suggesting that LinkedIn advertised and profited from fake job ads. LinkedIn denies the allegations.

Why Do Employers Post Ghost Jobs?

Some employers say they have good reasons for posting Ghost Jobs. According to Clarify Capital research, they want to:

• Keep resumés for future openings
• Make it appear that their company is growing
• Keep tabs on the job market
• Adjust hiring strategies when necessary
• Have a pool of candidates in case someone resigns
• Keep an eye out in case an “irresistible” candidate comes along, or
• Placate workers who say they’re overworked.

While those reasons may seem nefarious, some Ghost Jobs advertisements exist to comply with government mandates that certain roles be posted publicly, even if a recruiter has already presented an external job candidate or an internal hire has been suited for the job. 

Candidates Frustrated

“While this may seem like a harmless practice, Ghost Jobs can cause job seekers to get their hopes up and waste their time and effort on applications. Additionally, Ghost Jobs can cause employers to miss out on great candidates in the long run,” says James Neave, Head of Data Science at Adzuna.

Whether it’s intentional or not, keeping jobs posted longer than they’re relevant is not a good look for a company. Candidates who upload applications into a resumé black hole feel disrespected and cheated. And soon enough, in some states, they may have a case against you.

The bottom line is you don’t want to post Ghost Jobs, even if the intent is to find great candidates for when you are actually hiring.

Instead, focus on attracting and hiring the best candidates when it’s truly time to hire. Here are seven strategies:

Create Detailed Job Descriptions

Ghost Jobs tend to have generic, all-encompassing job descriptions. Plus, they sometimes seem too good to be true — big salaries for remote work or unheard-of flexibility.

To make your authenticity shine through, create detailed job descriptions with a clear list of responsibilities, schedules and salary range.

Also, add a timestamp so candidates know it was posted recently. If you don’t get enough qualified applicants, update criteria and the timestamp so candidates see it’s a real, unfulfilled job.

Align Time and Space

Be diligent with your job listings, making sure none are posted longer than two weeks. If you haven’t filled the role — or are done taking applications while you move to the next steps in the hiring process — take down the original post for a few days and tweak it. Work with hiring managers to identify language that didn’t work the first time to attract the right candidates.

At the same time, ensure that job posts on third-party recruiting sites such as LinkedIn and Indeed are aligned with the open positions advertised on your company website.

Extend Your Reach

Ask employees to share your job postings on their social networks — from Facebook to TikTok — where you can reach a larger, yet closer-knit, candidate pool.

Candidates will see it’s a real job posting, considering their “friend” posted it. And because the job is shared through social networks, your employees act as referrals for new candidates.

When you ask employees for help recruiting and authenticating your open positions, you build morale.

Be More Transparent

“Employers should prioritize transparency throughout the hiring process. This includes being clear about the salary and benefits package, like details about key benefits such as parental leave, bonuses and PTO,” says Neave.

You can include all that in job descriptions. But be sure to continue to communicate it throughout the hiring process to build credibility with candidates.

Communicate Clearly

“Poor communication at any stage during the recruitment process is one of the key turn-offs for prospective employees,” says Millett.

Communication is about your brand’s reputation. Even when you avoid the dangers of posting Ghost Jobs, you can give candidates a bad impression if you don’t communicate frequently and clearly.

You want your hiring journey to include reminders to follow up on each step. Ideally, you’ll have automated responses, letting candidates know how one step went and what to expect and when in the next step — including a closure if either of you decides to end the process.

Give Details on the Interview Process

Your job post will be extra attractive if you do more than just give a clear picture of the role: Give candidates a clear picture of the interview process.

“Providing details, including the number of stages and the timeline for each stage, can also be effective,” says Neave. “In addition, being upfront about the values and mission of the organization can attract candidates who care about what the company is trying to achieve and who are aligned with the same values. This can ensure the candidate is a good fit for the role and the organization.”

Scrub Your Hiring Process

Most companies wouldn’t even consider posting Ghost Jobs if they were making great hires all the time. So why don’t they?

“For no good reason many potential employees are filtered out of hiring funnels by automated technology because they don’t have a bachelor’s degree, or because they don’t have a certain experience level, or because their resumé doesn’t have the right mix of keywords in it,” says Millett. “We need to be filtering people into our talent pipelines based on skills, ability and the potential they have, not filtering them out based on weak signals that are unreliable predictors of job success.”

So regularly scrub the system to be sure you aren’t inadvertently screening out great talent.