Think back to your last really great date.
You know the one: Everything about it felt perfect when you recapped it with your bestie — from the setting and the food to the effortless conversation. Sparks were flying, and for a solid two and a half hours, you could genuinely see yourself in a joyful, promising courtship with this person.
… But the next day hits like a pound of bricks when you’re met with haunting silence.
Ghosting is bad enough in our personal lives, so why has it infiltrated the office?
Unfortunately, ghosting has never been just for the lucky singles of the world, but is more than ever prevalent for job seekers in the form of “ghost jobs.”
What's a ghost job? It's a listing that looks real but behind the scenes, there’s no open job, no budget, and often, no intention to hire. Maybe it's a posting to just make the company look successful. Or maybe it's something less nefarious like an anticipatory posting before winning a contract. No matter the reason, they're equally frustrating.
Lisa Rangel, Top-Rated Executive Resume Writer and Job Search Strategist, shares a recent finding from a Greenhouse study that reveals about one in every five job postings is fake.
According to a January 2024 Resume Builder survey, 39% of hiring managers said their company posted a fake job listing in the past year, and among those, approximately 26% posted one to three fake job listings, 19% posted five, 19% posted 10, 11% posted 50, 10% posted 25, and 13% posted 75 or more.
Your immediate question might be, “What’s the point of this?” To shed light on the specifics of this increasingly problematic behavior, we went a bit Ghostbusters with this topic, covering all the nitty-gritty details.
While we may not be able to rid your job boards of these pesky illusions of employment, as an active part of the hiring process, Artisan has seen it all and is here to help protect your time and energy (and sanity!).
There are endless reasons a company may post a ghost job, some spookier than others.
The scariest of the ghost jobs just might be HR departments that post jobs to keep “employees on their toes.”
Quartz expands on this behavior, with Resume Builder’s Chief Career Advisor Stacie Haller sharing that this “deplorable” practice purposely “undermines employees’ sense of value and security.”
“It’s a concerning scenario, particularly when these misleading postings originate from HR departments — the very entities entrusted with shaping accurate perceptions of their organizations. … Whether it’s to create an illusion of company expansion or to foster a sense of replaceability among employees, such practices are not acceptable,” Haller said.
Sarah Johnston, Founder of Briefcase Coach and Executive Resume Writer, further unpacks this troubling trend, noting that in some cases, these job postings aren’t intended to fill actual roles at all but to build a candidate pipeline under false pretenses.
“In certain instances,” she explained, “recruiting firms collect applications for roles that don’t exist, then turn around and pitch those pre-vetted candidates to other organizations, typically ones with frequent hiring needs. The goal is to win new business by claiming they can quickly fill open positions, even though the job was never real to begin with.”
Kristen Zavo, Executive and Leadership Coach at Find Your Job Joy, adds that not all motives are quite so deceptive. She points out that, in some cases, companies post fake roles for reasons unrelated to the applicant, reasons that may be less malicious, though still problematic.
Zavo also explains that ghost jobs aren't always intentional. Sometimes, they're the result of a simple lack of coordination between hiring managers and HR, or automated systems that don’t remove old postings.
“But even then, it's a reflection of internal disorganization, which can itself be a red flag,” she said. “Other times, it’s strategic (albeit not transparent), which can be frustrating for job seekers investing real time and effort.”
Bottom line: if the process feels messy from the start, it probably is.
Pay attention to how the process unfold early on. Repeated ghosting, vague timelines, or jobs that seem to vanish into thin air often point to deeper issues.
It could mean:
The team isn’t aligned on headcount
The posting was purely performative
The company culture doesn’t prioritize candidate experience
None of which bode well for your future there.
It’s tempting to imagine the people behind these fake job postings as cartoon villains — cloaked in black, hunched over glowing screens, fingers steepled in glee as they plot new ways to mess with job seekers. Cue the evil laugh.
But the reality isn’t quite so theatrical, and there’s still reason for hope.
Johnston explains that with many of these ghost jobs, there seems to be an understanding that the role will be filled eventually, and they want to have qualified candidates in the pipeline when that time comes, perhaps six months from now. Consider it a future opportunity, not a current one.
What can you do in the meantime? Johnston recommends using that runway wisely.
“It's always smart to ask, 'What’s your timeline for hiring this position?' — even if it's hard to get a clear answer,” she stated. “You have to think both short game and long game. If this is a company you’re really excited about, start building relationships with internal stakeholders now and play the long game. But if you need a job immediately and this one keeps getting reposted, it may not be the right short-term fit. That said, job seekers should still stay attuned to the opportunity, as it could become real down the line."
At the end of the day, with any job-search challenge, all roads lead back to the importance of networking.
“Job seekers should spend less time scrolling job boards and more time connecting with real people,” Zavo explained. “Networking online and in-person, and through informational interviews, referrals, and direct outreach is where most real opportunities live.”
Zavo recommends:
Prioritizing listings posted within the last 7–10 days
Tailoring your applications
Shifting your focus from mass applying to relationship-building
And if you do apply online, follow up:
“At the end of the day, the name of the game is visibility with decision-makers,” concluded Johnston.
“In a sea of keyboard warriors all submitting lookalike résumés — many written with the help of ChatGPT — it’s harder than ever for hiring managers to tell candidates apart. If you can break through the noise and get real face time with someone who makes the decisions, you’ll instantly set yourself apart.”
While ghost jobs can feel discouraging (and at times downright infuriating), they don’t have to derail your momentum.
Skip the shadow-chasing. Focus on what counts: building real relationships, asking the right questions, and staying visible to the right decision-makers.
Because at the end of the day, your next great opportunity is far more likely to come from a warm connection than a cold application.
So keep your head up, your network strong, and your strategy sharp, and don’t let the ghosts get you down. For real, active opportunities (not ghost jobs), be sure to check out the Artisan Talent job board — and if you want a quick breakdown of what ghost jobs are, watch this short video: