The ancient philosopher Sophocles understood the lure of making money when he said “profit is sweet, even if it comes from deception.” You can get fooled a lot of places that you are already on the lookout for, but a job hunt is another place where you need to be aware of trickery. Did you know that many jobs posted on company career pages and job search engines like Monster, Indeed, and LinkedIn are not real openings?
Why Would a Company Post Fake Jobs?
Companies post fake or — “ghost” — jobs for a number of reasons that benefit them but hurt job seekers. If it isn’t hard enough to find a new job, now job seekers spend time applying for jobs that don’t exist. Let’s take a look at some of the reasons that companies post fake jobs.
Collect Resumes for the Future
A company’s HR department might want to prepare for a future surge in hiring by collecting resumes ahead of time. Posting jobs will probably result in a flood of resumes. A proactive company can cull those resumes and have a list of people its headhunters can contact in the event it needs to hire.
Put a Finger on the Pulse of the Job Market
Posting jobs and analyzing responses are good ways to test the job market in an industry, and companies may try to get an idea of what kinds of applicants are out there.
Demonstrate the Robustness of the Company
The current employees of a particular company might feel more confident in their prospects at the company if they see the firm’s career website with a long list of jobs.
Appease Overworked Employees
If you’ve been hoping for some help in a situation where you’re drowning in work, you might feel better if you see jobs posted on the career website. Company leaders are aware of this technique to keep overworked employees on the string.
Instill Fear of Replacement in Current Employees
Another way to encourage employees to accept a less-than-ideal job situation is to pack the company career site with job postings for positions held by current employees, implying that lower-salary new hires could replace staff.
Deceive Managers Who Need More People
Stressed-out company managers who are begging for help can be put off by job postings that appear to seek out possible hires but in reality won’t be approved by upper management.
Possibly Get Tax or Regulatory Breaks
In some cases, a company might be able to get a tax break or some relief from regulatory issues. A big company might do a massive layoff, but if it posts a bunch of jobs, it could get relief.
Test-List One Job in Multiple Locations-
With the advent of remote work, a company could hire new people from anywhere. The company might have one job to fill but post it in many geographic markets.
The Lottery Effect
A company might not have an open job, but it could post for a job to try to get a surprise “great” hire.
Inattentive HR Department
Sometimes, the company isn’t acting in a deliberately malicious way, but the people in charge don’t get around to moving jobs that have been filled off the job board.
Is It Legal for Companies to Post Fake Jobs?
Technically, it’s not legal to advertise ghost jobs, but how are you gonna stop it? Trying to sue isn’t likely to yield results. Some individual states are cracking down; California law formally prohibits posting fake jobs, stating that “no job listing service shall make or cause to be made any false, misleading or deceptive advertisements or representations concerning the services that the job listing service will provide to job seekers.” But even in a state that prohibits the posting of fake jobs, it’s a heavy lift to prove it, especially when some companies go so far as to conduct interviews for ghost jobs.
So many companies do it, too. Jennifer Lui of CNBC finds that “As many as 4 in 10 companies say they’ve posted a “fake job listing” this year, and 3 in 10 companies say they’re currently advertising for a role that isn’t real.” The problem isn’t new — Forbes found that just 2% of applicants were interviewed.
Fool Me Once….
I often get this aphorism backward when I try to use it in speech but here it is in writing: “Fool me once, shame on you. Fools me twice, shame on me.” Sadly, employers have the upper hand when you are looking for a job meaning that you’ll just have to resign yourself to being tricked until you land a new job.
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