Why Ghost Jobs Are Costing Companies More Than Candidates

The Hidden Cost of Ghost Jobs

Ghost jobs, where employers post positions they appear to have no intention of actually filling, are more than annoying. They’re giving the next generation of workers a formative lesson in how employers behave. So what are ghost jobs teaching Gen Z workers? That employers don’t mean what they say and you shouldn’t take anything at face value. In short, employers can’t be trusted.

It’s not a good look for companies who plan to seek young talent in the future. (Young talent does tend to notice when it’s blown off.) Set back by the pandemic and now competing with AI for entry-level roles, Gen Z has had a rough start to their working lives. You’d think they had enough to deal with in today’s relatively stagnant hiring landscape without companies resorting to deceptive practices like ghost jobs.

Disillusion enough Gen Z workers with such tactics, and they’ll make good on their entrepreneurial promises. Can you imagine a future where companies truly want to hire but the workers just aren’t interested? “Not falling for that again,” they’ll think.

This can hurt good candidates, who may start doubting themselves and approaching future applications more cynically. “In fact the problem was a broken process, not their qualifications,” says Dimitri Boylan, CEO of Avature. “Recruiting is a marketing discipline, and a job posting is often the first promise a company makes to a candidate. If that promise does not survive contact with the process, the employer brand story starts to break down.”

Why Companies Post Ghost Jobs

If ghost jobs are so universally hated, why do companies post them? Often, it’s to make the company look like it’s in better shape than it actually is. Such an organization has no qualms about squandering candidates’ time and trust for a short-term gain.

However, while it’s easy to read malicious intent into the practice of ghost jobs, sometimes the reality is indicting in a different way. Companies may not set out to post fictitious roles; instead, they may simply be internally disorganized and disconnected.

“Sometimes an employer simply forgets to take down a listing once the role is filled,” says Dimitri Boylan, CEO of Avature. “Other times, the job posting and the workforce plan are no longer connected. Hiring may be frozen, priorities may have changed or the team may still be working out whether it really has headcount.”

Another reason some companies also keep postings live, without intent to immediately hire, is to build a pipeline. “This can be legitimate, but they should be clear about that,” says Boylan.

Spotting a Ghost Job

Not every role that seems like a ghost job actually is. Sometimes you’re not being ghosted; it’s just that the process is a slow-moving one. “A slow role still has a real business need, a hiring owner, and a next decision, even if the process is taking longer than anyone would like,” says Dimitri Boylan, CEO of Avature. “A ghosted role has lost that connection. The hiring plan has changed or disappeared, but the posting is still acting as if the job is live.”

To avoid wasting your time on a ghost job, Boylan suggests looking for signs that the company is actually moving on the role. Positive clues include:

• A recent posting date
• A description specific enough to tell you what work needs doing (highly generic job descriptions are a red flag)
• A hiring manager, recruiter, or team you can identify

“A posting that has been sitting unchanged for months, or could describe almost any role at the company, deserves skepticism,” says Boylan. Prioritize roles with fresh, detailed postings and a named contact to avoid the disappointment of applying to a position that is no longer connected to a real business need.

Fixing Ghost Jobs in Your Company

If you suspect your company has ghost job postings, now is the time to fix them. According to Dimitri Boylan, CEO of Avature, employers should not wait for regulation. Instead, they need to address the root cause: a disconnect between workforce planning and requisition management.

To avoid breaking trust with candidates, companies should take the following steps:

• Connect workforce planning to requisitions: Ensure every live posting is tied to a confirmed headcount and an accurate status. If hiring is frozen or priorities have changed, the posting must reflect that.
• Assign an accountable owner: Every live job posting should have a designated person responsible for it. This owner ensures the role is still active and the description remains accurate.
• Review postings regularly: Set a review date for each posting. When the business need changes, the posting needs to change with it—or be taken down.

As Boylan notes, a slow role still has a real business need, but a ghosted role has lost that connection. By fixing these internal processes, you ensure your job postings are a promise you can keep.