Job hunting is a struggle, and headhunters make it even harder — more than 8 in 10 recruiters say they post “ghost jobs”

Good morning!

Take to social media and you’re bound to hear job hunting horror stories of people applying to hundreds of roles without so much as a glance from recruiters. As it turns out, the radio silence may not be their fault.

Some 81 percent of recruiters say their employer posts “ghost jobs,” or positions that either don’t exist or are already filled, according to a new report from MyPerfectResume, a resume-building platform. Jasmine Escalera, career expert for MyPerfectResume, says this figure is staggering and discouraging for candidates looking to land a new role.

“We often hear job seekers saying, ‘I’m tired, I’m depressed, I’m desperate,’ using these very harsh words when it comes to the job market,” she says. “This is one of the reasons why they lose trust in organizations and companies.”

Recruiters not only condone the tactic, but also recognize how common it is. Some 17% say up to three-quarters of their job ads are not genuine, while 21.5% say ghost jobs account for half of all jobs they post, 36% say a quarter of their postings are fake or already taken, and 18% of headhunters report that less than a tenth of their job ads are not real.

It may seem counterproductive for recruiters to advertise for ghost jobs, theoretically wasting their own time as well as that of candidates, but there are incentives to do so. Some 38% say they post fake jobs to maintain a presence on job boards when they’re not hiring, 36% do so to gauge the effectiveness of their job listings, 26% want to build a talent pool for the future, 26% hope to gain insight into the job market and competitors, and 25 percent want to gauge how difficult it would be to replace certain employees, according to the report. Escalera points out that a big reason for posting these jobs is that recruiters want to improve their business image – nearly a quarter also say that fake jobs help their companies look like they’re not facing a freeze of employment, and a fifth say they post. ghost jobs to improve their company’s reputation.

“Companies are trying to project, ‘We’re fine, we’re still hiring, we’re still moving in an upward trend.’ In this market, our organization is doing well. That ties into why these fake jobs might appear more from a comforting perspective,” she says. “It’s really about the business, the bottom line, the growth, showing the trends and how they can connect to maintaining profitability.”

Ghost jobs have become so ubiquitous. Escalera says that instead of hoping for a cultural shift, job seekers should adapt to the new normal. She advises candidates to equip themselves to recognize fake posts and avoid applying to those posts. “If there’s anything that seems off about the post, like the responsibilities and title don’t match, or the salary range is incredibly astronomical, this could be a fake post. Do you also want to look at job postings from the perspective of: Does the job posting really make sense?”

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Escalera adds that job platforms like Glassdoor, where employees can post reviews about employers anonymously, have equipped employees to speak up when they believe a company is being deceptive without the threat of repercussions. She believes the sites should also be used to warn others about ghost posts.

“Empowered job seekers aren’t just empowering themselves by using technology to push their brand,” she says. “Empowered job seekers also provide information that supports other job seekers in a very powerful way. And that includes reviewing companies and talking about what works and what doesn’t work with certain companies.”

Emma Burleigh
[email protected]

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com