Job hunting is a process filled with so many setbacks that when you find a position that fits your skills and seems interesting, you feel like you’ve achieved a small victory before you even apply. But that feeling usually doesn’t last long, after days and eventually weeks have passed and you haven’t heard back from the company, not even a rejection.
Maybe a friend will try to console you and tell you that, in all likelihood, it was always going to be an internal hire, but they were required to post the position. And while that may have been the case, it’s also possible that the opening, or even the position itself, never existed in the first place. Also known as “ghost” jobs, a recent survey According to a study by Resume Builder, 40% of companies have posted fake job ads this year. Here’s how to spot fake job ads and why companies post them in the first place.
How to identify fake job offers
To be clear, when I talk about “ghost” job ads, I’m not referring to ads that are actually scams aimed at getting job seekers to hand over money and/or their personal information. (But if you’re looking for tips on how to spot them, you can find them in previous Lifehacker articles.) Instead, I’m focusing on ads for nonexistent jobs at legitimate companies. Here’s how to spot them.
1. Look for details
Sometimes companies post job advertisements that do not exist to become more familiar with the talent available and Identify potential candidates In case there are real positions to fill in the future. For this reason, phantom job postings are often quite vague, both in terms of the specific qualifications they are looking for and the responsibilities associated with the position. If in doubt, contact the company’s HR department and ask for more details about the position to help you determine if you are a good candidate.
2. Check the date
As a general rule, it’s best to apply for a position within a week of it being posted. Of course, reposting a position (so that the posting has a new date) takes little effort, so a recent date is no guarantee that the position is real. However, if a position has been posted for more than a month or two, that’s usually not a good sign.
According to a Report 2023It takes an average of 44 days to fill an open position, so if you find a position that has been posted that long or longer, you may want to reach out to the hiring manager or HR department and ask if the position is still available. Another possibility is that at some point, the posting was for an actual position and, intentionally or not, it hasn’t been removed after it was filled.
3. Look for duplicates
In an attempt to attract a broad talent pool, some companies create two (or more) slightly different listings for an open position, says career coach and former hiring manager Mandi Woodruff-Santos told JOBsNews To avoid wasting time applying for both positions and to have more realistic expectations about the opportunities the company offers, check out the full list of vacancies and look for potential duplicates early this year.
Why do companies post fake job offers?
So why do companies pick on job applicants in the first place? One reason, it turns out, is to boost morale among current employees by tricking them into thinking that new hires will soon join their team to help ease their workload. Along the same lines, according to the 649 hiring managers who participated in the Resume Builder project, recent surveyPosting fake job openings also helps convince employees that they are replaceable and should be grateful to have a job. Other times, it’s about stockpiling resumes for potential future openings. Finally, it can be for aesthetic reasons: in other words, the company wants to look like it’s growing and thriving, and someone decided that posting fake job openings was the best way to do that.
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