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'Ghost jobs' are on the rise – and so are calls to ban them

bbc.com

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Re: 'Ghost jobs' are on the rise – and so are calls to ban them

#131

Post by integralid »

zwnow wrote: post #66
dandare wrote: post #58

I am not sure if more regulation is a solution, but the lack of respect for job seekers is a real problem. And not just with ghost jobs. My recent experience as a job seeker was harrowing - even with large, proud companies. I would pass multiple rounds of interviews with senior/director-level interviewers only to never hear back from the company - even after a direct request for an update or feedback. Just total igno…

I wonder why people still apply to FAANG companies, there is nothing to be won by working for them. Your work has zero impact, you're actively paid to enshittify stuff over making it better, you have horrible bureaucracy within the company, they lay off thousands of people per year so your job never really is secure, all of FAANG is ethically corrupt beyond means. I'd never hire a FAANG employee to be honest, while w…

As a bright eyed young engineer I worked for a year in FAANG and loved it[1]. Free lunches, all that scale, opportunities to learn, kool-aid, and at that point i truly believed the company cared about making the world a better place [2]. So regarding:

>there is nothing to be won by working for them

As you can see above, not everyone sees it like that. And HR is working hard to pretend you're a big deal and not just a cog. People who read HN are a bit of a bubble in being disillusioned.

>I'd never hire a FAANG employee

Uhh, ok?

[1] but I had enough pride to quit after a year when they pulled off something I was not OK with.

[2] to be fair, I think at that time most employees did

Re: 'Ghost jobs' are on the rise – and so are calls to ban them

#132

Post by gedy »

dandare wrote: post #58

I am not sure if more regulation is a solution, but the lack of respect for job seekers is a real problem. And not just with ghost jobs. My recent experience as a job seeker was harrowing - even with large, proud companies. I would pass multiple rounds of interviews with senior/director-level interviewers only to never hear back from the company - even after a direct request for an update or feedback. Just total igno…

Glassdoor pulled that crap with me ironically after a lot of interviews for a senior position that they reached out to me for.

Re: 'Ghost jobs' are on the rise – and so are calls to ban them

#133

Post by Steve16384 »

hermitcrab wrote: post #128

Years ago, there was a job agency advertising an IT banking job in the Caribbean. Every week. For years. Apparently it was just a way for them to harvest CVs. 'Sorry you didn't make the interview for that job, but can I interest you in a role creating TPS reports for a company in Slough?'. Scummy behaviour. But I guess they got away with it.

> Scummy behaviour. But I guess they got away with it.

How could they not get away with it? That's the problem.

Re: 'Ghost jobs' are on the rise – and so are calls to ban them

#134

Post by rightbyte »

Oras wrote: post #63
d--b wrote: post #46

A lot of head hunters will dangle job offers that don’t exist just so they can get info on the company you’re working at - basically they’re trying to keep tab on who’s in charge of hiring, so they can contact them. There are also those who are paid by your boss just to see if any of their team members is looking to take off. I don’t think there is anything new here though. These practice have existed for a while, an…

> A lot of head hunters will dangle job offers that don’t exist just so they can get info on the company you’re working at - basically they’re trying to keep tab on who’s in charge of hiring, so they can contact them. This is quite common especially now when the market is bad. The pattern is a LinkedIn message with vague description (interesting role at a sector), no mention of rate, names or anything else.

> vague description (interesting role at a sector), no mention of rate, names or anything else.

Consultancies does that when they recruit for likely or ongoing leads too, though. To not leak the lead.

Re: 'Ghost jobs' are on the rise – and so are calls to ban them

#135

Post by CalRobert »

Xylakant wrote: post #130
CalRobert wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps they could fax it

But that would filter for German applicants. Who else would have a fax?

No idea, though it's interesting that it may yet outlive posting a letter from their Danish neighbors.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckg8jllq283o

Re: 'Ghost jobs' are on the rise – and so are calls to ban them

#136

Post by zwnow »

integralid wrote: post #131
zwnow wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder why people still apply to FAANG companies, there is nothing to be won by working for them. Your work has zero impact, you're actively paid to enshittify stuff over making it better, you have horrible bureaucracy within the company, they lay off thousands of people per year so your job never really is secure, all of FAANG is ethically corrupt beyond means. I'd never hire a FAANG employee to be honest, while w…

As a bright eyed young engineer I worked for a year in FAANG and loved it[1]. Free lunches, all that scale, opportunities to learn, kool-aid, and at that point i truly believed the company cared about making the world a better place [2]. So regarding: >there is nothing to be won by working for them As you can see above, not everyone sees it like that. And HR is working hard to pretend you're a big deal and not just a…

> Free lunches, all that scale, opportunities to learn, kool-aid

Lmao.

Re: 'Ghost jobs' are on the rise – and so are calls to ban them

#137

Post by Akronymus »

GJim wrote: post #104
josefrichter wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cover letters are dead imho. Even before AI came to play.

Total opposite here. If you can't be bothered with a simple cover letter (a paragraph or two is fine) highlighting why you are a good fit and just send a CV..... Frankly, it comes across as low effort spamming.

As someone currently looking for a new job, I stopped bothering with cover letters because they didn't make the faintest of differences. After many dozens of rejections I am just burnt out about writing them.

Re: 'Ghost jobs' are on the rise – and so are calls to ban them

#138

Post by tjpnz »

pastel8739 wrote: post #25
avidiax wrote: post #20

We could at least require that all applications have a standardized format for resumé and a list of legally allowable questions. No more requiring the candidate to do 30 minutes of data entry to encode their resumé into your HR system. Then a ghost job wouldn't really waste much time, since uploading a JSON should take 30 seconds.

Companies already get so many applications that applying is a crapshoot without a referral. I feel like this is the opposite of what we need.

A referral isn't really useful on its own. Ideally the person doing the referral needs to have the ear of the HM and followup regularly. Otherwise it's an easily missed note on an ATS.

Re: 'Ghost jobs' are on the rise – and so are calls to ban them

#139

Post by reustle »

rdtsc wrote: post #4

> Dr Escalera adds that she has also heard examples of companies posting jobs to obtain and sell data. How is that not illegal? Pretending to offer jobs just to suck in resumes to some database just seems like it should be illegal. Or just like running scams is illegal but they are in another country "so tough luck, you'll never get us"?

I think there’s a good chunk of the SF tech event scene built around pulling in qualified email addresses, too. “Apply to attend”

Re: 'Ghost jobs' are on the rise – and so are calls to ban them

#140

Post by renegade-otter »

pjc50 wrote: post #119
rsanek wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children%27s_Online_Privacy_Pr... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Consumer_Privacy_Ac... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Educational_Rights_and_... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_Credit_Reporting_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gramm%E2%80%93Leach%E2%80%93Bl...

Exactly - no national, general data protection law. Although the California one looks pretty similar to the GDPR from the summary, it's not truly national.

Even if there was, under the current regime, the probability of it being enforced is near-zero, especially if you are in the good graces of the child king.
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