> [...] the majority of them appeared on LinkedIn and the companies’ websites. [...]
> While some respondents said employers did it to maintain a presence on job boards and build a talent pool, it’s also used [...]
For securities fraud?
Ghost jobs are wreaking havoc on tech workers
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Re: Ghost jobs are wreaking havoc on tech workers
#12Employees look for new jobs they aren't seriously interested in. Why shouldn't employers do the same? Filtering through a 1000 unemployed people spamming every job listing isn't going to give them useful intel.
I mean the reason I can think of off the top of my head is that one is wasting the time of people who are looking for a job so they can continue to live, and the other is wasting the time of a person who's job is reviewing resumes?
I don't agree with the attitude of the grandparent poster either, but work at a small company where I've been on the receiving end of many extremely low-effort applications from ineligible individuals, so it definitely goes both ways. Companies are also bombarded with spam from recruiters, just as candidates are.
Re: Ghost jobs are wreaking havoc on tech workers
#13Hireing and being hired seem to have devolved into a bilateral spamfest. The more applicants per position, the more applications you need to fill.
“Always, always, always put networking as one of the top components of your job search strategy,”
This is such a strange advice. It is too late when searching for a job.
A 'network' takes year to build.
Re: Ghost jobs are wreaking havoc on tech workers
#14I’m not shocked at all. Another issue is recruiters posting fake jobs and asking for references as step one. Soon as I say “I don’t provide references until the last step, and only to the company hiring” they hang up on me
Not only fake job postings, it's also companies posting fake jobs when they already have an internal or external candidate all but signed. The amount of spam and fake jobs on LI + other major sites is just disgusting and is ripe for government to come in and crack some heads.
Governments are one of the worst offenders when it comes to posting jobs which have already been basically handed to internal candidates. They do it for the same reason as everyone else: compliance with external regulations or internal rules.
Re: Ghost jobs are wreaking havoc on tech workers
#15On this topic, do y'all think the HN Who's Hiring thread has ghost jobs? I know I've applied to one and never had back (a few years ago).
Absolutely. And a lot of spam. A few months ago there was a little flame war between a few people. Company posted an ad and someone replied "this is spam, and you don't respond, just keep posting the same ad", and the company replied "no, I own the company and hand write this job ad every month to fit our future needs" which was patently a lie (exact same headcount, exact same three positions, every month for the last eight months, and usually a byte-accurate copy of each posting), and several similar.
Not to mention it's "discouraged" to call employers out on poor behavior. I know of at least three companies who post pretty steadily who ghosted at final rounds or in one case, "We intend to present a written offer" (though in "fairness", they did eventually inform me that they'd decided to freeze hiring, well, nearly three months later).
Re: Ghost jobs are wreaking havoc on tech workers
#16> [...] the majority of them appeared on LinkedIn and the companies’ websites. [...] > While some respondents said employers did it to maintain a presence on job boards and build a talent pool, it’s also used [...] For securities fraud?
Re: Ghost jobs are wreaking havoc on tech workers
#17> 62% companies posted them specifically to make their employees feel replaceable
wow, HR and management really have a lot of contempt for their staff.
i deleted my ln in 2022. i have a deep mistrust of all web platforms. i know what i do on the UI and what happens in the code are not the same.
Re: Ghost jobs are wreaking havoc on tech workers
#18Hireing and being hired seem to have devolved into a bilateral spamfest. The more applicants per position, the more applications you need to fill. “Always, always, always put networking as one of the top components of your job search strategy,” This is such a strange advice. It is too late when searching for a job. A 'network' takes year to build.
Well I think the person quoted is suggesting you work on your network now, presumably before you are looking for a job. But I could see an argument that even going to meetups and just talking to people while you're actively looking is more likely to be successful than emailing resumes. That is to say, even the act of building a network from the ground up could be highly effective.
Re: Ghost jobs are wreaking havoc on tech workers
#19Hireing and being hired seem to have devolved into a bilateral spamfest. The more applicants per position, the more applications you need to fill. “Always, always, always put networking as one of the top components of your job search strategy,” This is such a strange advice. It is too late when searching for a job. A 'network' takes year to build.
So, this is the problem. We are doing a Kabuki dance where there is an illusion of good faith and meritocracy, when really, it's just a brutalist labor order book between employers and employees, unless you have a network (which takes years to build and might still prove useless if you can't refer someone into your org because blah blah hiring pipeline that is really just garbage anyway). For example, someone at the VP level at Slack recently posted on LinkedIn for a job req that all candidates have to go through the formal process to avoid unfairness (no informal resume reviews or interviews would be had).
If you offer up a job req, there should be punitive consequences if it is not legitimate. You are incurring cost and harm on job seekers spending time engaging with said post, at no cost to the employer. This is to be solved for, just as pay transparency is slowly being solved for with regulation and statute. If you have policy suggestions, I'm interested, as someone who engages with policymakers.
Re: Ghost jobs are wreaking havoc on tech workers
#20What kind of political action can we take to stop this infuriating practice?