'Ghost jobs' are on the rise – and so are calls to ban them • Hacker News Board

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

#101

Post by Xylakant » Thu, Dec 18, 2025, 9:45 AM UTC

wickedsight wrote: post #74

Xylakant wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can tell you that our HR takes the time to write proper responses to every application, but we straight up delete AI written applications. I honor the effort put into any application, but if people haven’t spent the time, then why should we?

Your HR is the exception though, not the rule. I'm willing to risk this, since it allows me to keep my sanity. And if a company really seems awesome I will still put in the effort.

I believe you have entered a race to the bottom and while I understand why, I'm pretty certain you can't win this way.

You are effectively filtering out the remaining companies that do care from the pool that you're talking to.

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

#102

Post by hmmmhmmhm » Thu, Dec 18, 2025, 9:46 AM UTC

throw3e98 wrote: post #94

hmmmhmmhm wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you make such request, how can you enforce to get all of the comms? I'm curious, would some government institution step in and audit their mail servers, slack channels, google hangouts and all other channels to obtain all of the information?

I take it you are unfamiliar with the legal process of "discovery" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discovery_(law)

I wonder, is there a precedence of applicant dragging the company to court over their response to such request?

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

#103

Post by GJim » Thu, Dec 18, 2025, 9:49 AM UTC

HNisCIS wrote: post #57

VerifiedReports wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A place that physically operates near me posts job openings all the time, for which I'm well-qualified. After applying to several of them (with a very specific and targeted cover letter) and getting no response, my final attempt was to print out a letter and resume and physically take them over to their office. I was thinking this would make a positive impression and say hey, I'm really interested and I'm willing to…

Having been on the other end of this repeatedly (as an engineer with a desk near the door, not a hiring manager) and I hate it when people do this. People are becoming much more adverse to bring panhandled or solicited in a way they cannot ignore, in the same way spam calls are more annoying than spam texts. It's not "initiative" or "extra mile" shit, it's taking advantage of someone's politeness to waste their time.…

> It also looks hopelessly boomerish

Nice bit of ageism there.

Frankly, if desiring to speak to the engineers hiring me is dismissed as "boomerish", then I'm hardly surprised recruiting is in such a mess.

In this case, the short conversation VerifiedReports had proved that, no, he wouldn't be happy working there. QED.

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

#104

Post by GJim » Thu, Dec 18, 2025, 9:54 AM UTC

josefrichter wrote: post #29

wickedsight wrote: post #18

I was applying for a while last year. Spending hours to write a cover letter and then either hearing nothing or getting a canned rejection letter is super frustrating. I've come to the conclusion that putting effort into an application is time wasted, so from now on AI is writing pretty much every single one of my cover letters. Doing that allows me to send out 5 applications in the time it normally takes me to do 1.…

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.

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

#105

Post by orwin » Thu, Dec 18, 2025, 9:57 AM UTC

Ylpertnodi wrote: post #88

vkou wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing. It has nothing to do with this.

Maybe it does. It's a fair question.

Is HR the department that post jobs and requirements in your company? Because at mine, HR is involved during recruitment, but they sure don't fill job posting or look at CV, that's just isn't their job. They are mostly involved if the company wants to transfer your contract from contractor to permanent employee.

And if HR is posting on job boards, that's the original mistake. But gender ratio in HR is so irrelevant compared to the questions 'why is HR posting about engineering open positions' I can say quite confidently: that's not a fair question, at all, and smell like some ragebait or culture war shit.

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

#106

Post by firstplacelast » Thu, Dec 18, 2025, 10:05 AM UTC

wombatpm wrote: post #97

ZuoCen_Liu wrote: post #42

Ghost jobs are essentially the 'vaporware' of the HR world. In any other department, misrepresenting your intent to engage in a transaction would be seen as a breach of professional ethics. The fact that it has become a standard KPI for HR departments to 'keep the pipeline warm' at the expense of thousands of hours of unpaid candidate labor is a massive market failure.

Seems like participation in unemployment should require every job posting to be recorded as to date open, date filled, number of candidates applied, number interviewed. Such information should be public and weekly updated. Companies that do not comply should pay a higher rate.

Earlier this year was playing around with the idea of creating an app to track job applications and the subsequent interview process for candidates. Then using the data to give users insights into companies and roles and how responsive they are. So (with enough adoption) one could see how long they take to respond or even see other candidates they had responded to for a specific position (maybe even allow competing candidates to chat? or see where others are in the interview pipeline).

I could not figure out a way to painlessly gather this info without monitoring users' emails (privacy nightmare) or having users forward emails to the app (too painful/not conducive to user adoption). But if anyone has any ideas how to get around that?

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

#107

Post by Bombthecat » Thu, Dec 18, 2025, 10:10 AM UTC

bryanrasmussen wrote: post #3

>it’s to raise stock value by fake growth indicators how does that work as a growth indicator, are there any known organizations that track your growth based on how many job postings you do, and then use that data to indicate your growth? I don't doubt that it could happen, but if it did we would have to know about it, I also don't doubt that I don't know about it, but I would like to know.

Maybe they were, but now? I doubt that every investor or even AI takes job postings with a grain of salt or plainy ignores them and just looks at the numbers of employees.

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

#108

Post by pjc50 » Thu, Dec 18, 2025, 10:10 AM UTC

3D30497420 wrote: post #72

whatsupdog wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

I'm not sure I'm following. How would does the gender balance of HR have a role to play here?

Incredible levels of misogyny from the tech world, even on the "respectable" side of HN.

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

#109

Post by pjc50 » Thu, Dec 18, 2025, 10:14 AM UTC

hmmmhmmhm wrote: post #90

Jur wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the Netherlands by law you have the right to retrieve any written internal correspondence regarding your interviews as to ascertain it was a fair decision and decision making process. Side effect of this is also to keep any bias out of the equation and, being on the other side, easier to call out colleagues making inappropriate or downright discriminating comments (which in my experience unfortunately happens ever…

If you make such request, how can you enforce to get all of the comms? I'm curious, would some government institution step in and audit their mail servers, slack channels, google hangouts and all other channels to obtain all of the information?

The next stage of complaint is actually the local Information Commissioner.

Companies will usually comply with this, because it's very difficult to instruct staff to not comply with the law without leaving any records or risking one of them leaking it. However they will check what the legal minimum is and do that.

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

#110

Post by pjc50 » Thu, Dec 18, 2025, 10:16 AM UTC

Jur wrote: post #84

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…

In the Netherlands by law you have the right to retrieve any written internal correspondence regarding your interviews as to ascertain it was a fair decision and decision making process. Side effect of this is also to keep any bias out of the equation and, being on the other side, easier to call out colleagues making inappropriate or downright discriminating comments (which in my experience unfortunately happens ever…

Unfortunately, many companies have chosen to comply with anti-discrimination laws by not giving any feedback. Nothing is less discriminatory than an empty string.