Ghost jobs are wreaking havoc on tech workers • Hacker News Board

Re: Ghost jobs are wreaking havoc on tech workers

#21

Post by iamsanteri » Thu, Oct 31, 2024, 7:23 PM UTC

I agree with others that this can be seen as market abuse since it disrupts the essential functioning of our labor markets. After completing my Master's, I've since struggled to find a job, only signing a contract yesterday thanks to my past connections and proven work from before I returned to academia. The current job market in my country has been absolutely brutal. I've applied to hundreds of roles. For many interviews, I traveled to other cities only to learn later that the positions I was being interviewed for were canceled entirely, with no one hired.

But the real issue are these "ghost" job postings where there's no intention to hire anyone at all in the first place. Some companies use them to, I guess, just gather some data and CVs + salary expectations, while others want to appear active and growing to investors, but don’t engage whatsoever when people spend time and apply. This distorts the job market and creates a lot of frustration in applicants. 90% of people I know here and more broadly in Europe have gotten their jobs via connections and people they know. I wouldn’t be surprised if some regulation comes soon, as I doubt I'm the only one impacted by this situation.

Re: Ghost jobs are wreaking havoc on tech workers

#22

Post by SN76477 » Thu, Oct 31, 2024, 7:23 PM UTC

doctor_radium wrote: post #8

Of the obvious fake job postings I've seen, I always assumed they were attempts at Russian or Chinese espionage. Example: for a very brief time I was a US DoD contractor.

Why do they need my home address for an application? I never understand that. Several have asked me for my DL number

Re: Ghost jobs are wreaking havoc on tech workers

#23

Post by SN76477 » Thu, Oct 31, 2024, 7:24 PM UTC

briandear wrote: post #9

This should be prosecuted. Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act prohibits “unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce.” Posting ghost jobs is a deceptive act.

I was told earlier this week by an organization

> We leave this role posted because it's so critical to our operation and onboard as demand requires, however at this time we don't have enough demand to justify another full time hire.

Re: Ghost jobs are wreaking havoc on tech workers

#24

Post by hinkley » Thu, Oct 31, 2024, 7:28 PM UTC

lupire wrote: post #3

Employees 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 haven’t had to resort to applying to jobs I couldn’t or wouldn’t do to fulfill unemployment insurance requirements, but who knows what will happen in December if this goes on.

Re: Ghost jobs are wreaking havoc on tech workers

#25

Post by Uncouple4063 » Thu, Oct 31, 2024, 7:28 PM UTC

fluorinerocket wrote: post #20

What kind of political action can we take to stop this infuriating practice?

One approach: https://code-cwa.org/

Re: Ghost jobs are wreaking havoc on tech workers

#26

Post by SoftTalker » Thu, Oct 31, 2024, 7:34 PM UTC

Just my own experience but I have never gotten a job with a cold application on a job board. Always been via a recruiter or even better an inside contact.

Re: Ghost jobs are wreaking havoc on tech workers

#27

Post by stewx » Thu, Oct 31, 2024, 7:35 PM UTC

itqwertz wrote: post #6

Don’t use LinkedIn or Monster or Indeed. You’re better off searching on Google with “ inurl:careers” and finding positions these companies are directly hiring for.

I've gotten 2 good jobs directly or indirectly from LinkedIn. I would argue LinkedIn is probably the one site that you absolutely need to be on.

Re: Ghost jobs are wreaking havoc on tech workers

#28

Post by DebtDeflation » Thu, Oct 31, 2024, 7:35 PM UTC

Many companies have policies requiring that all jobs have to be posted both internally and externally before being filled. The intent is to prevent Sam the VP from just slotting his buddy into the job. At the end of the day, Sam the VP is just going to slot his buddy into the job but now you made a whole bunch of people apply for a job that was never available to them.

Same thing happens with H1B/PERM, except now it's the law requiring it rather than company policy. The company already has someone doing the job today, but legally they have to post the job and interview a certain number of candidates to prove there is no US citizen that can do it.

Terrible situation for all involved.

Re: Ghost jobs are wreaking havoc on tech workers

#29

Post by erulabs » Thu, Oct 31, 2024, 7:35 PM UTC

What we need is, is Job-postings-as-code so that we can automate the deployment of Linkedin postings such that when a recruiter is let go, we can automatically identify their postings and clean them up.

We'll call it DevHiringOps

Seriously tho, always use the companies website instead of believing whatever is on some job posting website.

Re: Ghost jobs are wreaking havoc on tech workers

#30

Post by iancmceachern » Thu, Oct 31, 2024, 7:35 PM UTC

DebtDeflation wrote: post #28

Many companies have policies requiring that all jobs have to be posted both internally and externally before being filled. The intent is to prevent Sam the VP from just slotting his buddy into the job. At the end of the day, Sam the VP is just going to slot his buddy into the job but now you made a whole bunch of people apply for a job that was never available to them. Same thing happens with H1B/PERM, except now it'…

Not only posted, but often they require that several folks are actually interviewed.