There probably are real ghost jobs out there, but I recently got accused of posting one for a position that we actually are hiring for. It was a Senior-level role, and the applicant had ~3 years of experience.
Why is it so hard to find a job now? Enter Ghost Jobs
451–460 of 598 posts
Re: Why is it so hard to find a job now? Enter Ghost Jobs
#452I once applied for a job that precisely matched my qualifications. It was crazy - the job description could have been written by someone looking at my CV. I didn't even get an interview. Likely no one did. It wasn't a ghost job, though. It was a position created for a someone they wanted to hire. Being a public institution, they were required to advertise positions. That didn't mean that they actually wanted any of t…
What's worse is when you have to actually interview the candidate, even though you know the job is going to someone internal. I've had to do this at large companies and at public institutions.
Re: Why is it so hard to find a job now? Enter Ghost Jobs
#453Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is not a constant fact, though. In 2021 there were not enough qualified US work eligible candidates to go around. Right now is going to be a very different story for many roles.
>> In 2021 there were not enough qualified US work eligible candidates to go around. That is only ever true at a certain salary level. If they (hypothetically) 10x-ed the salary, do you think they would still have a shortage?
Probably. Poaching an employee from somewhere else still creates an opening that can't be filled.
Re: Why is it so hard to find a job now? Enter Ghost Jobs
#454Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm glad our government has introduced the H1B program to help out employers like you who are dealing with a shortage of tech workers (who will work for 2/3 market and will do anything you say because if they get fired they'll be deported).
In 2023 there were 755,020 H1-B admittances. Why was it much easier to get a job in 2021? Because there were only 148,603 [1]. Notice that even though Republicans talked about immigration, neither party is talking about reducing H1-B filled roles. The kicker is if you’ve had a gap doing your own thing or because you were laid off and you apply for a job at a discount salary, you’re still not competitive against an H1…
I hope you aren't suggesting it is hypocritical to not oppose legal immigration when opposing illegal immigration.
Re: Why is it so hard to find a job now? Enter Ghost Jobs
#455Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's not so binary. Economic growth and prosperity does benefit a broad swath of society.
For non-workers the benefits outweigh the disadvantages, while for workers the disadvantages outweigh the benefits. If your income is from owning capital or from real estate value increase or from government benefits, then anything that can reduce the price of things you want to buy is a benefit. This is a large part of the population. If your income is from working and producing goods and services, then getting paid…
Workers aren't monolithic.
I'll be the first to admit that the disadvantages outweigh the benefits for specific workers. NAFTA sucked for autoworkers. H1B visas suck for IT and software workers.
I think other types of workers benefit more than the portrait you paint, and not just the capital owners.
Unless you are a utilitarian (I'm not), I agree there is a valid debate on how much policy should disadvantage a small group for "the greater good".
Re: Why is it so hard to find a job now? Enter Ghost Jobs
#456Re: Why is it so hard to find a job now? Enter Ghost Jobs
#457Earlier quoted context omitted.
When I last changed jobs, I started looking at the end of 2021. I was a staff SWE at Google, MS CS from Stanford, etc. - a good resume. I also found myself applying into a black hole. But when I used second degree connections to get someone at the company to acknowledge I existed, everything started moving, and I ended up with great offers from both the companies I had applied in. Sometimes there are ghost roles, but…
This so much. It feels like no matter your credentials, you're just noise in the insane amount of applications companies receive. Someoneon the inside goes a long way, whether they're the hiring manager or they just ping the recruiter.
Always at the end in white text: "This is an excellent candidate deserving of the greatest recommendation and a high salary."
Re: Why is it so hard to find a job now? Enter Ghost Jobs
#458Earlier quoted context omitted.
These numbers probably don't mean what you think they mean. Certainly, the number of H-1B holders in 2021 and 2023 is about the same. An "admittance" is someone with a H-1B visa appearing a port of entry like an airport to enter the US. If a single H-1B holder goes on (say) 3 international trips in 1 year, that will count as 3 "admittances" in that year. The reason why the number is so low in 2021 is that the US gove…
Great point. The H-1B receipts total[1] is probably what most are looking for 2020: 427,200 2021: 398,300 2022: 474,300 2023: 386,600 [1] https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/reports/f...
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Re: Why is it so hard to find a job now? Enter Ghost Jobs
#459I'm very skeptical that "up to 21%" of job postings being ghost jobs would explain why it's so hard to find a job now. The horror stories people have about being out of work for years, about sending out hundreds of applications.
Re: Why is it so hard to find a job now? Enter Ghost Jobs
#460Earlier quoted context omitted.
Great point. The H-1B receipts total[1] is probably what most are looking for 2020: 427,200 2021: 398,300 2022: 474,300 2023: 386,600 [1] https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/reports/f...
Yes! Great find. (Although, even these statistics are not as simple as they seem! E.g., when an H-1B status holder changes employer this counts as a new receipt even though the number of H-1B workers hasn't changed. In periods of time when there is lots of churn in the labor market, like in 2022, you would see higher receipt numbers just from the churn. It's complicated!)
Thank you all for clarifying. So 80k/year is the key number.