Fake Job Postings Are Becoming a Real Problem

White-collar workers say it's harder to get hired and blame everything from AI to tighter budgets

- Lynn Cook

It's a common feeling when looking at a job listing online: the title is perfect, the pay is right, and the company seems like a solid place to work. But you also wonder if that job is real.

Lots of job seekers have a story about the postings that linger online but never seem to get filled. Those so-called ghost jobs—the roles that companies advertise but have no intention of filling—may account for as much as one in five jobs advertised in healthcare, among other sectors, Greenhouse figured out that between 18% and 22% of jobs advertised in 2024 were appeals for new workers that never actually got filled.

"It's kind of a horror show," says Jon Stross, the company's president and co-founder. "The job market has become more soul-crushing than ever."

Companies have a number of nefarious and normal reasons for posting not-quite-real jobs. They may want to suggest they're growing even when they aren't, or may keep postings up in case they get a candidate who's too good to pass up.

The post-ings add to a confounding market for workers. Economic data is pointing to healthy hiring—including a robust jobs report that showed the 256,000 new jobs were added in December. At the same time white-collar workers say it's harder to get hired and blame everything from artificial intelligence to tighter budgets.