https://gizmodo.com/1-in-5-online-job-postings-are-either-fake-or-never-filled-study-finds-2000549706 [p] Skip to content Search * Home * Latest * Tech * Reviews * Science * io9 * AI * Video * Deals * CES 2025 Awards News 1 in 5 Online Job Postings Are Either Fake or Never Filled, Study Finds A plague of "ghost jobs" is haunting the modern job-seeker. Lucas Ropek By Lucas Ropek Published January 14, 2025 | Comments (62) | X Copied! Empty Office Space (c) Thomas Barwick/Getty Images The job hunt can be a slog. Confusing job portals, dense competition, and time-consuming application processes all conspire to make job hunting one of the most annoying experiences on the planet. After all the work that goes into an application, 99.9 percent of the time you hear nothing back. It's enough to make you feel like you're firing applications into the abyss--as if the jobs you've applied to never existed in the first place. Well, according to a recent study, that may actually be the case. The Wall Street Journal cites internal data from the hiring platform Greenhouse that shows one in five online job postings--or between 18% and 22% of jobs advertised--are either fake or never filled. That data was culled from Greenhouse's proprietary information, which the company can access because it sells automated software that helps employers fill out job postings. The "ghost job" phenomenon has been growing for some time--much to the vexation of job-seekers. The Journal story cites the experiences of one unfortunate job-seeker, Serena Dao, who searched for a job for over a year. Dao says that, before landing her current position, she applied to some 260 jobs and frequently wondered whether the positions she was applying to were real or not. Some onlookers have speculated that the practice of posting such advertisements is actually a corporate strategy designed to make the businesses posting them seem like they're growing when, in fact, they're not. Fast Company writes that this practice may help companies "feign active hiring and growth" and helps the "C-suite hit quarterly goals without the negative perception of removing jobs from their career sites." Another commentator for Forbes notes that ghost jobs can inflate "the true number of jobs in the market and elongates the job search, much to the frustration of many job seekers." The plague of such phantom positions has led some platforms to treat job postings in very much the same way that other online content gets treated: as either A) verified or B) potential misinformation. Both Greenhouse and LinkedIn now supply a job verification service, the Journal writes, which allows users to know whether a position is legit or not. "It's kind of a horror show," Jon Stross, Greenhouse's president and co-founder, told the Journal. "The job market has become more soul-crushing than ever." Greenhousejob listingsLinkedIn Daily Newsletter Get the best tech, science, and culture news in your inbox daily. Select [ ] News from the future, delivered to your present. Select [ ] Please select your desired newsletters and submit your email to upgrade your inbox. [ ] Sign me up Leave this field empty if you're human: [ ] You May Also Like * [LinkedIn] Tech NewsArtificial Intelligence AI Was Born to Blog on LinkedIn A study found that most of the posts on LinkedIn are written by generative AI. Is anyone surprised? By Matthew Gault Published November 27, 2024 * [Salame] Tech News Former FTX Executive Is Locked-In on LinkedIn and Federal Prison One of FTX's executives begins a seven year prison sentence with a humorous update to his LinkedIn profile. By Matthew Gault Published October 11, 2024 * [753e6e2c90a4c6e8d1537382fe6bcc87] Tech NewsPrivacy and Security New Open Source Bugs Leave Thousands of iOS Apps Vulnerable to Hijacking The Cocoapods vulnerabilities could threaten TikTok, Snapchat, LinkedIn, Netflix, Microsoft Teams, Facebook Messenger, and many others. By Lucas Ropek Published July 2, 2024 * * [a439b8a4422c5e0aefab6c7786de46a4] Tech NewsNews AT&T Users Report Major Problems Making Calls in U.S. The issue appears confined to voice calls this time, unlike the complete outage in February. By Matt Novak Published June 4, 2024 * Photo: AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes Tech NewsNews Big Name TikTok Accounts Reportedly Hacked Via DMs Accounts for CNN, Sony, and Paris Hilton have reportedly been compromised. By Matt Novak Published June 4, 2024 * [3e543ff976b2138537300c374ff3a91f] Tech NewsGaming Nintendo's Bowser Gets Into LinkedIn Brawl Over Plane Seats The President of Nintendo America hopped into the comments to call out an oddly agressive post about deboarding planes Zack Zwiezen, Kotaku Published May 10, 2024 Latest news Beauty And The Beast Lefou Exclusively Gay Moment Josh Gad Is Still Mortified Over Disney Making Beauty and the Beast's 'Exclusively Gay Moment' a Big Deal A person wearing a Razer Zephyr mask while typing on a laptop next to a person wearing a standard mask FTC Is Now Refunding People Who Bought Razer's Ridiculous Zephyr Masks An image of a cell phone with Pixelfed Decentralized Instagram-Killer Pixelfed Gets a Mobile App Squidgame Cop Squid Game's Wi Ha-jun on His Cop Character's Obsessive, Relentless Search Donald Trump and Peter Thiel clasp hands Musk, Zuckerberg, and Bezos Are All Headed to Trump's Inauguration Rednote Tiktok Ban The Techno-Utopian Dream of the 1990s Is Alive on RedNote (For Now) It Welcome To Derry 2 The 8 Upcoming Stephen King Adaptations We're Most Excited to See Jpl Space Flight Operations Center Side Angle NASA's Deep Space Mission Control Is Empty for the First Time in 6 Decades as L.A. Wildfires Rage Best of CES 2025 Awards Best of CES 2025 Awards Best of CES 2025 Awards Latest news Josh Gad Is Still Mortified Over Disney Making Beauty and the Beast's 'Exclusively Gay Moment' a Big Deal 1/14/2025, 5:10 pm Beauty And The Beast Lefou Exclusively Gay Moment FTC Is Now Refunding People Who Bought Razer's Ridiculous Zephyr Masks 1/14/2025, 4:50 pm A person wearing a Razer Zephyr mask while typing on a laptop next to a person wearing a standard mask Decentralized Instagram-Killer Pixelfed Gets a Mobile App 1/14/2025, 4:00 pm An image of a cell phone with Pixelfed Squid Game's Wi Ha-jun on His Cop Character's Obsessive, Relentless Search 1/14/2025, 3:50 pm Squidgame Cop Latest Reviews OnePlus 13 Review: A Better Android Phone, but It's Not the Best 1/14/2025, 10:00 am Oneplus 13 4 The Onyx Boox Go 6 Did Not Free Me From the Kindle Store's Grip 1/5/2025, 7:00 am Onyx Boox Go 6 Hero The Best Laptops in 2025 1/4/2025, 4:10 pm Best Laptops Oppo Find 8X Pro Review: A Great iPhone for Android Lovers 1/4/2025, 8:00 am Oppo Find 8X Pro Smartphone in front of neon purple Gizmodo sign * * * X * * * * Sitemap * Edicion ES * Edition FR * Edicao PT * Accessibility * Privacy Policy * Terms of Use * Advertising * Reprints & Permissions * Your Privacy Choices * How We Review Products We may earn a commission when you buy through links on our sites. (c)2025 GIZMODO USA LLC. All rights reserved. * Cyber Monday * Best VPN + Best Free VPN + Best Cheap VPN + NordVPN Review + ExpressVPN Review + PIA Review + ProtonVPN Review + Surfshark Review + Super Bowl 2025 + US Open 2024 * Best Cloud Storage * Best Web Hosting * About Gizmodo Mode Follow us * * * X * * * * Home * Latest * Tech * Reviews * Science * io9 * AI * Video * Deals * CES 2025 Awards * How to Tip Gizmodo * About Gizmodo * + Cyber Monday + Best VPN o Best Free VPN o Best Cheap VPN o NordVPN Review o ExpressVPN Review o PIA Review o ProtonVPN Review o Surfshark Review o Super Bowl 2025 o US Open 2024 + Best Cloud Storage + Best Web Hosting + About Gizmodo Mode Follow us * * * X * * * [ ] Cookies settings