‘Ghost’ Job Posts: A Mounting Frustration

New research finds a shocking number of jobs that companies don’t plan to fill. What’s driving this?

January 20, 2025

It’s a figure that will make job hunters do a double take, then shake their heads: For every five roles firms advertise online, they likely aren’t filling one of them.

That’s the conclusion of hiring platform Greenhouse, which works with multiple organizations on job postings. After examining its own data, Greenhouse reports that about one out of every five jobs advertised online is for a role that companies will never fill. Nearly 70% of companies using Greenhouse posted at least one such “ghost” job in the second quarter of last year. And 15% of companies did it regularly. As of November, the US had more than 8.1 job openings—which adds up to a lot of advertised but unfilled job posts.

Experts say there are reasons for companies to post ghost jobs, and Greenhouse’s figures don’t necessarily sound alarm bells to talent-acquisition specialists. But the report comes amid a so-called white-collar recession—a job market that has become brutal for certain highly skilled workers, with some forced to wait months for a job interview.

Companies that too frequently post ghost jobs run the risk of earning a bad reputation among job candidates, which can ultimately hurt attempts to hire. “When people are looking for jobs and they see consistent openings that are never filled, it’s a red flag,” says Wendy DiMartino, a Korn Ferry senior client partner and vice president for client services in recruitment process outsourcing.

Many companies use an evergreen tactic: They will advertise a particular role, but with the intention of identifying candidates for other jobs, both current and future. “It’s ongoing sourcing, but that particular job doesn’t get filled,” says Shanda Mints, Korn Ferry’s vice president of RPO analytics and implementation. Savvy recruiters will contact selected applicants and steer them towards other roles at the firm that might be a good fit.

Some posted but unfilled positions are, to some degree, out of recruiters’ hands. For instance, hiring managers might just promote someone from within. This leaves an advertised role technically unfilled. Then there are strategic shifts. If a company’s business fortunes or approach change, so too will its staffing needs, meaning that many advertised roles will become obsolete. In a world in which trade disputes, technology disruption, and other uncertainties seemingly happen every day, that march to irrelevancy can happen faster than ever. “If it takes a while to find someone, the ship moves on,” says Ron Porter, a Korn Ferry senior partner specializing in human resources.

A company’s calendar can also influence the number of roles that go unfilled. Towards the end of its fiscal year, a organization will often freeze hiring as a way of containing costs. Any posted roles that haven’t been filled by the beginning of the firm’s fourth quarter have a good chance of not getting filled. At the beginning of the new quarter, companies might close out the old job post and replace it with a new one. Sometimes a job isn’t filled because managers’ expectations simply become too high. “You’re looking for the perfect employee who doesn’t exist,” says JP Sniffen, practice leader of Korn Ferry’s Military Center of Expertise.

To be sure, seeing stats like Greenhouse’s can be dispiriting to anyone looking for a job (which, at any given time, can be as much as half of the working US population). Job seekers have no shortage of complaints about the frenzied market for work, such as companies that don’t communicate with them well, automated hiring systems that might never surface their résumés to a human recruiter, and all of the advertised but not filled roles. 

Experts say that companies can—and should—try to control the number of advertised roles they don’t fill. Talent recruiters can consult with hiring managers about the realities of the job market before posting a job, DiMartino says. This will help hiring managers better calibrate skill, salary, and experience requirements for the current job market. 

 

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