I hate “ghost jobs” as much as the next job seeker, and I’m not looking for a job. But I am trying to make sense of it all and will need help explaining, I hope, more clearly than you’ll see in most LinkedIn posts.
There are many articles about ghost jobs, but not in the context of the differences between fake and ghost jobs. In this episode of the podcast, there is a past one I did with Craig Fisher. It’s a five-minute excerpt in which he provides a clear reason for ghost jobs, reframed as “evergreen jobs,” and how companies use the data they collect.
I have to be fair and not villainize its use, while hating it like crazy, because for job seekers, the extra work of discerning the difference between the fake ones is. When job seekers vent about, **ahem** “evergreen jobs,” they feel the waste of valuable time in discerning between the two. The elementary part of the fake and ghost jobs is they come from fake companies or posts created by fake recruiters.
But you deserve a further breakdown.
What do we know about ghost jobs?
This won’t go well with experienced recruiters, not because they are the perpetrator or villain. They work for the company to actively fill vacant roles. Many others feel your pain, including those trying to pass legislation.
Craig and I talked in August of 2024. Since then, I discovered additional resources, including some legislation, to mainly require the employer and job boards to identify their “evergreen” or (ghost job).
Ghost jobs have been a concern for decades.
I found this 2003 Chicago Tribune article featuring my friend Robin Ryan, who expressed concern about job seekers’ reliance on job boards. Back then, “phantom vacancies” (now “ghost jobs”) were called out because the number of job applicants was suspect. Even then, the widespread use of measuring talent pipelines, using data to inform employers of ideal applicants, and appealing to stakeholders and investors creates the impression that jobs are in high demand.
This is why data collection requires transparency.
This Colombia Law Review article, Ghost Jobs, uses the word “deception” at least 20 times, indicating that the collection of personal information is not merely misleading. They are hard to identify and avoid for most applicants, even when job postings list an expired date. The paper calls for more transparency and forthrightness when posting the job.
Here’s a model for federal law?
The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA) requires companies to provide job seekers with an opt-out option so their information is not shared with anyone. Their law includes the right for anyone to delete their personal information, where and how it’s used, and if it’s sold and to whom or what. There are 20 states with laws and guidelines that are somewhat similar but not as comprehensive as those in California.
Here are two federal bills proposed as drafts for comprehensive regulation. The first below is not employment-specific, but the other could be a game-changer. I won’t go into either at the moment, but you might want to check them out. I’ll cover them in future articles and podcasts.
The American Privacy Rights Act (APRA)
The Truth in Job Advertising and Accountability Act (TJAAA)
Today, companies view your personal information as their asset.
Craig is a fractional talent acquisition leader and consultant for various companies. I am republishing a short excerpt from our original conversation from the fall of 2024, as it wraps up what ghost jobs are from a company’s point of view. It’s probably the best one I’ve heard to date.
Here’s what Craig told me about ghost jobs:
* Ghost jobs are seen as ‘evergreen jobs” because of the constant need and turnover.
* The collected information is not sold (personal opinion, it might be sold), and it also states actual companies are not “the bad actors.”
* Companies are building candidate lists, and he also framed this process through the lens of evergreen roles.
* Storage and Use: Job seeker data are placed into an Applicant Tracking System (ATS). Sometimes, recruiters use this data to find candidates who have applied previously.
* When lists become stagnant, the organization may send an email to “wake the dead” to seek out potentially available applicants.
* Some employers and ATS makers are beginning to implement policies that purge collected data after a set period, such as 12 months.
The downside of collecting job seekers’ personal information is the risk of data breaches, which are usually handled by data storage companies. We dig a little deep into the full conversation of the episode below.
The most important part of this is each of us taking responsibility for protecting one of our primary assets, our personal information. There is no social or employment platform, law, or privacy guideline to protect or save us from bad actors. Job scams and the fight to protect an individual’s personal information from deviant behavior are not just the future.
It is a raging war now!
Here’s what no one is talking about:
How to avoid applying to “ghost jobs?”
Companies should add an asterisk to their “ghost job” postings or give job seekers a choice about how to use the application’s job data. A few of these I mentioned in an interview for Fast Company. You can choose not to apply to jobs currently marked by these yellow flags:
* Look for companies that clearly state their hiring process.
* Avoid applying for jobs with expired posting dates.
* Apply to jobs posted on the company’s website. Bad actors create company websites by scraping data from real companies and misspelling the URL. If a URL is misspelled, consider it suspect and move on.
* Companies should have a data privacy policy at the beginning of their application. Read it, and if you’re unsure or uncomfortable with their statement, continue. If not, then discontinue applying.
* Craig mentioned companies may delete job seeker data after a year. In California, a job seeker can request the deletion, but it is not a universal policy.
As I always say:
Clarify
Verify
Don’t just apply.
Your personal information is an asset. You have a right to control who has it and how it’s used.
Need help keeping your private information safe?
I wanted to ensure that the companies I partner with for ‘The Job Scam Report’ were a good fit. The FBI reports Americans are losing significantly more to cybercrime than home burglaries, with digital crime financial losses reaching approximately $12.5 billion in 2023 alone.
Job search strategy and safety should be top of mind for all job seekers.
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