The Dark Side of Hiring: Why Ghost Jobs Harm Everyone Involved

A ghost job is a posting for a role that does not exist, that someone already filled, or that has no funding behind it. Companies keep them live to collect resumes, to look like they are growing, or because nobody remembered to take the listing down. Survey research suggests the practice is widespread rather than occasional, and as of 2026 several states are moving to make it illegal.

That last part is new. Here is what the research actually shows, what ghost jobs cost both sides of the hiring process, and what the proposed laws would require.

What Are Ghost Jobs?

Ghost jobs, sometimes called phantom postings, are advertised roles that no one is actually hiring for. They take a few forms. Some listings stay open indefinitely with no intention of closing. Others advertise a job an internal hire took weeks earlier. Plenty are simply stale postings nobody removed after the search ended.

The common thread is that a real person spends real effort applying for something that was never available.

How Common Are Ghost Jobs?

This is where the original version of this topic usually goes vague, so here are the actual numbers and who produced them.

A 2024 MyPerfectResume survey of 753 recruiters found that roughly eight in ten admitted their company posts jobs that are already filled or do not exist. Of those recruiters, 23 percent said they used ghost ads to look viable during a hiring freeze.

A separate 2024 Resume Builder survey of 649 companies found four in ten hiring managers admitted to posting a fake listing that year. Among those companies, 59 percent said they did it to collect resumes for later, and about seven in ten considered the practice acceptable. Both surveys are summarized in Forbes reporting on ghost job legislation.

Those two surveys measure slightly different things and neither is a census, so treat them as indicators rather than precise rates. Widely repeated figures claiming a specific percentage of all listings are fake generally trace back to no primary source at all, which is worth knowing before quoting one.

Why Companies Post Jobs They Are Not Filling

• To build a candidate pool. Collecting resumes for roles that might open later is the most commonly admitted reason.
• To project growth. A long careers page suggests a company is expanding, whether or not it is.
• To look stable during a freeze. Pulling every listing signals trouble, so some companies leave them up.
• To keep current employees alert. A visible posting can imply a role is replaceable.
• Through plain neglect. Miscommunication between recruiters and hiring managers leaves filled roles advertised for months.

The first four are deliberate choices. The last one is an operations failure, and it is the easiest to fix.

States Are Moving to Ban Ghost Postings

Until recently this was an etiquette problem. Now it is becoming a compliance one. Several states have introduced bills that would require employers to say whether a posting represents a real opening.

State	Bill	What it would require
New York	S8877	Covers employers with 100 or more employees and job platforms. Ads must state in bold capital letters whether the role is a current vacancy and when the employer intends to fill it, or say plainly that no position exists. Postings come down within two weeks of being filled.
Pennsylvania	HB2321	Would bar posting nonexistent jobs or including misleading information, require a stated hiring timeline, and require disclosing how many times a role was posted in the prior year. Also limits mining or selling applicant data.
New Jersey	S2136	Ads would state whether the job is open and give a hiring timeline. Postings without a current vacancy could run up to 90 days with a disclaimer, and only if the employer filled similar roles recently.
California	AB1251	Under review as part of a broader push on job posting transparency.
Kentucky	HB324	Under review, following the same disclosure approach.

New York’s bill has moved furthest. As of October 2026, S8877 has passed both the Senate and the Assembly and awaits Governor Kathy Hochul’s signature, and it would take effect immediately once signed. According to employment law analysis of the bill, it would carry penalties of $2,500 per platform for an initial violation, rising to $5,000 and doubling for each additional 30 day period of noncompliance. Because the penalty applies per platform, one stale posting syndicated across several job boards could multiply quickly.

Until it is signed, S8877 is not law, so employers should prepare rather than assume. Most small businesses would also fall below the New York threshold of 100 employees. Still, the direction is clear enough that treating accurate postings as optional looks like a short-term position.

What Ghost Jobs Cost Job Seekers

Applying well takes time. Tailoring a resume, writing a cover letter, and working through an application portal can absorb an hour or more for a single role, and interviewing costs far more than that. When the position was never real, every minute of it is gone.

The harder cost is what it does to someone’s read on their own search. Applications disappear without response, and the natural conclusion is that something is wrong with the applicant rather than with the listing. That misread pushes people to rewrite resumes that were fine, apply more broadly than they should, or stop applying altogether.

Interviewing for a role that never opened is worse again, because people who knew they had nothing to offer still put the candidate through an evaluation.

What Ghost Jobs Cost the Companies Posting Them

The practice looks free, although it rarely is.

• Reputation. Candidates compare notes publicly, and a company known for phantom listings shows up in those conversations.
• Wasted internal time. Someone still screens the applications that arrive for a job nobody is filling.
• Weaker candidate pools later. Strong applicants have options and stop applying to employers who waste their time.
• A useless resume database. Resumes gathered for hypothetical roles go stale quickly, since someone else hires the best candidates within months.

So the pool a company builds this way tends to be the pool it least wants, assembled at the cost of the reputation it needs to hire well.

How to Spot a Ghost Job

No single signal is conclusive, although a few together are worth taking seriously.

• The listing has been live for months, or it disappears and reappears unchanged.
• The description is vague about responsibilities, team, or seniority.
• The company has many similar openings posted at once with little to distinguish them.
• Nobody can give you a hiring timeline when you ask directly.
• The recruiter is evasive about whether the role is funded and approved.
• The posting asks for extensive unpaid work before any conversation.

Asking is more effective than guessing. A direct question about the timeline and whether the role is approved gets a straight answer from legitimate employers and a vague one otherwise.

What to Do When You Are Ghosted

Follow up once, politely, about a week after the date you were told to expect news. Then follow up a second time if that gets nothing. After that, treat the role as closed and move your attention elsewhere.

The practical point is to stop reserving mental space for it. Keep applying while you wait on anything, since the alternative is pausing a search on a response that may never arrive.

If You Are the One Hiring

Most of the fix is unglamorous. Take postings down within two weeks of filling a role, which several of the proposed laws would require anyway. Say in the posting whether the opening is current and when you intend to fill it. Tell candidates you interviewed that the search closed, even briefly, because a short closing note costs minutes and people remember it.

This matters more for small and remote-first employers than for large ones. A candidate applying to a company they have never heard of, for a job they will do from home, is reading every available signal for evidence that the opportunity is real. Clear postings and prompt replies are most of what you have to offer them, and they cost nothing.

Hiring That Respects Everyone’s Time

Ghost jobs persist because the cost lands on people who have no way to push back. Candidates lose hours and confidence, employers quietly damage the reputation they will need at their next real opening, and the overall picture of the job market gets harder to read.

The fix is not complicated. Post roles that exist, say when you intend to fill them, take listings down when they close, and tell people when the search is over. Several states are now preparing to require exactly that, which suggests the voluntary version was not working.

Ghost Job FAQs

Are ghost jobs illegal?

Not yet, although that is changing. Several states have introduced bills requiring employers to disclose whether a posting reflects a real opening, with penalties for noncompliance. New York’s has passed both chambers and awaits the governor’s signature as of October 2026. Because these bills are moving, check the current status where you operate.

Why do I apply to so many jobs and never hear back?

Ghost postings are one reason among several, alongside applicant volume and automated screening. The useful takeaway is that silence often says more about the listing than about the applicant.

Why do companies ghost candidates after interviews?

Sometimes hiring needs change, a role gets frozen, or an internal candidate wins. None of those require silence, so the absence of a closing note is usually a process failure rather than a decision about the candidate.

Do ghost jobs distort employment statistics?

Job postings data is one input economists watch, and inflated listings would make openings look more plentiful than they are. Measuring that effect precisely is difficult, so treat strong claims in either direction carefully.

Should I still apply if I suspect a posting is a ghost job?

Applying costs little if the role genuinely interests you. Just avoid building your search around it, and ask about the timeline early rather than after three rounds of interviews.