Unmasking Ghost Jobs: A First-Time Job Seeker's Guide to Avoiding Fake Listings

By Jasmine Escalera, career expert at LiveCareer

Your first job search after college should feel wildly exciting and full of opportunities. You’ve been preparing for this moment and are ready to take the corporate world by storm. But there’s a sneaky part of the job search process that can kill your enthusiasm and build serious resentment and frustration. And that’s ghost jobs.

What are Ghost Jobs? Ghost jobs are postings that don’t actually lead to real hires. In some cases, they’re for jobs that don’t even exist. Companies post these roles with no intent to fill them. You might be wondering: why the deception? Companies often use ghost jobs to build a pool of candidates for later, to test the market, or even to make it look like the company is growing.

The Reality of Ghost Jobs According to data from resume builder LiveCareer’s Ghost Jobs Report, these kinds of postings are surprisingly common. In fact, 45% of HR professionals admit to regularly posting ghost jobs, and another 48% say they do it occasionally, often just to collect resumes. This isn’t just a one-time issue. Another study from resume builder MyPerfectResume found that 81% of recruiters say they’ve posted ghost jobs before.

How to Spot Ghost Jobs

• The job has been posted for months, sometimes without updates. If a listing has been sitting on a job board for 30, 60, or even 90 days with no edits or changes, chances are it’s not an active hire.
• You apply and never receive a confirmation or response, even after following up. It’s normal not to hear back instantly. But if you’ve submitted a strong application and followed up once or twice with no response, it may be a sign that the job doesn’t really exist or is no longer open.
• The role is consistently reposted or relisted without any hiring activity. If you keep seeing the same job title, at the same company, popping up week after week, it may be a ghost job.
• The job has no application deadline or sense of urgency. If the posting doesn’t list a timeline or mention when interviews will begin, it may be a placeholder rather than an active opening.

What to Do Instead

• Stick to roles that have been posted within the past 1–2 weeks.
• Keep a job search tracker and note key things like when you applied, who contacted you, and when you followed up.
• Use LinkedIn to check if anyone at the company has recently announced the position as a new opening.
• Look for postings that include specific timelines or clear next steps.