It’s annoyingly common for job hunters to be ghosted.

But have you ever suspected the role you’ve spent all that time and energy applying for might not even exist?

“Ghost jobs” – positions that are non-existent or have already been filled – have come under the spotlight recently, with some commentators claiming up to 30 per cent of job ads might be fake.

Others argue the illegal practice is almost impossible to measure, but should not be a huge cause for alarm.

HR consultant Jess Gleeson, of Becoming HR, believes the tactic is becoming outdated thanks to the transparency of social media, and sites such as Glassdoor, where staff can rate their employers.

Common reasons

But she says there are common reasons an employer or recruiter might advertise a fake job.

The first is to gather resumes that they can keep on file when they need to fill genuine positions quickly in the future.

“It also aids in creating the perspective that they are a growing business, particularly if they have another actual role advertised,” Gleeson said.

Employers might also be checking the talent in the market, and benchmarking that against existing employees’ experience and skills, says Gleeson. Or using a questionable approach to gathering resumes to meet their diversity quota.

Then some employers create such ads to give their overworked staff the (false) illusion that help is on the way.

Transparency vital

Gleeson steered one client away from their plans to advertise a ghost job, which she says would have gone against the significant amount of time and money that company had spent on building a culture of trust and transparency.

A spokesperson for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, says under Australian consumer law, businesses are prohibited from misleading consumers about the availability, nature, terms or conditions of employment.

“Publishers are also responsible for identifying, monitoring and removing fake or misleading job advertisements appearing on their platforms.”

Meanwhile, the Fair Work Ombudsman has announced a crackdown on job ads that offer illegally low rates of pay, with employers hit with more than $89,000 in fines since March last year.

The regulator will write to major online job websites asking them to do better in stopping “dodgy” ads before they appear.

Database building

As for ghost jobs, Catherine Harris, the managing director of Project Roar, says while they may be illegal, they are out there.

She has seen recruiters, particularly junior ones, using ghost job ads to build their database after moving into new or smaller agencies.

“There’s no jobs on their books. They’re just trying to create activity,” Harris said.

She’s dubious about estimates on the percentage of ghost jobs.

“The thing is, it’s secret, right? Nobody would ever talk about that. So how would you ever really know?”

– TND