Have You Ever Heard About “Ghost Job Listings?”
You’ve probably heard about job ghosting: it describes a growing trend where candidates don’t show up to a scheduled interview or just don’t arrive on their first day of work, even after accepting a job in the first place.
It is a phenomenon that accelerated during the pandemic. Covid-19 created an environment known as “the Great Resignation,” and in 2021, more than 47 million workers quit their jobs, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
A tight labor market where a lot of employers were looking for staff meant it became far easier for workers to be pickier than they had ever been before about who they wanted to work for. If they decide to go for a better offer from a new employer at the last minute, some have no issues with ghosting the first offer.
What are ghost job listings?
But now we have another paranormal peculiarity to get to grips with: ghost job listings. This is, on the surface, at least, a job listing like any other. But they are significantly different because they are highly unlikely to lead to a hire. So why are companies posting them? There can, in fact, be several reasons why you might stumble across a ghost job post during your job hunt.
Right now, some tech companies are under a squeeze, scaling back operations and laying off staff. Hiring freezes can hit suddenly, and job advertisements don’t get removed as quickly as they should. Plus, some companies make a strategic decision to leave listings in place for jobs they never intend to fill: they don’t want it to appear to the competition that they aren’t hiring.
Other companies have left up speculative job posts to help them create what is known as a pipeline of talent. There may not be an actual job right now – but there could be a few months down the line. When you consider that the average tenure at Microsoft is 1.81 years and just 1.64 years at Airbnb, according to figures from Paysa, there is a lot of staff turnover within tech.
Another reason companies use ghost listings for jobs is that they have roles that are known as “evergreen.” These are jobs that are always open, such as software development which is currently in huge demand. The role or job description itself may seem vague, but the company is seeking people with these skills.
How to spot a ghost job listing
So now you know what a ghost job listing is, how can you spot one? Always check the date it was posted. If it is more than 60 days old, it could be a ghost job. Do your own research too. Investigate the company by searching for its name via Google. Have there been any recent layoffs or a hiring freeze? This kind of information can inform your decision to apply for a role or not.
Below, we have three jobs that are worth a look at this week, and there are plenty more to discover on the Fossbytes Job Board too.
Associate Enterprise Account Engineer, National Security, Amazon Web Services, Inc., Herndon
AWS National Security is one of the fastest-growing organizations within Amazon Web Services (AWS) it is currently hiring for an Associate Enterprise Account Engineer. You will help craft and execute strategies to drive customers’ adoption and use of AWS services. You will provide advocacy and strategic technical guidance to help plan and build solutions using best practices. You’ll need to have four years’ of technical engineering experience, experience in operational parameters and troubleshooting, and applications development in a distributed systems environment. Get the full job description here.
.NET Developer, Apptad Inc, Remote
Apptad is full-spectrum consulting and implementation partner that enables enterprises to tame modern data, application, and platform challenges to create a data-driven culture. It is hiring a .NET Developer with a wide array of programming experience in various technologies who should have a good finance and accounting background. To apply, you will require at least eight years’ of programming experience, with five years of .Net experience. It is essential that you’ll have worked with the integration of the COTS product (Investran) and other financial systems, and you’ll need a working knowledge of PL/SQL as well as some working experience with Informatica. Discover the benefits here.
Software Engineer II, Electronic Arts, Orlando
The Online Software Engineer will help build networked gameplay experiences for Electronic Arts’ NHL franchise. You’ll enjoy prototyping and planning, adding amazing new features to an existing and beloved game, and improving existing code. You will do full stack development working on both game client and backend services, working with designers, artists, and engineers from other domains. You’ll need a Bachelor’s degree in computer science or related field, equivalent training and professional experience, and a year or more experience in C++ software development, client/server, peer-to-peer, and multithreaded architectures, among other requirements. Find all the details here.
Find your ideal job in tech across the U.S. on the Fossbytes Job Board now.
By Kirstie McDermott
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