Ghost jobs, where employers post positions they appear to have no intention of actually filling, are more than annoying. They’re giving the next generation of workers a formative lesson in how employers behave. So what are ghost jobs teaching Gen Z workers? That employers don’t mean what they say and you shouldn’t take anything at face value. In short, employers can’t be trusted.

It’s not a good look for companies who plan to seek young talent in the future. (Young talent does tend to notice when it’s blown off.)

Ghost jobs have become a significant issue for job seekers, with the Wall Street Journal reporting that 19% of digital job postings receive applications without ever leading to a hire. This growing gap in postings versus hirings has led lawmakers in several states to target this practice. Whether or not anything will change is not yet known, but the fact that the issue is getting press is a positive development.

Set back by the pandemic and now competing with AI for entry-level roles, Gen Z has had a rough start to their working lives. You’d think they had enough to deal with in today’s relatively stagnant hiring landscape without companies resorting to deceptive practices like ghost jobs.

Disillusion enough Gen Z workers with such tactics, and they’ll make good on their entrepreneurial promises. Can you imagine a future where companies truly want to hire but the workers just aren’t interested? “Not falling for that again,” they’ll think.

So why do companies even do this? I connected with Dimitri Boylan, CEO of Avature, to discuss. Here’s what we covered.

What drives ghost jobs

If ghost jobs are so universally hated, why do companies post them? Often, it’s to make the company look like it’s in better shape than it actually is. Such an organization has no qualms about squandering candidates’ time and trust for a short-term gain.

However, while it’s easy to read malicious intent into the practice of ghost jobs, sometimes the reality is indicting in a different way. Companies may not set out to post fictitious roles; instead, they may simply be internally disorganized and disconnected.

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