The Ghost Job Epidemic: Why 30% of the Market Isn’t Real

You applied. You waited. Silence. It’s not just you.

Job seekers today are trapped in a cycle of application and rejection, but the rejection isn’t personal. In many cases, it’s structural. A growing body of data suggests that nearly one-third of active job postings are "ghost jobs"—roles that are technically open but operationally dead.

Companies aren’t hiring for them. No one is monitoring the inbox. They exist as placeholders, not opportunities.

What Is a Ghost Job?

A ghost job is a vacancy that remains advertised long after the intent to hire has evaporated. These aren’t scams (though scams exist). They are corporate debris.

They happen for three main reasons:

• Pipeline Hoarding: Companies want a stack of resumes "just in case" an employee leaves, so they keep the listing active indefinitely.
• Frozen Headcount: A manager opens a role, budget gets cut, but HR never pulls the listing because "we might get approval next quarter."
• Illusion of Growth: Companies keep listings active to signal to investors and competitors that they are expanding, even when they are actively laying people off.

The Cost of Invisible Inventories

For job seekers, the cost is time and morale. You craft a cover letter, tailor your resume, and emotionally invest in a role that effectively doesn't exist.

Our internal analysis of job aging suggests that once a listing passes the 30-day mark without a refresh, the probability of it being a ghost job spikes dramatically. By day 60, it’s almost certainly dead. Yet, aggregators continue to scrape and republish these zombie listings, making the market look healthier than it is.

How to Spot a Ghost

You can't know for sure, but you can spot the signals.

1. The Timestamp Test: If a job has been posted for 30+ days and hasn’t been reposted/refreshed, treat it with extreme caution.
2. The "Evergreen" Title: Generic titles like "Software Engineer" or "Sales Representative" posted without specific team details are often evergreen buckets used to collect resumes, not specific seats.
3. The Career Page Disconnect: If it's on LinkedIn but not on the company’s own career page, it’s likely an orphan listing that the ATS failed to close.

Focus on the Living

The strategy is simple: stop fighting ghosts. Prioritize "Fresh" roles—jobs posted within the last 72 hours. These represent immediate, verified intent.

In a market flooded with noise, your most valuable asset is your attention. Don't spend it on opportunities that aren't there.