Ghost jobs haunt candidates amid a spooky job market

Staffing major Randstad says there were close to 11 million job openings at the beginning of the year, and of these, about 4,00,000 may be ghost jobs. Such jobs are typically open for a month or more. (Illustration by Suneesh Kalarickal)

Yukti Saxena* was approached for a position at a multinational consulting firm in May via an online job portal. She went through the usual HR hoops, and after a month-long process, she was eventually told that she had been selected. However, she never got an official confirmation by email. The communication mostly happened over calls.

She followed up for at least a month, but failed to connect with any of the three HR people she had dealt with. In the second week of July, nearly 50 days since the process began, she was told that she had been shortlisted for another role as the earlier role was already filled.

“I felt betrayed, but what choice did I have?” Saxena said, adding that she is yet to receive further updates on the alternative position.

In what may be resurrection of an earlier trend, staffing experts say Saxena may be a victim of a ghost job. The term has been resurrected this year, when firms big and small have been on a layoff spree.

Staffing major Randstad says there were close to 11 million job openings at the beginning of the year, and of these, about 4,00,000 may be ghost jobs. Such jobs are typically open for a month or more.

“A major reason why ghost jobs are listed is because a company wants to project an impression of growth. Another reason could be to build a database of potential candidates for future hiring needs,” said Yeshab Giri, Chief Commercial Officer of staffing firm Randstad.

Roles that merit a closer look

As per Randstad, ghost jobs are mostly prevalent in entry or mid-level roles. These roles attract a larger applicant pool due to their relatively lower eligibility criteria.

The most common roles found in ghost jobs include positions like customer service representatives, sales executives, administrative assistants, data entry operators, coders, marketers, HR executives, etc.

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Though ghost jobs are prevalent across industries, it is especially common in IT. Sudhakar Raja, Founder and CEO of background verification (BGV) firm TRST Score, says this is because ghost job posters target jobs that have high demand and a large pool of qualified candidates.

However, Raja highlighted that ghost jobs are not just posted by the hiring companies, but also by staffing agencies, as often, recruitment firms are chosen purely because of the expanse of their databases. This incentivises them to collect a large number of resumes using such methods.

“There are over 1,500 job portals in the country. Many of them do not get the same traction as the top ones, and hence often create fake jobs to increase clicks, and use such inflated metrics to justify their charges,” Raja added.

How candidates can dodge ghost jobs

Though there are no fool-proof ways to identify ghost jobs, experts say there are some basic checks and balances that candidates can ensure to avoid an experience like Saxena’s.

For instance, a clear and concise job description (JD) is a must. According to Navneet Singh, Founder and CEO of HR consulting firm AVSAR, if the job description is vague or overly broad, it may be a ghost role. It is important to ensure that the job description contains clear deliverables, objectives, and expectations.

“Ask about the projects or tasks you’d be responsible for, and examples of how your role impacts the company’s goals,” he said.

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Since HR has been ghosting candidates for a while, Singh suggests that people should monitor employee reviews on platforms such as Glassdoor, and look for complaints about being ghosted, or roles that appear superfluous.

(*name changed on request)