Business A ton of job postings might actually be fake - need a job? go fuck yourself

https://qz.com/companies-posting-fake-job-listings-resume-builder-1851556777?utm_source=reddit.com

https://archive.is/XYu9D

If you aren’t hearing back from a job you applied to, it might be because it’s not real.


A new survey from Resume Builder revealed that 39% of hiring managers said their company posted a fake job listing in the past year.

The disheartening results show that among those who posted fake jobs, “approximately 26% posted one to three fake job listings, 19% posted five, 19% posted 10, 11% posted 50, 10% posted 25, and 13% posted 75 or more.”

The fake jobs ranged from entry-level roles to executive positions, said Resume Builder, which surveyed 649 hiring managers.

Companies said they are posting fake jobs for a laundry list of reasons, including to deceive their own employees.

More than 60% of those surveyed said they posted fake jobs “to make employees believe their workload would be alleviated by new workers.”

Sixty-two percent of companies said another reason for the shady practice is to “have employees feel replaceable.”

Two-thirds of companies cited a desire to “appear the company is open to external talent” and 59% said it was an effort to “collect resumes and keep them on file for a later date.”

What’s even more concerning about the results: 85% of companies engaging in the practice said they interviewed candidates for the fake jobs.

“It’s a concerning scenario, particularly when these misleading postings originate from HR departments — the very entities entrusted with shaping accurate perceptions of their organizations,” Resume Builder’s Chief Career Advisor Stacie Haller said.

“Whether it’s to create an illusion of company expansion or to foster a sense of replaceability among employees, such practices are not acceptable,” she added.

Haller said workers “deserve transparency about the companies they dedicate their time to, rather than being led astray by false representations.”

She also called it “deplorable” that companies are purposely “undermining employees’ sense of value and security.”

But the practice doesn’t look like it’s going away any time soon. Almost 70% of those who posted the phony jobs told Resume Builder that fake job listings positively impacted revenue. Employers also reported the listing had a positive impact on “employee morale” — although it’s not clear how.

“Companies engaging in this practice not only tarnish their reputation but also sabotage their long-term prospects,” Haller said. “Deceptive practices erode trust, dissuading potential applicants from considering them in the future as viable employers.”

 

[jertzog]

We're getting to the point where every job posting in our countries need to be audited by the government with an explanation for why each position was not filled with however-many number of candidates. This shit is actual terrorism and needs to be criminalized.

 

[Niall Meanwhile]

Speaking of, there are also a lot of positions listed that are looking for an extremely specialized purple squirrel candidate that probably doesn’t exist, or, if the candidate does exist, he or she is highly unlikely to take the position at the salary being offered. I think those are fake, too. Many of these companies are government contractors and are required to list any open position, even if someone in the company is already being promoted for the position.

As someone who's worked in government institutions in better days, I can tell you this is exactly what they do. One time, when they needed to extend my contract while I was working on a project that took considerably longer than expected, they just listed the position with a set of requirements so specific that it stopped just short of saying "candidate must be exactly 5'8, have a five-letter name starting with N, and (highly desirable) post on kiwifarms under an obscure Canadian cartoon pfp; please abstain from applying if you don't meet ALL of these criteria".

I've been searching for a couple months now and I'm giving up cos corporate is no better. I have ree'd about this on some other thread, but nowadays in my field what HR wants is fistfuckers with an influencer demeanour (and that being the case I'm thoroughly fucked, cos I'm a traitor to my generation in that regard) Skills? Knowledge? Who'd ever want that in the research and development department? I recently got passed on for some stupid bint with all the aesthetic sensibility and design chops of a Bengali on Fiverr.

I don't give a fuck if this is powerlevelling too hard or whatever. I'm this close to go apply for a delivery boy job at Getir or something like that, at least that way I'd get to take a shitload of stale donuts home everyday. That's how sick of this shit I am right now.

 

[Super-Chevy454]

It also lets companies lie about their growth to pretend they are expanding.

It's all fucked.

Indeed and let's not forget the folks who promoted "Bidenomics"....

 

[Mr. Zed da Robot Poon Fed]

so kiwis, have you ever once been contact down the road by a company who "has your resume on file"? ive had more companies than i count keep my resume but never once have i heard form them. nor can i think of anyone i know who has heard back down the road from a company who has their resume on file. so i put the question to you, have any of you ever had your resume on file and then later had a company contact you about it?

I'll bite. The latest I ever had a company get back to me regarding my resume is nearly a couple of months. This is the job I currently have. Maybe it's because of my degree (electrical engineering), but you need to be careful with companies that want to set up an interview with you the day you apply. I almost got conned by applying and interviewing for a job that not only would underpay me but is asking me to spend thousands of dollars on tools that they should be providing me.

Regardless, this is still a poor practice. As I apply for new potential jobs, I hate the fact that they ask for a resume to set up an interview and never get back to me. That is just a waste of my time. People drive for several hours to interview for a job only to find that the job doesn't exist or pays $35,000 a year.

Nevermind that this fucks up the unemployment rate because this demoralizes people into not searching for jobs and then they become the "not currently searching for employment" statistic.

It's absurd. And it's really HR's fault. Tech recruiters apparently have to keep themselves busy, so that's when these fake jobs pop up.

 

[Yeeted Teet]

I never got Indian scammers calling me until I started to apply for jobs. They put up a fake job posting to gather phone numbers, and you're going to answer that unknown number because it might be the recruiter or company calling you for an interview. If I had known this before I started looking for a new job I'd have just used a burner sim so I don't need to use my actual number which I now have to change.

Kiwis, get a burner sim when job hunting.

It doesn't help that real HR and recruiting teams are infested with Indians these days so the accent isn't a sign to immediately hang up, you have to listen to them for a few minutes to be sure.

 

[ObeseScreamingBlackMan]

One thing I will say about working public sector - they can't really do stuff like this.

 

[Otterly]

What I’ve seen is an internal candidate is chosen but the job has to be put externally too and they interview a few people to make it look like they really did try.
Nothing HR do would surprise me. They are absolutely useless.

 

[Cherry Eyed Hamster]

Without powerleveling too hard, I've never had an issue finding a job. I'll stay at one long enough if it's decent but I never usually sweat a job. I was trying to find other work while working at my job and for a month straight, I've barely been getting any calls or emails regarding my application. Then, I'll check and the position has been closed.

Interesting to see this article come out.

Same boat. I work in an industry that’s supposedly “growing” in demand and I have decades of experience under my belt in said industry. I could almost always get a job within one month.

Now? Nothing. I’ve applied to twenty different companies and am even willing to have the compensation be lower than what I’m asking. Nope. Still nothing. Got one email from a recruiter who asked me to click a link to schedule an “interview”, yet every time I clicked the site would just crash so I emailed her and she never got back to me. I’ve received no other emails or phone calls. It’s so fucked.

 

[Kankichi Ryotsu]

Wow, say it ain't so!
I thought this was pretty widely known.

 

[Montalbane]

Tfw i got my job because of weightlifting

 

[Grub]

so kiwis, have you ever once been contact down the road by a company who "has your resume on file"? ive had more companies than i count keep my resume but never once have i heard form them. nor can i think of anyone i know who has heard back down the road from a company who has their resume on file. so i put the question to you, have any of you ever had your resume on file and then later had a company contact you about it?

When I worked a job where I had to deal with looking at resumes I barely even looked at 99% of them. If I wasn't going to have them come in for an interview then that resume was immediately either tossed out or forgotten about and for most of them it was apparent in the first few lines of their resume they wouldn't work out.

 

[Kel1 shi1]

When I worked a job where I had to deal with looking at resumes I barely even looked at 99% of them. If I wasn't going to have them come in for an interview then that resume was immediately either tossed out or forgotten about and for most of them it was apparent in the first few lines of their resume they wouldn't work out.

Everybody even "Experts" has different advice on what a resume needs to look like. I think there should be an actual regulated standard for them to cut all the bullshit and contradictory advice.

 

[Super Guido]

Everybody even "Experts" has different advice on what a resume needs to look like. I think there should be an actual regulated standard for them to cut all the bullshit and contradictory advice.

This drives me up a wall. Every single person thinks they have all the answers, but they don't, and none of them bother to teach you realistic skills outside of "how not to look like a retard at the job interview".

Some jokers think employers love "thank you" letters, others think it's only needed in certain environments. Some employers see it as desperate or irrelevant. People act like there are cheat codes to magically get a job, and this mentality needs to stop. It's practically the same advice for the past 20 years, and the tactics seem to be based on stuff from 50 years ago.

 

[Absolutego]

It doesn't help that real HR and recruiting teams are infested with Indians these days so the accent isn't a sign to immediately hang up, you have to listen to them for a few minutes to be sure.

If a recruiter is reaching out to you and they're visibly Indian odds are 99% they work for some pajeet owned/operated staffing company that exists solely to facilitate H1-B fraud.
The ones who claim to live in New Jersey especially. They'll go to the effort to rent American commercial real estate and essentially pay to keep an office empty to keep up a front that you aren't talking to a bunch of midwits in Pune.

 

[Grub]

Everybody even "Experts" has different advice on what a resume needs to look like. I think there should be an actual regulated standard for them to cut all the bullshit and contradictory advice.

No I mean like I'm talking people who can't spell or write properly, people who have no related experience, questionable job histories, people who list completely retarded things. Shit like that. I never usually paid attention to formatting unless it was completely unreadable or they chose ridiculous fonts or formatted it in a stupid gimmicky way.

 

[Unexpected Genitals]

I'm between jobs right now. Business minor, my major was a bullshit BFA and I shouldn't have gotten it. Fortunate enough to have good savings and a supportive family, but fuck if stuff like this hasn't kept me up at night. I'm scared and I'm angry and if I can't find some kind of office job that isn't retail or customer service I don't know what I'm going to so.

 

[rel=alternate]

More than 60% of those surveyed said they posted fake jobs “to make employees believe their workload would be alleviated by new workers.”

Sixty-two percent of companies said another reason for the shady practice is to “have employees feel replaceable.”

Two-thirds of companies cited a desire to “appear the company is open to external talent” and 59% said it was an effort to “collect resumes and keep them on file for a later date.”

What’s even more concerning about the results: 85% of companies engaging in the practice said they interviewed candidates for the fake jobs.

Saddest part about all this is that there might be good reasons to post false job posting. But none of these makes sense, especially not if you're investing money into it.

Employees are not all completely retarded, and those who are not easily replaceable know, because they receive offers regularly. If they truly are, you don't give a fuck about them leaving, because that's the whole point.

Employees don't get deceived by a job posting if they see it materialize into nothing. Especially not if it keeps happening.

Money spent on fake interviews is completely stupid.

The only good reason I can think of for posting fake job posting is for deception towards competitors and investors.

To make yourself look bigger than you are, or to misdirect others into directions you know to be dead ends, but where they might be lured into thinking they need first mover advantage without doing the research themselves.

And even, it would be a stretch to say that's common. I am curious to know what kind of companies they used to make this study.

 

[Niggs Monaghan]

One thing I will say about working public sector - they can't really do stuff like this.

The only people I know who have gotten a job or switched jobs in the past few years have all gotten public sector jobs.

 

[Uncle Ted's Cabin]

Should be straight up illegal to do this.

I agree, but any law against it would be impossible to enforce.

 

[rel=alternate]

I agree, but any law against it would be impossible to enforce.

Especially because it would hurt people who are actually trying to do the right thing in the first place too.

It happens more often than you think that there is a project, and you post job offers to make the team, and things change for one reason or another. Then the project is shelved and nobody gets hired.

If you ask from employer that they hire someone absolutely if they post a job, you'll just end up hurting the job economy as a whole.

I am pretty sure 60% of companies don't even have job postings in the past year. These numbers (that all somehow round up to 60%) are not representative of the actual job market. This is such a waste of time, it just does not make sense.