How to spot a ‘ghost job’ before you waste time applying

Ghost jobs are postings for positions that don’t actually exist for various reasons, and they waste countless hours for job seekers who apply to roles that were never meant to be filled. Experts in recruiting and career strategy have identified specific warning signs that reveal when a posting is likely fake or abandoned. This guide breaks down how to recognize these red flags before investing time in an application, so you can better focus your efforts on genuine opportunities.

Prioritize Responsive Employers that Show Immediate Engagement

One reliable way to identify a ghost job is to see whether applying to it leads to any human response at all. Today, silence has become the norm. I’ve watched thousands of job seekers reach out to employers saying it feels like they’re reaching out into a void. The numbers tell a similar story; research shows that only about 20% to 25% of applications submitted on large job boards, like Indeed, receive any response, which means the majority of applicants never hear back.

That is why so many job seekers feel stuck. Many are not being rejected, but they’re being ignored by jobs that were never truly open. Some listings exist to build applicant pipelines, satisfy internal posting requirements, or because job distribution is automated even when no recruiter is actively reviewing candidates.

We’ve learned to spot the difference between a real opening and a ghost job by watching for one thing: action. When a role is genuinely open, employers engage quickly by reviewing candidates, sending messages, or moving applicants into next steps. When there is no engagement at all, the listing may exist in name only.

Job seekers can better focus their efforts by looking for signals of immediacy and accountability. Listings that include clear location details, shift times, pay ranges, or start timing are far more likely to be tied to real hiring needs. Applying locally and prioritizing roles where employers are actively engaging candidates leads to better outcomes than applying broadly and hoping for a response.

—Debbie Emery, Cofounder & CSO, Juvo Jobs

Follow Projects and Investment Signals for Reality

Another good way to spot a ghost job is to look at how disconnected the posting feels from what’s actually happening in the sector. In energy, where I specialize, hiring is almost always tied to a real project, a capital investment, or some kind of regulatory timeline. So that’s a key indicator: If a role keeps getting reposted for months, the description never really changes, and there’s no clear business reason behind it, it might just be a ghost job.

I’ve seen this happen a lot with software and data roles at utilities. There was one utility that kept reposting a cloud engineering role for close to a year. On paper it looked urgent. In reality, their digital transformation project had been paused while they waited on regulatory approval, but HR kept the job live to collect résumés. Candidates were spending hours interviewing for a role that couldn’t even be funded yet. Internally, everyone knew what was going on. Externally, it looked like a great opportunity.

For job seekers, I’d say the safest move is to follow the money and follow the projects. Pay attention to which companies just secured funding, announced expansions, or won major contracts. 

In energy, hiring tends to follow infrastructure. If a company just broke ground on a new facility or announced a big grid modernization program, those roles are usually real. 

Your sector likely has its own red and green flags; take a minute to establish them early on. Then, keep your eyes open.

—Jon Hill, Managing Partner, Tall Trees Talent

Target Newly Posted Positions with Urgency

An easy way to spot a ghost job listing is when the same role sits online for months with no real changes. In real hiring cycles, things usually move fast, or at least you see progress. When a job keeps showing up again and again, or never fully closes, it is often there to collect résumés or test the market, not to hire right now.

We constantly update our job postings on Indeed. I work closely with our team managers to shape each listing, tweak the wording, and pull roles down when hiring pauses. That is why ghost jobs stand out to me so clearly.

There was this one company in particular that always seemed to have the same opening listed on Indeed. It was a marketing manager’s role that got reposted every 30 days for almost a year. We’ve posted and filled at least five positions over the past six months, but that specific position was still open.

Behind the scenes, I’m guessing candidates kept applying and following up for that role. But no interviews were happening at all. The post stayed live only to build a future talent pool, which felt unfair to job seekers putting in real effort.

To focus on real opportunities, I usually tell job seekers to look for roles posted within the last 14 to 30 days and scan for signs of real activity. This can be a named hiring manager, clear next steps in the process, or recent team growth on LinkedIn.

From what I have seen, applying to fewer roles with stronger signals of urgency works better than sending out dozens of applications and hoping one sticks.

—Lauren Byrne, Co-Owner and Head of HR, My Biz Niche

Watch for Reposts, Research Beyond the Listing

Job searching requires time, emotional energy, and vulnerability. When a role turns out to be a ghost job, or worse, a risky one, it understandably erodes trust in the hiring process and in employers more broadly.

One reliable way to spot a ghost job is when a role has been posted or repeatedly reposted for months with no visible hiring activity or meaningful evolution. These listings are often vague, evergreen, and disconnected from a clear, time-bound business need.

I see this most often with fast-growing companies that are fundraising or planning for future scale. From an employer perspective, building a talent pipeline is strategic. From a candidate perspective, applying to a role that is not actively being filled can feel misleading. A strong candidate experience depends on transparency. If a role is exploratory or pipeline-based, say so clearly. Candidates deserve to know whether an opportunity is immediate or future-facing.

Other things to be mindful of: Legitimate employers do not ask for personal or financial information such as banking details, SIN/SSN, or government ID during the application or interview process. That information is only collected after a formal offer has been made and accepted, typically through secure onboarding systems. I have seen candidates targeted through fake or misleading job postings that quickly move conversations off platform and request personal details under the guise of “pre-onboarding” or “payroll setup.” These are clear red flags.

For job seekers, taking your research further can make a meaningful difference. Look beyond the posting itself. Review the company’s website, its LinkedIn employer profile, and the profiles of potential hiring managers or team members. Platforms like Glassdoor can also provide useful context when viewed thoughtfully. Pairing this research with a focus on recently posted roles and clear ownership, and combining applications with targeted outreach, helps reduce wasted effort and job search burnout.

For employers, the takeaway is simple. Hiring practices are part of your brand. If you are building a pipeline, be transparent about it. Trust is built through clarity, not ambiguity.

—Heidi Hauver, Executive Advisor & Mentor | Fractional VP, People & Culture

Spot Vague Descriptions

Vague job descriptions paired with little or no movement in the hiring process are another red flag. If a posting lists generic responsibilities, lacks clear success metrics, and there’s no defined next step or timeline; it’s often a sign that the company isn’t truly ready to hire.

I’ve seen this firsthand when companies post roles before aligning internally. They think they’re hiring, but they haven’t clarified what success in the role actually looks like. That lack of structure leads to stalled searches and leaves candidates hanging.

To avoid ghost jobs and focus on real opportunities, job seekers should look for postings that are outcome-based, with clear expectations and a transparent process. Companies that understand job fit, and define the role based on competencies, tend to move faster and hire more intentionally.

—Linda Scorzo, CEO, Hiring Indicators

Chase Recently Funded Firms where Demand Exists

Another reliable way to spot a ghost job is to step back and look at the hiring context of the company, not just the job description itself.

First, pay attention to the total number of open roles a company is posting and whether the employer is actually a recruiting or staffing agency. Agencies often publish large volumes of roles to build résumé pipelines, even when no active opening exists. If a company consistently posts dozens or hundreds of similar roles without clear hiring updates, that’s a strong red flag.

Second, if the company has only a few openings, check who the company is and why they might be hiring now. Well-known brands or Fortune 500 companies often keep roles open continuously for “evergreen” hiring or future needs. In contrast, genuine hiring urgency is usually tied to recent business events, such as a funding round or rapid expansion. You can verify this by checking sources like TechCrunch or recent press releases.

From my experience, the most efficient strategy is to focus on startups that raised significant funding within the last one to three months. Fresh capital almost always translates into real hiring pressure, defined roles, and faster decision cycles. Platforms like Wellfound (AngelList Talent) make this especially easy, as many startups there are actively converting funding into immediate hires.

In short, job seekers should shift their effort from volume-based applying to signal-based targeting: companies with recent funding, clear growth drivers, and a concrete reason to hire right now. This dramatically reduces wasted applications and increases the odds of engaging with real, active opportunities.

—Bogdan Serebrykaov, Founder & CEO, Careery

Favor Definite Steps toward Live Interviews

One reliable red flag is a process that never outlines clear steps toward a live interview. At the SHRM25 Executive Network Experience, HR leaders told me they are bringing candidates into the office earlier to confirm identity because of deep fakes, and processes that outline this process upfront are more credible than those that are vague. Job seekers should focus on employers that clearly describe those in-person steps in the job description and early communications.

—Colleen Paulson, Executive Career Consultant, Ageless Careers

Match Role Scope to Company Stage

One thing I’ve learned is that a job posting can sound way bigger than the company actually is, and that’s a strong sign it might be a ghost job. If the role promises “global leadership,” “building a world-class team,” or “executive-level strategy” for a startup that only has a handful of employees, it usually means the posting was created to attract clicks or collect résumés, not to fill a real position.

I once saw a listing for a “VP of Growth” at a tiny SaaS company with no marketing team and only a couple of customers. The job description read like it was written for a large enterprise. When I checked the company’s LinkedIn and website, there was no evidence they were scaling at that level, so it didn’t feel genuine.

To avoid wasting time, I recommend focusing on companies whose job descriptions match their real size and stage. A genuine opportunity will clearly describe the team structure, the current product roadmap, and what success looks like in the first 90 days. If those details are missing or exaggerated, treat it as a red flag.

So my advice is to avoid chasing roles that sound too big for the company. Instead, focus your energy on listings where the job scope matches the company’s real-world reality. That’s how you find real opportunities.

—Monica Panait, CMO, Brizy

Cross Check Ads against Employer-Owned Channels

I would say that one reliable way to spot a ghost job is to check when the job was posted against the company’s own careers page or their social media activity.

I tend to see roles on LinkedIn which say that the job was posted two days ago. But if you really dig into the company’s website, the same role has been listed with the exact same description for several months now.

You should focus on the active signals instead of just open roles. I recommend looking for a hiring manager posting about the role personally on their LinkedIn profile or on Twitter in the past week.

If you’re only able to find evidence of that job on an automated feed on a job board, then it’s quite likely just a “pipeline builder” and not something the company is taking very seriously. But if there’s a human behind it talking about the role, then there is a real budget attached to that role right now.

—Jeremy Chatelaine, Founder & CEO, MonsterOps

Verify Local Contact Numbers before You Proceed

Job seekers should know that an out-of-town—or country—phone number is often a red flag.

On its own, it seems like a small detail. People move and often keep their old numbers. But businesses are different. A legitimate company hiring for a real, funded role should have a local presence tied to the market they operate in. Even large national or global companies still maintain local recruiting numbers, local HR contacts, or at minimum a clear corporate line that routes internally. So, when a posting claims to be hiring in Dallas, Chicago, or Toronto, but every call comes from an overseas call center or a rotating set of untraceable numbers, that’s worth paying attention to.

In my experience, real hiring teams want to be reachable. They want candidates to be able to call back, verify who they spoke with, and feel confident about who is on the other end of the process. When a company refuses to provide a local number, hides behind VOIP lines, or routes all recruiting through offshore screening centers with no accountability, it often means the role itself isn’t real. It doesn’t mean you walk away immediately. But it does mean you proceed carefully, protect your time, and keep your expectations realistic.

—Ben Lamarche, General Manager, Lock Search Group

Ask Specific Questions, Confirm Real Work

The most reliable signal of a ghost job is how the hiring manager responds to technical questions about the actual work. When I’m actively hiring, I can tell you exactly what technologies you’d be working with, which client projects need support, and what the team structure looks like. If you ask specific questions about the tech stack, the development process, or what the first month would look like and get vague answers or deflection, that’s your warning sign. Real hiring managers are usually eager to talk about the work because they need to fill the role and want candidates who understand what they’re signing up for.

Job seekers should treat initial conversations like due diligence, not auditions. Ask about timelines, who you’d report to, what problem this hire solves, and why the position is open. A legitimate manager will answer these directly because they’re trying to assess fit just as much as you are.

I’ve seen candidates waste months chasing roles where the company was “just collecting résumés” or the position was frozen but still posted. The ones who filtered fast by asking pointed questions about the actual work moved on to real opportunities while others were still waiting for callbacks that would never come.

—Sergiy Fitsak, Managing Director, Fintech Expert, Softjourn

Review Team Activity around Announced Vacancies

If the hiring team or recruiter don’t have activity regarding the open position, that can be a red flag. Let’s assume a company advertises open roles. If the hiring team or internal recruiters haven’t posted, shared, or commented on these open positions, it is likely a ghost job. 

Companies tend to be loud and very active about their open positions and willingness to recruit people to join their mission. Check for activities from the company’s hiring team or internal recruiters. 

Even better, use LinkedIn to search for people who worked at the company and if they started new jobs elsewhere within the last month. If they did, then the company is trying to fill their vacuum and the opportunity is real.

—Anush Gasparian, Human Resources Director, Phonexa

Treat Easy Apply as a Red Flag

I have seen the job search process from all sides, and for me, the most striking indicator of ghost job postings is the use of LinkedIn’s Easy Apply feature.

When an employer posts an Easy Apply job, they instantly receive hundreds or thousands of responses, most of which are irrelevant, while worthy candidates get lost in the white noise. In addition, candidates sometimes simply don’t remember that they applied for your job and may not respond to your messages. In short, from the perspective of a recruiter or hiring manager, digging through hundreds of résumés is simply not practical.

In my opinion, if you see an “easy apply” button, then something is wrong with this vacancy. And I know at least a couple of reasons why these ghost vacancies are posted:

• To gain followers. When a candidate applies for a vacancy, they automatically subscribe to the company’s page. This allows companies to grow their followers and raise their authority on LinkedIn.

• To show potential investors, clients, or partners that the company is growing.

If I were looking for a job right now, I would perceive the easy apply button as one of the warning signs. Of course, there are genuine vacancies among them, but this is the first red flag.

—Michael Vavilov, Product Manager, Glozo