The Flâneur Collective

As a fresh graduate from high school, I was searching for a job, like many other Americans currently are. I had worked two jobs before that, as a lifeguard and as a server/dishwasher. I gained both through friends and family; this was my first time using a job application website. 

After applying to ten jobs and not getting a response, I decided to give up and enjoy my summer for a while. As school drew closer and I got more pressure from my parents, I kept applying… ten applications turned into twenty, which turned into fifty, which turned into a hundred.

I was walking into restaurants, grocery stores, and pools, trying to get in contact with anyone I could before going to the YMCA central office, going back and forth between the central office and a few branches, calling nonstop to secure a lifeguarding job that paid less than the one I had at fifteen years old. My parents thought I was lying to continue bumming off of them, but in reality, I was going insane looking for any type of job.

Shortly after finding employment, I learned a new word behind all the eighteen-dollar-an-hour Starbucks listings my father kept sending me: “Ghost Jobs.” 

Ghost jobs are job listings on job listing sites such as Indeed that have already been fulfilled or are for a position the company is not hiring for now. While not seeming like a major issue, the sheer number of these ghost jobs flooding the market is having disastrous effects on job seekers and the economy. 

According to the BBC, “Revelio Labs, a US-based workforce intelligence firm, showed that the ratio of hires per job posting fell below 0.5 in 2023, meaning that more than half of listings did not result in an employer turning an applicant into an employee. 

It is to a company’s benefit to keep ghost jobs alive. Creating a constant supply of eligible candidates allows companies to make current employees easily replaceable. This also allows larger companies with budgets to remain at the top of job sites with advertised listings and to be extremely selective with their talent. 

However, for job seekers, this creates a massive time problem as each job listing can take anywhere from a few minutes to hours to complete, and with so many ghost jobs out there it becomes extremely easy to become burnt out with your job search. Another reason many of these postings are listed is that it makes hiring managers and human resources managers’ jobs easier, as they always have a multitude of candidates to choose from. 

Quite a few of these managers use these listings almost as a way to look good on paper to mistreat employees and possible investors. According to the same BBC article, “More than 40% of hiring managers said they list jobs they aren’t actively trying to fill to give the impression that the company is growing. A similar share said the job listings are made to motivate employees, while 34% said the jobs are posted to placate overworked staff who may be hoping for additional help to be brought on.” 

These managers cannot seem to grasp that these are real humans with bills, families, and lives applying to these jobs. By flooding the job market with these fake posts, companies are hurting job seekers’ abilities to find suitable employment. 

The problem of ghost jobs is so prevalent at this point it has become a problem for the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Federal Reserve. According to an NPR article, “The ratio of job openings to unemployed people is one metric they look at to make sure the job market is healthy, so ghost postings could muddy the waters.” The article then interviews Kim Reilly, an economist at the Bureau of Labor Statistics who states, “While their survey program “is familiar with ‘ghost jobs’, the program does not have any data related to these phenomena.” 

Thinking about the current state of the US economy, this article starts to make a lot of sense because, despite extremely low unemployment numbers and a plethora of jobs, it seems like it becomes harder and harder to get a job without knowing someone beforehand. 

While the problem of ghost jobs has become widespread, possible solutions are arising, one of them coming from a new bill in New Jersey. In this bill, the state of New Jersey would make it a legal requirement for companies to disclose whether or not there is a job vacancy, and the job posting must give an estimated time frame for the position to be filled. 

The job posting must take down the listing two weeks after it is filled. If an interview is conducted, the job must follow up with a candidate in a given time frame to let them know if the position is filled. If the position is not filled in the time frame, the job must tell candidates they are under consideration for the job. Anyone who does not follow these laws will be charged anywhere from 1000-5000 dollars per infraction. 

While it seems like the basic requirements of decency when applying for a job, there are still those who disagree with these terms and conditions. Suzanne Lucas is an HR consultant (what a surprise) who argues in an article by Inc.com, “Budgets change. Some positions get re-evaluated and reposted. A manager goes on vacation, and the hiring process is put on hold. A manager of a neighboring department says they need the headcount more, and the VP signs off on that, turning a legitimate position into a ghost position.” 

However, she does not get to the deeper root of the problems listed before. As a human resources manager, dealing with and responding to applicants is quite literally their job. All positions in any company run into problems, and by giving a set of guidelines to HR managers, they may start to focus on being ethical with their job postings. 

She also makes the point that it is easier to self-govern than to deal with government regulations. This problem has only gotten worse over the last 5 years and will continue to do so unless there is a widespread change. If making hiring managers’ jobs harder is what it takes to solve the problem of ghost jobs, I think it is an extremely worthwhile trade for the rest of the American people.

All in all, the process of applying for employment in 2025 has become riddled with broken and lax regulations, understanding, and ability to measure Ghost jobs. This new-age job market is a major issue that has only gotten worse for the average American jobseeker in the last few years to improve profits for job board sites like Indeed.

 If more states or, in a dream world, the federal government started a push to start regulating hiring practices like New Jersey, this problem would be easily fixable. If anybody in power started to crack down on job sites like Indeed, the problem could be fixed almost instantaneously.

Unfortunately, as of right now, there is no reason for companies or Indeed to create fair listings. Why would they? It is currently in both Indeed and the hiring manager’s best interest to keep the status quo going for as long as they can. The only ones losing in this are the American people. For that, I hope that one day soon, our leaders decide to follow New Jersey’s lead and take action in our best interest, as it only takes a single law to benefit almost everyone.

Ezra Ponzio

2nd year Accounting student at El Paso Community College