Research: Here’s Why You Were Ghosted After A Job Interview

A new report focused on the latest job market trends shows why recruiters and hiring managers ghost job applicants. A majority actually admitted to posting “ghost jobs” – jobs that are either fake or already filled.

The survey, conducted by MyPerfectResume, polled 753 recruiters across the country about the impact of remote work on talent acquisition, the use of ghost jobs and the efficacy of AI recruiting tools.

According to the report, 83% of recruiters believe the rise in remote work opportunities has improved the quality of the applicant pool. Despite a more relaxed labor market than the past few years, recruiters said it is a struggle to find enough qualified candidates to fill their open positions.

While 92% of recruiters said the availability of remote work has increased their willingness to consider candidates from different geographic locations, most recruiters prefer to hire locally, with 96% having a preference for local candidates. Looking at that more closely, nearly half (49%) of recruiters have a strong preference for local candidates and 47% have some preference for local candidates.

Relocation is also something recruiters are considering. According to the survey, 73% of recruiters said they would consider hiring a non-local candidate and their employer provides relocation support.

The report highlighted the ubiquity of ghost jobs, and said the reasons companies are using this strategy are varied and complex.

The majority of recruiters (81%) said their employer posts ads for jobs that either don’t exist or are already filled. Looking at that a little closer, 36% of recruiters said about a quarter of the jobs they post are ghost jobs; 21.5% said about half the jobs they post are ghost jobs; 18% said less than 10% of the jobs they post are ghost jobs; 17% said up to 75% of the jobs they post are ghost jobs; 5% said none of the jobs they post are ghost jobs and 2.5% said almost all of the jobs they post are ghost jobs.

The top reason recruiters said they post ghost jobs was to test the market’s response to hard-to-fill jobs (38%) but there were other reasons as well. More than a third (38%) said they post ghost jobs to maintain a presence on job boards even when they aren’t hiring; 36% said it was to assess the effectiveness of their job descriptions; 26% said it was intended to build a talent pool for the future; and 26% said it was designed to gain insights into the job market and their competitors.

Nearly all (96%) of recruiters said they use artificial intelligence tools, but only 35% said they believe the tools are very effective in helping them identify the right candidates.

A quarter of recruiters (26%) said they always use AI or automated tools to screen resumes. More than a third (26%) said they frequently use AI or automated tools to screen resumes, and less than 1% said they never use AI tools.