Ghost jobs frustrate Puerto Rico job seekers
Artificial intelligence is offering job seekers in Puerto Rico and abroad multiple advantages, but it is also presenting a new challenge: ghost jobs.
Ghost jobs are job postings that are fake, expired or never meant to be filled. These deceptive listings waste job seekers’ time and energy, frustrating them and causing them to lose trust in the hiring process. Ghost jobs also distort labor market data.
Ghost jobs are a bad practice that is difficult to avoid in an era of AI-powered recruiting and job hunting because AI is very effective at presenting jobs that are exactly what the candidates are looking for, Melissa Rivera-Roena, general manager of ManpowerGroup in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, told News is my Business.
“At Manpower, our transparency policy doesn’t allow that type of strategy. But we’ve had candidates tell us that they’ve applied for jobs at companies that don’t exist,” Rivera-Roena said.
A common practice
A ResumeBuilder survey found that 40% of companies posted a fake job listing in 2024, and three in 10 companies had active fake listings.
According to the survey, employers posted fake listings to make it appear the company was open to external talent (67%), act like the company was growing (66%), make employees believe their workload would be alleviated by new workers (63%), make employees feel replaceable (62%), and collect resumes and keep them on file for a later date (59%). Seven in 10 hiring managers said posting fake jobs is morally acceptable.
“Employers posting fake or ghost job listings online is a disturbing trend and growing problem in the job market. This highly unethical tactic can impact job seekers’ perceptions and organizational trust,” ResumeBuilder reported.
A survey by Resume Genius found that 80% of hiring managers have ghosted job candidates, citing uncertainty, being overwhelmed with resumes and poor fit between the candidates and company as reasons.
Revelio Labs, a U.S.-based workforce intelligence company, found that the rate of hires per job posting has halved over the past five years. In 2019, there were eight hires for every 10 job postings; by 2024, that number had dropped to four hires per 10 job postings, CNBC reported, citing the company’s chief economist.
Ghost jobs are especially common in industries such as construction, technology, legal services and food service, where companies often leave outdated listings live even when no positions are available, Forbes reported.
To tackle this problem, stateside advocacy group Truth in Job Ads this year proposed the Truth in Job Advertising and Accountability Act, which would require companies to post only real, actively being filled job openings. If passed, it would mandate disclosure of AI usage, pay ranges and specific data privacy protections for applicants, and introduce penalties for noncompliance.
Several states, including California, New Jersey and Kentucky, also have introduced bills to address ghost jobs.
Like ghost jobs for job seekers, fake resumes are a byproduct of AI-powered job search for employers and recruiters.
“How do we know that what the resume states shows who the person is?” Rivera-Roena said, noting that employers often have to spend too much time interviewing candidates who do not match what their resumes state.
AI done right
AI automates and accelerates many processes in recruiting, such as job listings, applicant screenings, job market analysis, skill prediction, AI-powered assessments, personalized job recommendations, resume optimization and interview preparation.
“AI is definitely a strategic ally to accelerate these processes,” Rivera-Roena said.
Keywords and algorithms allow job seekers and employers to identify job opportunities and job candidates with more precision on job search websites, company websites and social media. “It accelerates results,” she said.
“For a long time, Manpower wasn’t using social media and its website as it should to publish job vacancies. Why? Because we strongly believed that job fairs were the best practice to promote vacancies and find talent. Today, our most successful source for finding candidates are digital pages,” she added.
HR experts offer the following tips for employers and recruiters to avoid ghost jobs:
1. Audit and update job listings regularly
2. Be transparent about hiring status
3. Establish internal controls for job postings
4. Use applicant tracking systems and job boards
5. Understand the broader impact of ghost jobs on labor data
6. Do not use job listings for deceptive brand marketing
