COMP NEWS – A shocking survey reveals that nearly one-third of companies advertise job openings for positions that don’t exist.
That job you applied for might be a mirage.
Companies often post bogus roles to ease employees’ concerns about being overworked and signal that the organization is growing, said Resume Builder, which recently found three in 10 employers have fake job listings.
Resume Builder, which offers résumé templates, surveyed nearly 650 hiring managers in May and found nearly seven in 10 said it was “morally acceptable” to post fake jobs. Hiring managers credited the move with increasing revenue, morale, and how much workers get done.
Yet, Stacie Haller, Resume Builder’s chief career advisor, told Business Insider that the practice could — no surprise — undermine confidence among existing and would-be employees.
“The last people you want to be sharing fake information to your staff is the HR people,” she said.
The prominence of sham listings highlights the challenges many people, particularly desk workers in industries like tech, face in finding jobs. The overall labor market remains strong, but it’s not a game of workers’ choice like it was a few years ago when more employers were fighting for people.
Despite the many fake job postings, some companies brought in real people to interview – though details on how many were hired were not evident in the survey.
About seven in 10 of the fake jobs were on a company website or LinkedIn, according to the survey. And, yet, despite all the shenanigans, many fake listings often lead to real interviews — and even employment.
Four in 10 hiring managers said they always contacted workers who applied for made-up jobs. Forty-five percent said they sometimes contacted those job seekers. Among companies that contacted applicants, 85% report interviewing the person.
“A lot of them are getting contacted and interviewed at some point, so it’s not necessarily a black box,” Haller said.
To read more about the study on fake job listings, click here.
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