When recruiting talent in today’s uncertain hiring environment, HR professionals may be more willing to get creative than they used to. However, one rising trend—the use of so-called “ghost jobs”—could do more harm than good for employers’ chances of capturing top candidates.

In its recently released 2024 Recruiting Trends Survey, career and resume service MyPerfectResume found a significant 81% of the more than 750 recruiters nationwide it polled are posting so-called ghost jobs. Such a practice refers to strategically advertising for a job that isn’t actually open, either because it is already filled or non-existent.

According to Jasmine Escalera, a career expert with MyPerfectResume, this trend can backfire for HR pros trying to improve their recruiting chances.

“The widespread use of ghost jobs seriously undermines the job search, creating distrust among both companies and job seekers,” Escalera says. “Talent acquisition must lead with a human-first approach to the process and foster more transparency and trust.”

When asked what percentage of their company’s job posts aren’t real, on the high end, 17% said up to 75% of postings are ghost jobs, with 2.5% saying almost all of their posts represent ghost jobs. Only 5% said none of their postings fall into the ghost job category.

The lure of ghost jobs

Recruiters polled cited several reasons for posting ghost jobs: testing the market’s response to hard-to-fill jobs (38%); maintaining a presence on job boards even when the company isn’t hiring (38%); and assessing the effectiveness of job descriptions (36%).

Escalera explains that while testing out a job posting before it’s officially time to fill the role can yield important data and insights, the practice creates added friction and frustration for the job seeker. Ultimately, she says, it’s a strategy that can backfire in the overall recruiting process.

“The competitiveness of today’s job market makes it necessary to reconsider the process, especially in fields or industries where job seekers face significant challenges in getting interviews and offers,” she says.

Escalera adds that adjusting recruitment strategies to be more transparent—mitigating the need for posting ghost jobs—could be an effective way for HR professionals and recruiters to show understanding of the current stress job seekers are encountering.

“There is a need to reassess the use of ghost jobs as a strategy,” Escalera adds.

An evolving landscape for recruiting strategies

The rise of ghost jobs represents a changing recruiting space.

For instance, recruiters surveyed say the surge of remote work opportunities is unsurprisingly helping widen the applicant pool. In fact, most recruiters (83%) believe remote work has improved applicant quality.

“We found that the option to work remotely is a tool that is helping recruiters attract a higher quality of candidate and meet their hiring needs,” Escalera says.

The rapid acceleration of remote work is happening at the same time as organizations quickly integrate AI into recruiting processes.

The survey found the vast majority of recruiters (96%) are using AI screening tools; yet, while 35% say they find AI or automated tools very effective, 34% say they find the tech somewhat ineffective.

“While AI can potentially enhance recruiting efforts, our survey shows it’s not quite the game changer we may have hoped for yet,” Escalera says.