Job-seekers are being duped by fake job postings, reveals veteran job search consultant

The best way to approach any situation like a job search is to know everything about it. Oftentimes, prospective employees become part of the process without the apt understanding required to get their preferred job and end up getting disappointed. Recently veteran recruiter and job search consultant Bryan Creely made a video about why job-seekers fail to get their desired role even after so many applications and interview rounds, per Yahoo.

In the video, Creely went through a lot of reasons about why the job market is proving to be so difficult at present but one of the reasons might come as a shock to seekers. This reason is that many of the jobs individuals are applying for do not actually exist. This detail is supported by a survey undertaken by Clarify Capital in which many companies openly admitted to their practice of posting fake jobs. This is done for many reasons, like gathering resumes for future openings. On TikTok Creely likened this practice to 'window shopping' but for employees. This could also be taken as employers making use of their dominant position in the power structure within the labor market, which they are slowly getting back after losing to employees last year. Forty-three percent of the companies in the survey stated that they post fake ghost jobs as a means to keep their employees 'motivated.' This suggests that their objective is to motivate employees by manipulating them into believing that they are working in a redundant job and can soon face layoffs. This tactic can deter employees from quitting as well as asking for any kind of raise.

Creely's theory is that this strategy is used to keep the overworked employees satisfied within the company and keep them from going. The fake ghost jobs create a delusion that the company is in a good position and is expanding taking new employees on board. The overworked employees are made to feel at ease with the belief that the workload will be reduced with the incoming of new employees.

The fake postings are also utilized in order to give a false image of growth, as accepted by another 43% of the companies. This might be a dubious tactic to apply though as there are laws and regulations in place which can send leaders to jail if they misrepresent their companies. Apart from these fake postings, it is also important that the candidates know the proper way in which they must prepare their resumes. During the pandemic, "one-way interviews" became extremely popular in which candidates prepared a video answering the questions sent to them. There was no discussion or a meeting with anyone, just a video with answers. The popularity of this method has not waned but the recruiting and hiring staff required to go through the videos produced by hundreds of candidates have been subjected to major layoffs as mentioned by Creely on YouTube.

The advent of AI has given employers a false sense of belief that they do not require recruiting staff but in reality, this belief is causing the process of hiring to fall on the shoulders of inexperienced managers who might not be able to hire the right talent. They also hamper the functionality of the entire process. Therefore, the candidates must not be quick to undertake easy methods like "one-way interviews" as they ultimately might not be fruitful. The best mode of action is to make use of the networks that individuals have created with their goodwill in the industry and social media platforms like Linkedin to foster transparent bonds, according to Creely.

The comment section of TikTok was filled with people sharing their own experiences validating Creely's assertions. @trentx1 writes, "I constantly get 'the position has been filled' emails, yet they leave the post up or repost every month." @clearlythere was also in agreement with everything in the video and stated how she had to give interviews for positions that were not authentic. "I’ve spoken to multiple hiring managers who told me they interview for positions that aren’t necessarily budgeted for or approved," she shared.