Just When You Thought it Couldn’t Get Worse!

Have you seen a headline like one of these? –   

• “Still Can’t Get An Interview? Those Job Listings Were Probably Fake!” (Vice)
• “1 in 5 Job Postings Aren’t Real, Recent Study Finds” (Fox 5 DC)
• “Fake Jobs Becoming Growing Problem for Real Job Seekers (Fox 26 Houston)

And if you have, you can easily agree with this quote from Jon Stross, president and co-founder of the hiring platform Greenhouse, which found that as many as 20% of advertised jobs are fake or not filled:

“The job market has become more soul-crushing than ever.”

Whew! Let that statement sink in for a minute, and while you do, consider this data supporting Mr. Stross’ statement:

• “A survey from Resume Builder in 2024 found that 39% of hiring managers admitted their companies posted fake job listings in the past year. Among those, 26% said they posted one to three fake listings, while 13% reported posting 75 or more.”

The Rest of the Story

OK, so there’s information that supports the “soul-crushing” aspect of the job search. Yet, as the veteran radio host, Paul Harvey, used to say, “Here’s…the REST of the story.”  

Or, what most of us are now used to through what we see or hear on mainstream media, “there’s another side to the story.” And that’s true here as well, so let’s take a look that will bring some HOPE!

I collaborated with Harry Urschel, 25+ year veteran executive recruiter on this one, and while we don’t doubt that there is occasional truth in the headlines above, here’s what we believe happens most of the time.

• Internal Candidates – OR, a referred candidate the business may think they’re most likely to put in the job, but they post to see if someone better might be out there. It’s a legitimate job, and a super-star might still have a chance, but a VERY uphill battle for any external candidates.
• Job Postings Cost Money – It’s highly unlikely a company will spend money to post phony jobs. In all the years I authorized job postings within my company, I never authorized a fake one. It simply didn’t make sense from an economic or productivity perspective.
• Job Postings Get Cancelled – Companies decide not to fill roles. They simply change their mind, or they hit a rough economic stretch and they close out the postings to stop hiring. It was legitimate when posted, but then later closed.
• Careless, Lazy, Inefficient Internal Systems – Unfortunately, it’s not unusual for companies to forget to keep their own Careers page up to date. So jobs that have already been filled are sometimes still posted. All of this does mean that job seekers are often chasing non-existent jobs; however, I just don’t see the intent by companies to post bogus positions. The overwhelming amount of time companies have honest intentions, but get careless with the process.
• Aggregator Job Boards – Aggregators are job boards that collectively represent many different business sources, like Indeed, Simply Hired, Zip Recruiter and others. While a company can post a job directly on Indeed, Indeed also scrapes postings from over 400 other job boards and posts consolidated results on their site. So a company may post a job on Monster.com; Indeed scrapes the posting and reposts it on their own site. The company that posted the job fills the job and takes their posting off of Monster.com, but the posting still lingers on Indeed. So, it appears to be a bogus job, but it’s not the company’s fault. That’s why it’s always a good idea to go apply at the company’s site directly instead of through the job board.

Additionally, Harry had a small group participant who just landed. She shared that over the past year she applied to nearly 600 jobs and got nothing. She started networking and got 2 offers in a couple of months. The job she got was newly created for her.

The first part of her search suggests a terrible market. The 2nd part of her search shows that there’s opportunity out there.

We don’t buy the 20% “fake” jobs. We do, however, think when one reporter sees a story like that, others jump on board because they see it as a potential scandal, and don’t dig deeper to see what’s really going on.

How to Get Results

So, regardless of which headlines or data cross your path, amidst the potentially soul-crushing environment you’re navigating, how do you stay positive and get results? Here are a few tried and true approaches:

1. Stay Grounded in God’s Promises:
   1. Proverbs 24:19-20 says, “Don’t fret because of evildoers; don’t envy the wicked. For evil people have no future; the light of the wicked will be snuffed out.”   
   2. Psalm 91:14 assures, “Those who love Me, I will deliver; I will protect those who know My name.”
   3. Numbers 23:19 reinforces, “God is not a human being, that He should lie.”
2. Network, Network, Network: The best way to ensure a role is real is to be actively talking to people about the role. Merely completing applications is statistically the least productive way to get results.  
3. Verify: If you see a role that seems worth applying for on an aggregator site, go to the company website to confirm that it’s still a viable role the company is seeking to fill.
4. Persevere: Remember the adage, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” While you don’t want to waste time filling out applications on ghost jobs, we believe the vast majority of job postings on company websites are real. By networking into those companies, and filling out applications as part of the process for networked roles, you’ll greatly improve your odds for success.

Bottom line, avoid soul-crushing by staying close to the Soul Giver! Blessings!

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Dave Sparkman currently serves as the volunteer Crossroads Career board chair and local ministry leader. He is also the founder and managing director of Spark Your Culture, a corporate culture consulting firm. Prior to that he worked at UnitedHealth Group, a Fortune #5 public company, serving in the role of Chief Culture Officer. His unemployment experience came from the implosion of Arthur Andersen, where he served as the West Region Managing Partner, People.

Harry Urschel has over 30 years experience as a Recruiter and currently is an independent Retained Executive Search consultant and Executive Outplacement Coach. He also leads the Minnesota Crossroads ministry out of Grace Church in Eden Prairie.