Companies Are Admitting to Posting Fake Jobs. Here Is Why

Most coverage of ghost jobs focuses on the candidate side of the experience. Newer reporting has pushed further, asking hiring managers directly whether their own companies do this, and the answers are more candid than many job seekers might expect.

What hiring managers are actually saying

A Resume Builder survey cited alongside recent Wall Street Journal reporting found that 40 percent of surveyed hiring managers said their company had posted a job listing without a genuine intention to fill it within the past year. That is not a fringe practice reported by a small minority. It is closer to two out of every five hiring managers surveyed acknowledging it directly.

Separately, in past survey research on the same behavior, more than a quarter of hiring managers said they had left a posting up for more than four months, and among those who admitted the listing was not genuinely being filled, roughly half said the goal was to project company growth, while about a third said it was intended to placate an already overworked team by suggesting help was on the way.

Why companies do this, in their own words

The motivations reported are not uniformly cynical, though the effect on job seekers is the same regardless of intent. Common reasons include:

• Building a pipeline of resumes for a role that may open later
• Signaling growth or stability to investors, customers, or the market
• Maintaining leverage over current employees by suggesting replacements are readily available
• Satisfying an internal requirement to post externally even when an internal candidate is already likely

Why this matters even if no single reason is malicious

Whatever the internal justification, the practical effect on a job seeker is identical: real time spent on an application that was never going to result in a hire. Multiplied across an entire job search, that adds up to a meaningful, measurable cost, not just a frustrating anecdote.

What this means for how you evaluate a posting

Given that companies themselves are describing this as common, ordinary practice rather than a rare exception, checking a company's actual hiring behavior before investing significant time in an application is a reasonable, evidence-based precaution rather than excessive caution.

Source: Survey data reported alongside The Wall Street Journal's coverage of ghost job legislation, August 2026

Frequently asked questions

Do most companies admit to posting fake jobs? Survey research cited alongside recent reporting found 40 percent of hiring managers surveyed admitted their company had done so within the past year, a substantial share though not a majority.

What is the most common reason companies give? Building a candidate pipeline for future openings and signaling company growth are both commonly cited reasons, alongside maintaining leverage over current employees.

Is posting a job without intent to fill it illegal? In most states, no clear law currently prohibits it, though that is actively changing as state legislatures introduce disclosure and removal requirements.