The global labor market is going through strange times. While many economies are struggling to find employees, in industries such as technology we are seeing mass layoffs affecting tens of thousands of employees.

To add to the confusion in the market, we are also seeing another phenomenon: the proliferation of phantom job postings. The practice came to light in September of last year, when Clarify Capital published the results of a survey of just over 1,000 recruiters, which revealed, among other findings, that 1 in 5 respondents had no plans to fill the advertised positions in the short term. 

Why keep these job openings posted if they have no intention of filling them? Respondents gave several reasons. Some recruiters say the company is always looking to recruit new talent. Others noted that they do it to keep their employees motivated. And still others do so to give the impression that the company is growing. You can view the survey at https://clarifycapital.com/job-seekers-beware-of-ghost-jobs-survey.