Resume Builder, which offers résumé templates, surveyed nearly 650 hiring managers in May and found nearly seven in 10 said it was “morally acceptable” to post fake jobs. Hiring managers credited the move with increasing revenue, morale, and how much workers get done.
Here’s the weird part though-
About seven in 10 of the fake jobs were on a company website or LinkedIn, according to the survey. And, yet, despite all the shenanigans, many fake listings often lead to real interviews — and even employment.
Four in 10 hiring managers said they always contacted workers who applied for made-up jobs. Forty-five percent said they sometimes contacted those job seekers. Among companies that contacted applicants, 85% report interviewing the person.
“A lot of them are getting contacted and interviewed at some point, so it’s not necessarily a black box,” Haller said.
Does that part make sense to anyone?
I’ve definitely felt this. I have applied to quite a few roles that I am highly qualified for and get the “we selected someone else” email and then see the role posted again a few weeks later. I wouldn’t necessarily expect to get every job I apply for, but I would expect to get a screening interview for most of them.
That’s not necessarily a fake posting. It may be that they offered the job to someone who took time to decide not to accept. Or accepted and then changed their mind when they got a better offer. Or used the offer as leverage to get a raise/promotion at their current job. Games get played on both sides. Hell, I once hired someone who just didn’t show up on their first day. Or the next three days. We tried to call and email. We didn’t hear anything until a week later when they claimed they were sick and couldn’t come in. No explanation for why they couldn’t call to let us know. That was the most immediate termination I’ve ever dealt with.
OK but why aren’t they contacting this person? If an offered is not accepted or whatever, HR should have some record of who the other top contenders would be.
But unless of course hiring isn’t a priority and then who knows. Which is the actual accusation.
It doesn’t work that way. We search until we find one person we want to hire and we offer that person the job. If they decline, it doesn’t mean we go down the list until someone accepts. Everyone else was rejected for one reason or another, so we continue our search. I’m not saying OP definitely did not run across some fake postings. It’s a possibility. But there’s also the possibility that they’re not as qualified as they think they are, or their resume doesn’t make it clear that they are. Or whoever is screening applicants is screwing up. Job searching is tricky, and so is candidate searching.