Charlotte investigates!
The mystery of the fake jobs
Hello!
Thank you for joining me, I’m so glad you’re here.
I’m an avid user of BorrowBox, the library audiobook app. You can listen to books for free - meaning that there’s one fewer reason to give Jeff your money, and you can support your local library!
Anyway, I had reserved a perfectly autumnal read called The Pumpkin Spice Cafe, which according to social media was a great Hallmark style cheesy love story. At just 8 hours long it’s a great commute listen.
Only it wasn’t, and the last 1/3 of it was…well, steamy. I don’t know how well audio-insulated my Aygo is, so while driving into the work carpark I was frantically smashing the pause button on the audio… Overall, I don’t recommend it!
This week’s listen is David Mitchell’s Unruly, a hilarious journey through Britain’s kings and queens. I think I’ll be a lot safer in the carpark with this one…
This week, I’m donning my Sherlock Holmes hat and investigating a recruitment mystery - The Case of the Fake Jobs!
There is a phenomenon, where people are referring to there being a rise in “fake” jobs, with news outlets even reporting that as many as 36% [Forbes] and even 40% [The Guardian] of jobs may be fake.
The Forbes article says:
A recent survey of more than 700 recruiters in the U.S., conducted by MyPerfectResume, revealed that shockingly, 81% of recruiters post ghost job adverts. (A ghost job advert is one that is fake because the employer is either scoping for a talent pool and potential interest for the future, or the role is already filled but still shows an active hiring presence on the recruitment page and job boards.) When the weighting of these fake job adverts is calculated, it shows that approximately 36% of jobs posted online—more than a third—are actually not real vacancies.
As it happens, The Guardian’s article doesn’t provide a source for its quote of “85%” of employers using fake adverts. But at least in the Forbes article we can see that the stat has come from a CV writing service - who would, no doubt, benefit from candidates being more anxious about the job market.
The anxiety is hitting the right places, as the “fake jobs” story is seeping through on Threads, and of course Reddit, where commenters speculate that companies may want to interview them to get intel on competitors, or steal ideas:
I must admit, when I was job hunting at the start of the year, I did interview at a competitor of a previous employer, and I really did feel that they were just mining for details on how my previous employer would solve particular problems. They also ghosted me afterwards.
But could it have been a fake job, designed to lure in people who could brainstorm with the manager, offering solutions and ideas?
Despite my own experience, I am extremely doubtful of this “fake” jobs malarkey. I think it’s sneaky businesses who feed on the anxiety of job seekers in a horrendous market, simultaneously giving applicants more reason to blame the HR boogeyman for them being rejected.
It’s natural to be rejected for roles. Even when I was applying, some roles would be a “yeah I could probably do that” or even a “I’ve got transferable skills that could evidence that” situation. Perhaps 60% of my applications were in either of these camps, because what I do is niche and there weren’t many good matches for my skills.
The trouble is, in the candidate-driven market of 2021 this would be perfectly fine, and people may have been able to snap up these “punching up” roles. But this is 2024, it’s an employers’ market, and so if you’re not directly demonstrating relevant experience, there are 20 other people who clearly match the role.
I think there is a misunderstanding in candidates of just how much you need to directly match the role to get a shot today. But combined with how many recruiters are just ghosting candidates (around 2/3 of my applications had no reply), it’s easy to see how candidates would jump to “it was obviously fake” rather than “perhaps I need to try harder to match the role in my application”.
According to the previously linked Forbes article, the reasons why employers post fake jobs include:
To make it appear the company is open to external talent (67%), to act like the company is growing (66%), to make employees believe their workload would be alleviated by new workers (63%), to have employees feel replaceable (62%), and to collect resumes and keep them on file for a later date (59%).
The only reason on that list that I find plausible is the last one. In early careers recruitment, it can be the case that organisations use “evergreen” posts, such as “register your interest” adverts, to inform candidates when the campaign starts, and also collect CVs throughout the year in preparation for that campaign.
With an evergreen advert, you can create a content strategy where you email the talent pool with stories of current early career professionals, as well as internal events etc. Get them super hyped up for whatever it is they’re applying for. By doing this, you may reduce the rate of reneges, as you’ve built a long-lasting interest in your brand from the applicant.
The only other way I think fake adverts may be used is by agencies, who may cold-email employers with candidates to try to get a bite. They could also have adverts that are purposefully super vague to conceal the identity of the employer they’re working with.
So, my conclusion is that this is dodgy marketing by CV writers, and not the widespread problem that’s being reported.
But that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t do anything about it. Candidate trust in employers/HR/recruiters is at an all-time low, which doesn’t help anyone. As
wrote about this week [Substack], it’s really important that we think about these things and create better experiences for candidates.My advice to those recruiting is:
Get the basics right
Reply to candidates. Come on, it’s not that hard. The bare minimum is to bulk send out that rejection template. Ideally, you’d have a few for different rejection reasons.
If someone has been interviewed, then preferably pick up the phone to tell them the outcome.
The more candidates are treated without respect, the less they will respect the recruitment process. They will continue to be no-shows to interviews, and accept two job offers but only decide which to join at the last minute.
Build trust through transparency
It goes without saying that the more you communicate through the process (even if it’s powered by template emails), the more candidates will trust you.
Things you could open up about include: the salary (duh, but if you’re not disclosing, then there’s probably a blocker there for you), the recruitment process and how many stages there will be, and - probably most importantly - what you’re doing in the background while they’re waiting.
Build your recruiters’ profiles up
I really think we need to fight this HR boogeyman thing. Sometimes I laugh at comments from candidates online about how much influence they think HR/recruiters have in processes. It’s like we’re faceless overlords, sitting on our bums drinking tea while using AI to filter out good candidates.
The way I go about this is that recruiters should be like Disney characters - they should be front and centre, recognisable, and when candidates are screened by them, it should be exciting like meeting Goofy at Disneyland.
By showing recruiters’ personalities, and what they care about in the process, it breaks down that boogeyman wall and shows the human behind the process.
Now, with this I do not mean getting recruiters to use those programmes that re-post corporate content. It’s overly polished, inauthentic and looks naff (IMHO). Get them to talk about why they recruit, what’s important to them, and how they help candidates.
We’re in dark ages in recruitment. Things are undeniably rubbish. I really feel that these are the last days of recruiting in the “old way” before we transform things for the better - whatever that may look like. I feel excited that we’re here for this moment, and can be part of the movement to make things better for everyone.
And in the meantime, if you hear anyone talk about fake jobs, tell them they’re not real. If they ask for clarification, tell them Detective Charlotte said so.
Links
From fake jobs to fake apprenticeships. Would-be applicants are feeling uneasy when details like training provider are missing from adverts.
A heartwarmer for you - a lovely post from a parent describing how it feels that her daughter, who has a learning disability, has been given a perm contract by Tesco.
An interesting post from Peter Wood, who runs a small startup helping grads, around the challenging job market for those entering their careers. I disagree with the notion of people with “years of experience” taking up jobs meant for grads - lower levelled roles aren’t exclusively for “grads” or those at the start of the year. And most actual grad roles have limits (I usually say no more than 3 years’ experience in the area of work related to their studies).
Threads
A great example of why shoving “young people” into the same bucket - millennials are the only generation to not turn right wing as they grow older, as gen z become more conservative.
In a surprise to absolutely no one, 3 different AIs were asked to assess over 500 CVs, and the outcomes were favourable to white men.
More hilarious AI video content, this time of men eating in restaurants. Nauseating, yet addictive.
TikTok
Love this one - recruiters react to TikTok job application advice. I want to see more of this!
I love this TikTok about two gen z women who made an excellent marketing campaign for their…pickle company.
I have no trend for you this week. I think everyone online is focused on what’s going to happen next in the US…so my last video for you is a funny one.
When your mum gives you job hunting advice:
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Have a great week ahead!
Until next week.
Charlotte
Excellent read and quite reassuring tbh. 💚