What’s up with fake job postings?

Fake job postings are prevalent these days. One estimate says that 40 percent of companies post fake jobs (I really hope that was a typo). So what’s the deal?

Some companies post fake roles that they know a lot of people will apply to, for example, internships and entry-level roles. We heard from someone who recently had an interview with a startup that openly admitted their job listing was for marketing purposes. Companies may post job listings on job boards or LinkedIn to optimize their search engine optimization (SEO) rankings. On LinkedIn, when a person applies to a job, they automatically follow the page which gives the company more followers. If you apply to a company’s listing and are asked to download an app or sign up, this increases the company’s total downloads.

What should you do?

If you see a job posting that looks odd or disappeared and reappeared later, it could mean one of several things: 1) the company is looking for more qualified candidates, 2) the candidate who made it to the final stage didn’t work out, or 3) the recruiter hasn’t had time or forgot to remove the posting.

To try and avoid applying to a fake posting, go directly to the company’s website and see if it’s listed there. You can also write directly to the person who posted the job (if listed) and ask if the position is still open.

While LinkedIn and other job boards claim to try and weed out fake listings, it’s impossible to catch them all.

Another warning: we are seeing people posing as recruiters send solicitations through direct messages on LinkedIn. They will often tell you that your resume or LinkedIn profile is not optimized and provide a cut/paste of text with generic guidance on how it needs to be fixed to try to sell you their resume building or other services. Buyer beware!

Photo credit: Zan Lazarevic