4 Strategies to Avoid Fake Jobs and Ghost Jobs: Get a real job before 2026!

Another career coach urgently posted to LinkedIn last week about an uptick in fake job leads from overseas that specifically target former Federal Government analysts. The goal of these “jobs” appears to be gathering information on behalf of foreign adversaries.

This is a new kind of fake job posting, and one that could ensnare former federal employees in serious violations of law.

About 300,000 employees, or nearly 13.4% of the workforce will be leaving federal service by the end of 2025, according to NPR. if even a small percentage of these workers have sensitive information, and a small percentage of that group fall for the ploy, the adversary could reap an intelligence bonanza and the former employee could wind up in jail, deported, or worse. So, it is more important than ever to recognize and avoid fake jobs.

But job postings for openings that do not exist are not new. While a small number originate from criminals and foreign adversaries, many more will simply waste your time.

Periodically, a client asks me for tips to avoid unproductive or dangerous job leads.  The tips I offer include:

1. Recognizing potential fraud,
2. Finding target companies,
3. Using LinkedIn and your own network, and
4. Avoiding the temptation to apply for every posted job.

These suggestions are basic to many readers. They are worth restating because many of us forget them as we push through our daily job search work.

Recognize potential fraud.

First, be alert to potential scams and fraud. Although this is basic for any kind of business transaction online, opportunities that are “too good to be true” are especially tempting when you really need a job right now. As Camille Carboneau Roberts pointed out in her LinkedIn newsletter article on the subject, be suspicious of leads that are poorly written, those that ask you to submit financial data right away, and those quoting unrealistically high or low salaries.

Every business and profession, I’ve noticed, has its own jargon, or terms of art, sometimes called “inside language” or “backstage language.” You know how experts in your field speak and write, so be curious when the job posting does not use the correct terminology. 

Traditional fraud is sometimes easy for us to recognize. For example, at a welfare-to-work program, clients came to me nearly every week to say they had found work. All they had to do, according to an email they showed me, was to scan their government ID and bank information, and then send it to a Website somewhere in Africa.

Today’s fake jobs can be more sophisticated because they are designed to harvest information about our former employers, not just our money. Minimize your risk by verifying that job leads originate with legitimate recruiters and company websites.

Identify target companies.

Job leads, then, can be fraudulent, phony, fleeting, or even ephemeral. While some job postings are fake, other openings are already filled when they are posted. For example, a client I spoke with told me that an HR rep called her very quickly to tell her a job she just applied for was already filled.

A commonly quoted figure is that more than 70% of posted jobs are not available, while more than 70% of open jobs are not posted. These estimates have remained remarkably stable for the last 40 years despite vast technological changes.

According to CBS MoneyWatch, 40% of companies surveyed admit to posting so-called “ghost jobs,” and 70% of HR managers feel the practice is ethical. They do it to enhance the company’s reputation as a growing business, spur employees to greater productivity by showing they are replaceable, or just to collect resumes for future roles. Some even interview candidates for the fake jobs.

The practice of posting jobs that do not exist is not new. Back in 1980, when I temped briefly in an HR office, the manager posted nonexistent roles to collect resumes. Again, I saw the practice when I was a consultant for an HR office in 1996. But technology makes it easy to post more ghost jobs faster today, so you could be applying for a lot of them.

It is important to note, though, that CBS says ghost jobs are not the same thing as fraudulent jobs. Fraudulent jobs, as we already noted, are posted by nonexistent employers to harvest your information, while legitimate companies post ghost jobs.

A strategy many coaches recommend is to identify target companies instead of pursuing individual jobs. LinkedIn and other job search and business networking sites, as well as Google, allow you to get alerts about announcements from specific companies, so technology can facilitate this approach. Additionally, you can use LinkedIn and other sites to identify people you know that work for target companies. While these strategies won’t end ghost leads, they will at least focus your efforts on places where you really want to work and the people you want to work with.

Of course, it is still essential to apply only for jobs you qualify for within these companies or your results will be disappointing.

Use LinkedIn and your own network.

Another suggestion I pass along to my clients is to use LinkedIn and their own contacts to find opportunities. Clients have said it was easy to expand their network beyond the minimum of 50 contacts needed for her to start showing up in searches. Also, clients have been pleasantly surprised by the number of familiar names and faces they have found on LinkedIn.

A coach I once worked with told clients “any job search method you can do in your PJs is too passive.” This applies to LinkedIn, so I recommend that clients also leverage their existing personal networks, including family and friends. If you landed your last job through a family member, perhaps this will work again.

Don’t apply for every job.

Above all, avoid the temptation to apply for every open job using automated or AI tools. Most of us do not qualify for every job, so we are wasting our time, as well as the employer’s time.

There is some evidence that the practice of applying for hundreds of jobs at a time is contributing to a great deal of job search frustration. According to some recruiters, there has been a substantial uptick in the number of applications per job, so the chances that you will be noticed in the ever-increasing virtual stack is getting smaller.

And, if you use an AI-generated resume that throws in all the right keywords, whether you have those skills or not, hiring team members will be frustrated at interviews when they find a disconnect between your skills and those on the resume. You will have wasted your time and effort, too.

The number of responses to each job lead has risen steadily in the last 30 years from less than 50 in 1994 to hundreds today. No wonder many jobseekers feel frustrated. The important thing, according to the Career Claw blog, is that you keep going and recognize that there will be a light at the end of the tunnel.

Concluding comments

Recognize that job search is challenging in almost any economic environment. While there are no “magic beans” or easy answers, you can take steps right away to improve your chances. Find companies where you really want to work, use your online and personal network to find people that can help you contact these companies, and then apply only for jobs that match your knowledge, skills, and abilities. These three steps will start helping you connect with the best job for you and reduce your chances of applying for ghost jobs, fake jobs, or outright fraudulent leads.