Corporate Gaslighting: 70% of Hiring Managers Think Lying to Job Seekers Is ‘Morally Acceptable’

You spent three hours perfecting your resume. Another hour writing a thoughtful cover letter. You researched the company, practiced your interview answers, and submitted your application with genuine excitement. Then nothing. Weeks pass. The posting stays active. You check again and see 847 other applicants now. You wonder what you did wrong.

Here’s the brutal truth: you did nothing wrong. The job never existed in the first place.

According to Resume Builder’s survey of 1,641 hiring managers, 40% of companies posted fake job listings in the past year, and three in ten currently have active ghost jobs on their websites. But the most shocking finding isn’t just that these fake jobs exist. It’s that seven in ten hiring managers believe this practice is morally acceptable and beneficial for business.

Welcome to the world of corporate gaslighting, where companies deliberately waste your time, manipulate their own employees, and face zero consequences. Until now.

The Moral Crisis Behind Ghost Jobs

The Resume Builder survey revealed something deeply disturbing about corporate culture. Of the 649 hiring managers who completed the full survey and admitted their companies posted fake listings, the overwhelming majority saw absolutely nothing wrong with the practice.

The numbers tell a chilling story about how normalized deception has become in hiring. Nearly 70% of these hiring managers said posting fake job listings boosted revenue. Sixty-five percent reported a positive impact on morale. Seventy-seven percent saw increased productivity among workers.

But here’s where it gets even more troubling. The decision to post fake jobs doesn’t come from some rogue recruiter acting alone. According to the survey data, 37% of fake job ideas came from HR departments, the very teams supposedly building trust with candidates. Another 29% came from senior management, 25% from executives, 5% from investors, and 4% from consultants.

This is coordinated deception at the highest levels of corporate leadership.

“It’s a concerning scenario, particularly when these misleading postings originate from HR departments, the very entities entrusted with shaping accurate perceptions of their organizations,” says Stacie Haller, Resume Builder’s chief career advisor. “Whether it’s to create an illusion of company expansion or to foster a sense of replaceability among employees, such practices are not acceptable.”

Yet the data suggests these practices are becoming standard operating procedure. Our 2025 Ghosting Index found that 75% of applications receive zero response, a trend that makes far more sense when you realize companies are posting jobs they never intend to fill.

Interview Guys Tip: When researching a company before applying, check Glassdoor reviews specifically for mentions of “ghost jobs” or candidates who were ghosted after interviews. This pattern often indicates systemic issues with hiring practices.

Psychological Warfare in the Workplace

The reasons companies post ghost jobs reveal something darker than simple laziness or disorganization. These fake postings serve as weapons of psychological manipulation aimed at both job seekers and current employees.

Sixty-two percent of companies posted ghost jobs specifically to make their current employees feel replaceable. Think about that. Nearly two-thirds of companies engaging in this practice are doing it to keep their workforce anxious and compliant. The message is clear: we could replace you at any moment, so don’t ask for raises, don’t complain about workload, and definitely don’t think you’re irreplaceable.

Another 63% posted fake jobs to trick overworked employees into believing help was coming. Imagine grinding through 60-hour weeks, burning out, barely keeping up with your responsibilities. Then you see your company posting jobs for your department. Relief washes over you. Help is on the way. Except it isn’t. The job is fake. Your employer deliberately created false hope to extract more work from you while you wait for backup that will never arrive.

This isn’t just unethical hiring practices. This is gaslighting on a corporate scale.

But perhaps most insulting is what happens to the job seekers who apply. Of the companies posting ghost jobs, 85% actually interview candidates for these non-existent positions. Let that sink in. They’re not just collecting resumes in a database. They’re bringing people in, making them take time off work, asking them to prepare presentations, conducting multiple interview rounds, all while knowing they have zero intention of hiring anyone.

Thirty-nine percent always contact applicants who apply for fake roles. Forty-five percent sometimes contact them. These candidates invest three to eight hours in interview processes, often losing wages from current jobs, paying for professional attire, arranging childcare, and preparing extensively. All for nothing.

CNBC’s analysis found that the broader motivations paint a picture of systematic deception. Sixty-seven percent of companies want to appear open to external talent even when they’re not. Sixty-six percent want to act like the company is growing. Fifty-nine percent simply want to collect resumes for later, treating desperate job seekers as free market research.

Understanding the psychology of job interviews becomes meaningless when the entire process is theater. Companies get to test their interview questions, assess market salary expectations, and build a pipeline of pre-vetted candidates who have already demonstrated interest, all without spending a dollar on actual hiring.

Interview Guys Tip: If a company interviews you but seems vague about timeline, budget approval, or the actual team you would join, you might be in a ghost job interview. Ask directly: “Has the budget been approved for this role?” and “When was this position opened?” Legitimate hiring managers will have clear answers.

The Industry Ethics Breakdown

Not all industries engage in ghost job practices equally. Greenhouse’s data analysis of job postings across their platform revealed which sectors have the worst track records for wasting applicants’ time.

Construction leads all industries with a 38% ghost job rate. More than one in three construction job postings never results in a hire. The arts industry follows at 34%, legal services at 29%, and corporate services at 31%. These aren’t minor problems. These are industries where finding a real job requires sifting through massive amounts of fake opportunities.

Overall, between 18% and 22% of all job postings are ghost jobs. That means roughly one in five positions you apply for doesn’t actually exist. Seventy percent of companies posted at least one ghost job in the second quarter of 2024 alone.

An even more damning finding comes from MyPerfectResume’s survey of recruiters: 81% of recruiters admitted to posting ads for positions that were fake or already filled. This isn’t a few bad actors. This is the industry standard.

Where are these fake jobs appearing? Everywhere you’re looking. Seventy-two percent appear on company websites, 70% on LinkedIn, 58% on ZipRecruiter, 49% on Indeed, and 48% on Glassdoor. No platform is safe.

The duration these ghost jobs stay active reveals another layer of deception. Only 6% are removed in less than a week. Twenty-eight percent stay up for a few weeks, 31% for a month, 19% for three months, 7% for six months, and 9% remain active for a year or more.

Think about what this means for your job search strategy. You could be applying to a posting that’s been sitting there for eight months, long after any real hiring intention evaporated, and the company simply hasn’t bothered to remove it. Or worse, they’re keeping it up deliberately to continue collecting resumes and manipulating their current employees.

Interview Guys Tip: Jobs posted for more than 30 days warrant extra scrutiny. Cross-check the posting with the company’s official careers page and reach out to current employees on LinkedIn to verify the role actually exists. If the posting only appears on job boards but not the company website, that’s a major red flag.

The Human Cost

The psychological toll of ghost jobs extends far beyond wasted hours. Greenhouse’s 2024 State of Job Hunting report surveying 2,500 workers found that 79% of job seekers admit feeling heightened anxiety in the current job market. Ghost jobs amplify this anxiety by destroying trust in the entire hiring process.

When you apply for dozens or hundreds of jobs and receive nothing but silence, you start to question everything. Is my resume terrible? Am I not qualified? What am I doing wrong? The truth is often that you’re doing nothing wrong. The jobs were never real.

This erosion of trust damages legitimate employers too. Once candidates realize how prevalent fake postings are, they become cynical about all job listings. They stop putting effort into applications, assuming most are fake anyway. Companies complaining about low-quality applicants need to look at the toxic environment their industry has created.

The legal system is starting to take notice. Law firms like Audet & Partners are investigating ghost job cases and pursuing multiple legal theories. Claims include fraudulent misrepresentation (companies knowingly creating false postings), unfair business practices (misleading job advertisements), emotional distress (the psychological burden on job seekers), and false advertising violations in states with applicable laws.

The legislative response is building momentum too. According to the Congressional Research Service, multiple states are cracking down on ghost jobs. The Federal Trade Commission reported that job and employment agency scams nearly tripled from 2020 to 2024, creating urgency for action.

At the federal level, the 2025 Truth in Job Advertising and Accountability Act would require employers to disclose their actual intent to hire, include salary bands, and set deadlines for removing filled positions. The Department of Labor and FTC would gain enforcement power, and job seekers would have legal recourse.

New Jersey has introduced bills requiring employers to disclose whether postings are for existing vacancies and remove filled positions within two weeks. California’s legislation would require clear disclosure of vacancy status. Kentucky’s bills would prohibit ghost jobs entirely with civil penalties. Even Ontario, Canada has enacted ghost job regulations taking effect in 2026.

The tide is turning, but slowly. For now, job seekers bear the burden of identifying and avoiding fake postings themselves.

Our ghost job detection checklist provides red flags to watch for, but the reality is that companies have made job searching exponentially harder by flooding the market with fake opportunities. Every hour spent applying to a ghost job is an hour you could have spent networking with real hiring managers or developing skills.

Interview Guys Tip: The best way to avoid ghost jobs is bypassing job boards entirely when possible. Network directly with hiring managers through LinkedIn, attend industry events, and request informational interviews. When someone refers you internally, you know the role is real.

What This Means for Your Job Search

Don’t let ghost jobs make you doubt your qualifications or worth. The problem isn’t you. The problem is a corporate culture that has normalized deception and views job seekers as resources to exploit rather than people to respect.

Focus your energy on quality applications rather than quantity. Research companies thoroughly before investing time in applications. Cross-reference postings across multiple sources. If a job appears on LinkedIn but not the company’s official website, that’s suspicious. If it’s been posted for months, it’s probably fake.

Build direct relationships whenever possible. A warm introduction from a current employee is worth more than fifty cold applications to ghost jobs. Those connections can verify whether positions actually exist and whether the company has budget approval to hire.

Track which companies ghost you and share that information. Glassdoor, Reddit, and other platforms allow you to warn other job seekers. Companies posting ghost jobs should face reputational consequences, and the only way that happens is if candidates speak up.

The 70% of hiring managers who think lying to job seekers is morally acceptable are banking on you staying silent, staying isolated, and blaming yourself when their fake jobs go nowhere. Don’t give them that satisfaction.

Corporate gaslighting only works if you don’t know it’s happening. Now you know. The next move is yours.