Ghost job

A fake job, ghost job, or phantom job is a job posting for a non-existent or already filled position.
The employer may post fake job opening listings for many reasons:

Inflating statistics about their industries
Protecting the company from discrimination lawsuits
Fulfilling requirements by human-resources departments
Identifying potentially promising recruits for future hiring
Pacifying existing employees with the premise that the company is looking for extra help
Retaining desirable employees
Information-gathering on competitor wages

There is a rising trend in employers promising remote work as "bait," and it underscores the relative power of the employers in the job market.
According to the career coaching service SamNova, a fake job listing can often be spotted as one that is either continuously open or repeatedly posted. These listings may have catchy titles, vague descriptions, a lack of detail, or contain reposts of previous listings.
A survey conducted by Clarify Capital has concluded that many companies and government entities have tricked job seekers with fake ads without the intent of hiring. A 2025 study by recruiting platform Greenhouse Software showed at least one in five job postings in the US is fake or never filled.