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What can we do about 'ghost jobs'?
Editorial by Christian Saint Cyr
National Director / Canadian Job Development Network
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Recently, I noticed multiple headlines noting that 'ghost jobs' are causing confusion and chaos on the job search front. It prompted me to wonder, what exactly is a ghost job and why do we need to be so concerned about them?
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This was a term that came into common use a few years and refer to jobs of unknown origin, that may be or may not be a real job and where the employer never gets back to the candidate. I suppose it would be more accurate to call them paranormal jobs, but since there are actual paranormal jobs but no actual jobs for ghosts, outside of haunted houses, this is the term that has stuck.
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What is far more concerning to me is not ghost jobs but the dramatic new names we come up for things that have been around all along. Many a winter now we've been living in dread of the 'polar vortex' that is coming to encase the continent in ice.
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You may be thinking, when I was a kid, we didn't have polar vortexes and unless your 12 years old, you're right because the term, which means, 'a large, persistent area of cold, low-pressure air that circulates around Earth's poles that occasionally dips south or north as the case may be', didn't come into common use until the winter of 2017/2018, even though it's a natural practice of the earth.
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Of course we can't scare people with the term polar vortex in the summer, so they developed the term 'heat dome' which didn't get used popularly until 2021, even though the term has been around since the 1800s. It means a 'a high pressure ridge of hot air' but no one is going to click on that headline, so writers and editors created 'heat dome'.
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I'm not saying climate change isn't real. Clearly, the climate is changing. What isn't changing is people's desire to terrify people with over-the-top headlines just so posts can get more clicks.
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After the pandemic, they created the term 'the great resignation', a massive wave of people walking away from their jobs. In actuality, the labour market was stronger and people didn't feel like they needed to hang on to their job to feed their family.
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Today, we've coined the term 'job hugging', because people are worried about the economy.
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I have to admit, it's tempting. I almost titled this article, 'Ghost jobs crisis is going to destroy the labour market; massive job loss to come!'
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When you read these hyperbolic titles, ask yourself what has actually changed and what do I really need to know?
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Ghost jobs are also not new, just the regular use of the term. They are often placed by recruiters who want to solicit potential candidates for clients who may want to hire in the future. Sometimes they are placed by companies that want to measure how many candidates they could get if they need to hire.
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When companies or non-profits are bidding on future work, they will sometimes place ads to give their proposal an outline of what their staffing model might look like. In other cases, companies are required to post positions due to collective agreements, even though they already have a suitable candidate.
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And while ghost jobs might not have been around as long as polar vortexes or heat domes, they've been around for decades if not more than a century and they are just one more part of the complex relationship job seekers have with employers.
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Because, headlines and frustration amps things up, it becomes a much bigger issue for job seekers.
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A recent survey by Employment Hero stated, 56% of Canadian workers revealed suspicions that the roles they had applied for were all “ghost jobs.”
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This contributes to a general fatigue and depression so many job seekers feel about the job search process. The survey found, 78% of job seekers say the challenges of job searching and hiring have discouraged them from looking for a new role in the past.
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The Province of Ontario is trying to do something about this practice. As part of new employment regulations that went into effect in January 2026, employers with over 25 employees are now required to respond to interviewed candidates within 45 days.
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This prevents employers from ghosting job seekers and discourages them from uploading job postings with no intention to hire. Similarly, employers also need to include the salary range in their job posts to give job seekers a clearer idea of the compensation they can expect for the role.
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Unfortunately, 95 per cent of Ontario job seekers expect employers to try to find loopholes in the new requirements. Employment Hero noted, 88 per cent believe the rules will help, but the near‑universal expectation of workarounds points to persistent skepticism about employer compliance.
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Sadly, this Ontario legislation may help people in Ontario who've been interviewed but not everyone who applied for the job.
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The challenge with job search is an absence of information. It would take so little to reply to candidates who've applied for a job to say whether they've been selected for an interview or even say they've made their hiring decision and they appreciate their interest.
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When we don't know why a decision is made, it's very easy to develop our own narrative. Employers didn't choose someone because they're prejudice, they only want to hire Canadians, they already had someone they wanted to hire or they're looking for someone younger or older.
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This narrative erodes self-confidence and contributes to a dismal outlook of the job market. If we're here to rally people and build them up, we need to say that ghost jobs are simply a challenge of the job market and one that can be avoided.
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Some of the ways clients or students can identify a 'ghost job' is when:
- The job has been active for more than 30 days.
- The job is frequently re-posted or has been up for a very long time.
- The job description is vague or generic.
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The role is not listed on the company’s official website.
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Particularly in social media, fear and anger equal engagement and this is what is driving a lot of job seekers. In our roles, it is so important for us to be a calm influence, that focuses on what is working in the job market, factual information and helping individuals focus on the valuable contribution they can make.
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We’ll be discussing the terrifying crisis of 'ghost jobs' at our #MotivatingMondays meeting of the Canadian Job Development Network, Monday February 9th at 8:30am Pacific; 9:30am Mountain; 10:30am Central; 11:30am Eastern; 12:30pm Atlantic and at 1pm in Newfoundland.
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On the morning of Monday Feb. 9th 'Click this Link' to join the session LIVE.
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Labour Market 101 Training Modules
for British Columbia and Ontario
20% Discount Until Feb. 12th, 2026
ENDS THIS WEEK
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We're gathering final registration for our annual Labour Market 101 Training Modules. This is an excellent introduction to important LMI divided up into five different occupations:
Resource Room Advisors (Mon. Mar. 2nd);
Employment Case Managers (Tues. Mar. 3rd);
Facilitators (Wed. Mar. 4th);
Job Developers (Thurs. Mar. 5th); and
Managers / Supervisors (Fri. Mar. 6th)
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Up to this Thursday February 12th, everyone who registers is going to benefit from a 20% Discount on their registration.
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We have two series planned, one for British Columbia career professionals and another for Ontario. To learn more, click on one of these links:
BC LMI 101 Training Modules
Ontario LMI 101 Training Modules
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or to learn more, email Christian Saint Cyr, at: csaintcyr@labourmarketonline.com.
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