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Guide

How to identify ghost jobs

Published 16 October 2026 · Updated 16 October 2026

kery.io is a posting-history checker, not a fake-employer database. Use this guide to investigate listing age, reposts and closed ads yourself, then run the dashboard check on jobs you save. A score cannot prove a job is real or fake. Related: Seek, Australia, is this job real?.

Start with this: a listing that has been up a long time is a reason to investigate, not a verdict. Ghost jobs are public ads for roles that do not exist, or that the employer is not planning to fill soon. That definition comes from open research summaries, not from kery.io inventing a statistic.

What “ghost job” means in public sources

The US Congressional Research Service describes ghost job postings as online ads for positions that do not exist, or that employers are not planning to fill immediately. It also states that there are no official statistics on how common they are. (CRS, “Ghost” Job Postings, IF12977)

BBC reporting describes ads that were never meant to be filled, and ads that stay up after a hire. Journalists also quote employer surveys with large percentages; those figures are not government counts, and kery.io does not repeat them as fact. (BBC Worklife, 15 Mar 2024; BBC News)

SHRM notes that evergreen hiring, slow processes, and neglected take-downs can look like ghost jobs even when a role was real when posted. (SHRM)

A practical check you can do in 15 minutes

  1. Capture the URL and job ID. LinkedIn view URLs include a numeric ID. Save it so you can tell a date refresh from a new vacancy.
  2. Read the board’s own posted date and closed language. “2 weeks ago” is the current stamp, not always the first time the ID appeared. “Not currently accepting applications” means closed for new applicants.
  3. Search the company + exact title + your country on the same board and one other board. Only treat another result as the same role if the title, company and location actually match a specific job page, not a search-results page.
  4. Look for a careers-site original. If the company site has no such role, the board copy may be stale.
  5. Ask a human question if you can. A recruiter who can name the hiring manager, team and interview steps is stronger evidence than any score. Silence is common even on real jobs; it is not proof either way.
  6. Decide how much time the application deserves. Use kery.io’s ghost-job checker to pull posting history into one view, then Fit Check if you still apply.

Signals that are easy to over-read

  • A LinkedIn date that jumped forward on the same job ID is often a refresh, not a second advertisement.
  • The same title on Glassdoor or Indeed can be syndication, not a new hire cycle.
  • Staffing-agency ads can stay up while a real client interview is happening.
  • Job-scam ads (identity theft, malware, fake offers) are a different problem from ghost jobs. SHRM draws that distinction. Do not send money or ID documents to a listing you cannot verify.

What kery.io adds, and what it cannot establish

The dashboard records first-seen dates, advertised duration, current board stamps, closed status, and verified reposts for jobs you track. It does not see applicant numbers, budget approval, or whether an internal candidate is already chosen. Scores are a guide. Details: ghost job checker.