Key takeaways
- A ghost job is a posting that is not being actively filled: already filled, on hold, reposted to collect resumes, or kept up to look like the company is growing.
- No single sign proves a job is a ghost job. Several signs together are a strong hint.
- The quickest test: is the same job open on the company’s own careers page or ATS? If not, be sceptical of the copy you found.
- A ghost job wastes your time; a job scam asks for money or personal documents. Legitimate employers in India do not charge fees to hire you.
Quick answer: a ghost job is a listing for a role that is not being actively filled. To check one, look for the same job on the company’s own careers page, see how long it has been up and whether it keeps being reposted, and read the description for a real team and real work. One sign proves little; two or three together are worth acting on.
What counts as a ghost job
- Filled but never closed: the hire happened; nobody removed the post.
- On hold: budget frozen, listing left up.
- Pipeline building: the company or an agency collects resumes for roles that may open later.
- Image: listings kept up to look like the company is growing.
A ghost job is different from a scam. A ghost job costs you time. A scam is after your money or your documents (see the end of this article).
Warning signs
- Not on the company’s own site. The job is on a portal but not on the company’s careers page or ATS board. Strongest single sign, with one caveat: some companies post certain roles only on portals.
- Reposted again and again. The same title from the same company reappears every week or two with a new posting date.
- Mass posting. The same title posted many times at once across cities, often by an agency.
- Evergreen wording. “We are always looking for talented…”, “future openings”, “talent pool”.
- Vague description. No team, product, stack or responsibilities you could picture doing on a Monday.
- Silence. Applications to this company never get a response, even a rejection, from people who match the requirements.
A five-minute check for any posting
- Search the company’s careers page for the exact title. Still open there? Good sign.
- Search Google for
"exact job title" "company name"and look at the dates. Many copies with different dates suggests reposting. - Read the description: can you name the team and three things you would do in the first month?
- On LinkedIn, check whether a recruiter or hiring manager is named, and whether they posted about the role.
- If the role matters to you, message someone on the team and ask if it is still open. A real opening usually gets a quick yes.
How Jobspiq handles stale and closed jobs
- Closed at the source, removed here: LinkedIn jobs are rechecked on LinkedIn; once LinkedIn shows a job is no longer accepting applications, Jobspiq removes it and its page returns “not found”.
- Employer boards first: jobs read from a company’s own ATS board are, by definition, on the company’s site.
- A 30-day limit: every job leaves the feed 30 days after it was posted.
- Coming next: a ghost-job signal that combines the warning signs above (only when two or more agree). It is not live yet; until it is, use the five-minute check.
Ghost job or scam?
Treat any of these as a scam until proven otherwise:
- A fee of any kind: registration, training, laptop, “refundable security deposit”, “verification”.
- An offer without a real interview, or an interview held only on chat.
- Requests for Aadhaar, PAN, bank details or OTPs before a written offer from a verifiable company email address.
- A recruiter writing from a personal Gmail or WhatsApp number who cannot be found on the company’s site or LinkedIn.
Do not pay. Report it at cybercrime.gov.in or call 1930, and report the listing to the site where you found it.
Prefer listings you can trace to the employer: browse tech jobs in India, or see how to find jobs on employer boards first.
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