'Most job postings aren’t real': HR admits to curious employee that they advertise fake jobs to keep an inventory of candidates “just in case”, leading to heavy criticism

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Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor
Jan 23, 2026 7:00 AM EST

How invested are you in your company's job posting?

A company's job posting can tell you a lot about your workplace, and can even clue you in about your own position in the company. Unfortunately, many people find out they are going to be replaced because they saw that the company posted their role on LinkedIn, while others find out about a new potential promotion opportunity when a higher position is posted out of the blue. You can even find out whether or not your company is expanding or downsizing based on which job positions are available and how many.

Apparently, however, sometimes you might find out that your company's job posting is actually a complete hoax, just like what happened to the employee in the story below.

This employee noticed that their company keeps advertising roles that it has zero intentions of filling. Curious about this situation, they turned to HR and asked them why it was. Surprisingly, they received a very honest answer in return. HR revealed to this employee that they like to keep job postings up at all times to build a portfolio of candidates, so that when someone within the company inevitably quits, they would have a "bench" of potential new hires ready to fill in the position. Plus, if someone really special happens to apply to one of their fake posting, they want to have the chance to reach out and figure out how they can join the company anyway.

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  • The employee couldn't believe what HR was admitting so plainly. They were shocked that someone could spend time applying, interviewing,  and even doing home assignments, all for nothing, just to become another name in the company's inventory. 

    This led the employee to vent about the situation online, and the response to the HR reveal was even harsher than that of the employee. Keep scrolling to read the full story…

  • Job candidates preparing for job interview
    via Prostock-studio

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • Most job postings aren’t real. HR admitted it to me.

    I asked HR why my company keeps advertising jobs we have zero intention of filling, and they were way more honest than I expected.
    via blinkbeautiex
  • They told me the roles are basically fake by design. The company assumes a certain percentage of people will quit every year, so they keep job listings up constantly to build a "bench" of candidates.
    via blinkbeautiex
  • That way, when someone finally burns out and leaves, they can replace them immediately instead of fixing why people keep quitting.
    via blinkbeautiex
  • They also said the jobs stay posted "just in case" a unicorn candidate applies - even if there is no position, no budget, and no plan to hire anyone.
    via blinkbeautiex
  • So if you've been applying, interviewing, doing take-home assignments, and getting ghosted... there's a good chance the job never existed in the first place.
    via blinkbeautiex
  • You weren't rejected. You were inventory. And then companies turn around and say "no one wants to work."
    via blinkbeautiex
  • Woman Holding Hiring Post
    via natalyadanko

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • Squidgical It absolutely should be illegal though. All they're doing is wasting time of people looking for work, therefore making it harder to find work, therefore wasting taxpayer money. If you don't hire someone within 30 days of advertising a vacancy, you get a fine. Do so twice in a year, someone goes to jail. We need to put an end to the weak attitude towards companies. The law should be draconian towards companies, in proportion to their gross revenue.
    via Squidgical
  • blinkbeautiex Original Poster's Reply this is the part that really stuck with me. it creates the illusion that jobs are everywhere while people are burning months applying to positions that were never real.
    via blinkbeautiex
  • Jump-Rope-City Please name them.
    via Jump-Rope-City
  • Alternative_Tackle35 This is true. I help companies with IT matters. The appearance of hiring is more important than actually hiring. Give HR more to bitch about - "cant' find people", "no qualitied candidates" etc.
    via Alternative_Tackle35
  • Ok_Serve_4099 What they didn't tell you is they file for payroll tax deductions by claiming that they are hiring.
    via Ok_Serve_4099
  • VariationDifferent This shit needs to be made illegal. It's anti-worker, harming them by posting illusionary jobs, and even if a company has a position open up and goes to those collected resumes, if a worker is still available, there's a good chance they've become desperate enough to jump on the offered lifeline of employment, even if it's at a reduced salary than they would have otherwise taken. If a company can't hire someone in a reasonable time frame, it's not fault of the labor pool. It's
    via VariationDifferent
  • ItPutsLotionOnltSkin I applied to a company. They were excited to hire me because of all my experience. At the end they didn't hire me. Two months later they called me asking if I wanted to work with them. I told them I went to another company. They acted like their feelings were hurt.
    via ItPutsLotionOnltSkin
  • Mr_Horsejr This is fraud.
    via Mr_Horsejr
  • rellimeleda This is exactly why I stopped tailoring my resume for every single application. Why bother if the job doesn't even exist.
    via rellimeleda
  • Able_Signature_85 It feels like there could be a case that this effectively defrauds the unemployment benefits system in states requiring applications to obtain benefits.
    via Able_Signature_85
  • boorraab This doesn't pass the smell test. If they are collecting a deep bench, why don't they ever dip into it later on? Every time they fill a role, they act like they have to elicit a list of new candidates. I have never heard of a company looking back at old applicants and hiring one of them, unless their first pick ghosted or refused their offer. I have never been contacted months or years after an application, (and to those that have, does it happen with enough frequency that it appears co
    via boorraab

  • Would you want to work for a company that has no problem posting fake jobs “just in case"? How would you respond to HR if you were in this employee's shoes?

    We just hope this company is one of a kind, and that there aren't others who think it's okay to deceive unemployed people like that…

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boss workplace-stories employee hr manager job tales-from-the-workplace job candidate workplace company job application
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