Fuck Dr. Phil, or: Why companies advertise fake jobs

Anyone looking for work these past few years is familiar with this phenomenon: Apply for a job, receive a rejection email, and then see the exact same job re-advertised several months later. In fact, no sooner had I drafted this post than a new topic appeared over on the Indeed forum sharing the same observation, "Resumes submitted, Completely qualified, No call, Job reposted:"

Dude, we're all lost here.

I already posted about Oracle's recent fake job posting. Here are a few more examples I've encountered.

Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory advertised for a Graphic Artist/Designer back in early June 2016:

I was rejected. One month later, on July 15, this job appears:

Note that it’s pretty much the exact same job, they only slightly modified the title and assigned it a new job number. Clever!

T. Rowe Price advertised for a Senior Graphic Designer in August 2015:

I was promptly rejected. Here it is again four months later, in January 2016:

Note, again, that while the job description remains identical they did change the job number (from 07422 to 08124), just to “be safe” (*snark*). The saddest thing about T. Rowe Price is that I used to cite their TV commercials as a nice source of 3D design inspiration on the few job interviews I’ve attended this past year. Well, no more. Screw you, T. Rowe Price. (I sent them a little message via their Fakebook page about this job that never gets filled…what a bunch of maroons!)

Gartner advertised a Senior Graphic Design position in March 2016:

I applied and was promptly rejected. Here it is again, posted as of July 11 (although they didn't bother to change the job number):

State Street advertised for a Marketing Production Designer in March 2016. I applied and heard nothing. Here's the ad on StinkedIn. On June 16, they posted it to their careers page as a "new" job (in red):

So, what the hell is going on here, especially in an age where the typical design job gets hundreds of applicants? I’ve seen a bunch of theories about these “ghost” jobs in discussion groups – for example, companies get tax credits for each job they advertise (regardless of whether the job gets filled), or they’re trying to impress their shareholders/competitors with the notion that they are expanding. But I’ve long suspected something else, which this article mentions: 

A company might put up a fake ad to harvest contact information. You do all the work for them! You fill in your full name, your phone number often including a cell, and you give them your email and snail mail address including ZIP code, all conveniently entered into discrete, marked fields. That's a great way to build a detailed database right down to your education and interests, one that can be sold to anyone, cold callers for all kinds of companies, a donation plea for a college or charity, a political campaign sorted by institution and ZIP, even a news site that wants to send out targeted mass emails with links to generate page views.

Remember, folks. We are now in an economy that doesn’t make or manufacture anything. It’s all online junk, and everything that you think is free really isn’t free – do you really think Fakebook is making millions of dollars off of kitten videos? It’s about selling personal information to the highest bidder. Because that’s the only game left in town.

The article closes with:

I saw an afternoon talk show the other day where the sanctimonious host lectured a frustrated job seeker who pointed this out: "Maaaybe it's time to get seeeerious about this and think outside the box: after you fill out the application online why not stop by the company to introduce yourself and add that personal touch?" As if in all the brainstorming done by millions of desperate people over the past four years, no one has ever thought of trying that! The whole reason it's all done online now is because they Do Not want people showing up uninvited. And if you do it anyway, you'll be lucky to get far enough along to creep out a receptionist and generate a call to company security or local police. Crooks will be crooks, there's not much that can be done about that. But there's no reason why legit companies should be allowed to put up fake job ads to bolster their databases and sell lead lists. It's terrible for job-seekers, which is bad for the economy and bad for business. But until there are real, enforced penalties, it's going to get a lot worse before it gets any better.

I'd tell the sanctimonious host (let me guess, it was Dr. Phil? *barf*) that most companies no longer have a reception area, they have a security guard, and if you show up without an appointment you will be shown the door. As far as why is it legal for companies to post fake jobs, I’m still questioning this myself. There are a number of ordinances where I live stating that a car dealership cannot advertise a car that does not exist on their lot. If they’re caught doing so, they face legal consequences. I guess we’ve reached the point where used car salesmen are more trustworthy than any HR department.