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- Spooky Ghost Jobs
Spooky Ghost Jobs
PLUS: High-demand industries in danger?
PARTY PLAN 🎉
đź‘» Ghost jobs on the rise
🤨 Incentives aren’t always the answer
✖️ Are high-demand industries in danger?
And, of course, MEMES!
MEME OF THE DAY
“i had a non traditional path into finance”
— sophie (@netcapgirl)
10:35 PM • Feb 20, 2025
JOB MARKET
Spooky Ghost Jobs
A Monster poll conducted in January shows 93% of Americans surveyed are looking for or plan to look for a new job this year. Anyone who’s looked for a job in the last year or two knows that it’s a tall task. To make matters even worse, companies are posting “ghost jobs” to get candidates’ information for future hiring.
Yikes.
FlexJobs recently released a report indicating that legitimate companies are posting “ghost job” listings for positions that don’t exist to collect resumes for future hiring needs, gauge market interest or maintain the appearance of growth, according to the report. While some postings may serve legitimate business purposes, ghost jobs can be a significant time waster for job seekers.
“Other employers left job postings up for different reasons. They may want to give the impression to overworked employees that help is on the way. Or they may be hedging their bets that they will need employees in the future. Some companies will delay hiring as they search for the perfect candidate. After some time, they decide not to fill the role at all. Other companies delay hiring to save money. In some situations, the hiring process can take so long that the hiring manager may change. And the new hiring manager may want to reevaluate the role.”
FlexJobs provided a short list of red flags to watch out for to avoid wasting time on applying to ghost jobs:
Poorly written job posts or emails.
Companies using Gmail or Yahoo instead of a professional email domain.
Job posts with few details about the role or responsibilities.
Required upfront costs for training, equipment or other expenses.
The promise of high salaries for minimal effort.
RETENTION
Are Incentives The Answer?
Leaders want employees to be self-motivated and engaged, but too often manage with monitoring and incentives, according to research published last week in the MIT Sloan Management Review.
Instead, managers are likely to see better results with clear strategic direction and meaningful feedback. Managers also should aim to provide workers a sense of connection to their work and colleagues and space to work in a way that suits them, researchers said.
Measured and incentivized targets can cause employees to focus only on what is rewarded, according to the study. Researchers at MIT found that rewards such as expanded upskilling or professional development can improve broader motivation and performance.
“Give employees a clear understanding of their goals (why), with guidance and direction (what) of these goals, but give them the autonomy (how) to reach these goals. Most employees have the skills to do this, but they need to be allowed the flexibility to prove they can and to perhaps even do it better.”
Still seems a little suspect.
The nerds at MIT can say whatever they want, but a fat bonus check for doing a good job still seems to be the best way to motivate employees!
CAREERS
Are High-Demand Industries Out?
The workforce in America could be at a crucial inflection point. There are several industries with high demand for workers, but many of the students with a high aptitude for jobs in those industries have no interest in them.
“Without intervention, several industries could struggle for talent due to a frequent mismatch between student aptitudes and interests.” - YouScience
Researchers recently analyzed data from 450,000 middle and high school students who took the YouScience Aptitude & Career Discovery assessment and found that several high-demand industries may struggle for talent without some early career exposure programs due to students not being interested in the fields that they seem to be good at.
YouScience defined aptitude as “an individual’s natural ability to learn or perform in given areas,” while interest was defined as “self-reported activities someone wants to know or learn about.”
Some examples of these mismatches include:
A 28% gap in students who had an aptitude for health science but no reported interest.
A 24% gap in students who had an aptitude for information and technology but no reported interest.
An 18% gap in students who have an aptitude for advanced manufacturing but no reported interest.
“This report highlights a critical challenge we see across industries: the gap between student potential and career awareness. Without early exposure and engagement, we risk losing untapped talent in sectors that desperately need it. By aligning education with workforce needs, we can create a stronger pipeline of skilled professionals who are ready to drive innovation, productivity, and economic stability.”
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