← All resources

Ghost jobs: 7 signs to spot them before you apply

Ads that stay online with no real hiring, fake offers that ask for money: how to recognise them in a few minutes, and what to do.

By the PisteJob team · updated October 26, 2026 · 4 min read

You apply, you wait, and nothing. Sometimes it's not your CV or your cover letter: the job simply wasn't really open. That's a ghost job: an ad that stays online while the company is not actively hiring for that role.

Don't confuse it with a job scam, which is more serious: a fake recruiter after your money or your personal data. Both can often be spotted with the same habits. This guide helps you sort offers in a few minutes, before you spend an hour on an application.

Why ads stay online without real hiring

A ghost job usually comes from a real company. According to Welcome to the Jungle, the most common reasons are:

• an oversight: the role is filled but nobody removed the ad, or it was duplicated;
• a talent pool: the company keeps the ad to collect CVs and react fast when someone leaves;
• visibility: an ad already paid for on a job board keeps the brand visible at little cost;
• image: showing open roles suggests growth, to staff and to the outside world.

How common are they? Reliable figures mostly come from the United States. A 2022 Clarify Capital survey of more than 1,000 recruiters, cited in the same article, found that 68% of companies leave ads online for more than 30 days, and 43% do so to keep a pool of candidates. More recently, Greenhouse, a recruiting software company, estimated that 18% to 22% of job ads in one quarter were not actively pursued by hiring teams (FOX 5 New York, January 2025). Those are US numbers and don't apply as they are everywhere, but they show this is far from rare.

7 signs to check before applying

No single sign proves an offer is fake. It's when several add up that you should be careful.

1. The ad has been online for a long time

Check the posting date. An offer older than a month isn't necessarily dead (some hiring takes time), but your odds drop and it's worth asking the question. Also be wary of ads that say "posted 1 day ago" week after week: some are simply re-posted to stay at the top of the list.

2. The same role keeps coming back

Same title, same company, same city, posted several times within a few weeks. It may be a hard role to fill… or an ad used as a shop window. Either way, look into it before investing time.

3. The offer isn't on the company's own website

Most companies list their open roles on their own careers page. If the ad still circulates on job boards but no longer exists on the employer's site, it's probably filled or closed. Exception: some companies recruit only through agencies.

4. No concrete tasks

A real offer describes a job: tasks, a team, tools, a location, often a salary. An ad made only of general phrases ("join a dynamic team", "motivated profile") with no specific task is a weak signal, but a real one.

5. The ad contradicts itself

A "junior" role that requires ten years of experience, a permanent contract described as a three-month assignment, part-time hours paid like full-time: these inconsistencies often reveal an old copy-paste or an unserious ad.

6. You're asked to pay

This is the clearest sign, and it's no longer a ghost job but a scam. France's public employment service, France Travail, is clear: a genuine employer doesn't make you pay for training, equipment or "processing fees".

7. The contact doesn't look like real hiring

France Travail lists several warning signs: an offer that arrives without you having applied, a very high salary for simple skills, an e-mail address that doesn't match the company name, a request for your bank details, hiring with no interview at all, many spelling mistakes, and pressure to sign or answer immediately.

Check an offer in 5 minutes

1. Look at the posting date and search whether the same role was posted before.
2. Open the company's careers page: is the offer still there?
3. Re-read the ad: real tasks, a location, a team?
4. If someone contacted you, check the sender's address: is the domain the company's own?
5. Never pay anything, and don't share your bank details or social security number before a formal hiring.

If you think it's a scam: what to do

France Travail's advice applies well beyond France:

1. stop all contact right away and don't send anything else;
2. call your bank immediately if you shared your bank details;
3. if you sent an ID document, report it and protect yourself against identity theft;
4. report the ad to the job board where you found it, and to your national cybercrime reporting service;
5. keep evidence: screenshots of the ad and of every exchange;
6. file a police report.

Never agree to receive money and pass it on to another account: that makes you a "money mule", which can get you prosecuted.

Should you still apply to a doubtful offer?

For a scam, no. For an offer that is only old or re-posted, it's a question of time: a quick application costs almost nothing, a careful two-hour one deserves a live offer. The right habit is to prioritise: first the recent, specific offers that are on the employer's own site, then the others, faster.

And when you really like an offer that looks old, apply directly on the company's careers page: if the role is still open, your application lands in the right place.