Free tool. No login required.
Ghost Job Checker
Paste a job URL. Find out in 30 seconds whether anyone is actually reviewing the applications.
26% of job postings are ghost jobs. This ghost job checker looks at posting age, activity signals, and careers-page status so you stop wasting hours on listings nobody is reading.
Free. No login required. Works on LinkedIn, Indeed, and most ATS pages.
What is a ghost job?
A ghost job is a posting that a company has no intention of filling right now, or possibly ever. They get posted to build candidate pipelines, satisfy HR processes, boost employer perception, or stay up after the role was filled internally.
A 2024 study found that 26% of postings on major boards are ghost jobs. On LinkedIn specifically, postings older than 60 days have a hire rate under 3%. If you have been applying and hearing nothing, ghost jobs may be a bigger factor than your resume.
This checker looks at three signals: how old the posting is, whether the role is still live on the company's own careers page, and activity indicators. It returns a verdict in seconds so you know before you invest the time.
How to tell if a job is a ghost job
Three signals cover the vast majority of ghost postings. The checker runs all of them for you, but here is what it looks at.
Posting age
Roles under 14 days old are fresh. 14 to 45 days is a stale warning. Past 45 days is a strong ghost indicator. Most real roles fill or freeze within a month.
Careers page verification
Is the job still live on the company's own website? A posting that exists on LinkedIn but not on the company careers page has often already been filled or quietly abandoned.
Activity signals
Applicant count relative to posting age, recent edits, and repost patterns all feed the final verdict. A 400-applicant pile on a 60-day-old posting is not a queue, it is a graveyard.
The age curve
Ghost probability climbs fast after 30 days.
Based on LinkedIn hire-rate analysis and ShouldApply's scoring engine. A posting older than 45 days has roughly a 6-in-10 chance of being a ghost job.
Probability a posting is a ghost job, grouped by days since posted.
Why do companies post ghost jobs?
39% of hiring managers admit to posting roles they have no plan to fill. That is not a fringe practice. It is how a lot of companies run their talent function right now. There are four common reasons and none of them help you.
What the research says
Every major study finds between 1 in 5 and 2 in 5 jobs are ghosts.
Five independent sources, five different methodologies, one consistent picture: ghost jobs are systemic, not anecdotal.
Resume Builder
2024Survey of 1,000 hiring managers
admit to posting roles they have no plan to fill
Revelio Labs
2024Algorithmic review of LinkedIn listings
of listings show no detectable hiring intent
Clarify Capital
2024Survey of 1,500 tech companies
of tech firms posted a fake job in the past year
Fonzi AI
2026Pool analysis across 12 boards
of active postings classified as ghost jobs
Industry average
2024–26Cross-industry hiring-intent tracking
ghost rate across all US listings
Percentages reflect each study's headline finding on ghost job prevalence.
Pipeline building
Recruiters leave listings up to collect resumes for future hiring cycles. The posting is real in the sense that someone will read it eventually, but not now and probably not you.
HR headcount theater
Some internal processes require an external posting even when the role is pre-wired for an internal candidate. The listing is pure compliance and the decision is already made.
Employer-brand signaling
Growing companies look better on LinkedIn. Some teams keep dormant roles visible just so the careers page looks busy during investor season or fundraising windows.
Simple neglect
A role gets filled internally or frozen and nobody takes the posting down. Weeks become months. Applicants keep clicking apply into an empty mailbox.
The result is the same in every case: you apply, nothing happens, and you never find out why. A ghost job checker cannot fix the system, but it can keep you from pouring hours into listings that were never going to answer.
Frequently asked questions
How do I tell if a job is a ghost job?
The three most reliable signals are posting age (over 45 days is a strong warning), whether the role is still live on the company's own careers page, and activity markers like applicant count relative to age. This checker runs all three automatically and returns a verdict in about 30 seconds.
How do I spot a ghost job on LinkedIn specifically?
LinkedIn surfaces two of the strongest signals directly on the listing: posting age (shown as 'Posted X days ago') and applicant count. A posting older than 45 days with 200+ applicants and no recent updates is almost always a ghost. LinkedIn also lets companies leave listings up indefinitely, which is why the platform has one of the highest ghost rates of any major board.
How many job postings are actually ghost jobs?
Research puts the figure between 20 and 30 percent of active postings. A 2024 study of LinkedIn found 26 percent showed no hiring intent, and a separate survey found 39 percent of hiring managers admit to posting roles they do not plan to fill. In tech specifically, 40 percent of companies posted fake jobs in the last year.
What should I do if a job turns out to be a ghost job?
Skip it and move on. No amount of resume tuning will help if nobody is reading applications. Spend that time on fresh listings where your fit score is 70 or above.
Is this tool really free?
Yes. The ghost job checker is free and requires no login. If you want your full fit score against a real posting (skills match, gap analysis, and exactly what is holding your score back), that requires a free ShouldApply account.
Keep going
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Only queues verified active listings, never dead posts.
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Tailor resume bullets to verified live postings with ATS keywords.
Browse active jobs
Ghost jobs already filtered out.
How ghost detection works
The full signal model behind the scoring engine.
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