// ghost jobs
Some postings are not being filled. freehire tells you which, and why it thinks so.
You can't tell by looking at the page. An hour spent on one is work you'll never hear back about. So freehire checks two things it can actually see: how the posting behaves, and what happened to people who applied.
- We check —
- how long the job has been up, how often it's reposted, whether the company's own careers page lists it, and whether people who applied got an answer.
- We never say —
- that a company isn't really hiring. That's about what someone meant to do, and we can't see that.
// what lights the mark
其中兩項觀察職缺本身，另外兩項觀察求職者應徵後的結果。只有後一類訊號，才能顯示該職缺可能無人積極處理。
The shape of the posting
Posting behaves as evergreen
The same job posted over and over, often with several copies live at once. Age on its own never triggers it — hard senior roles stay open a long time.
Why this counts— Posting behaves as evergreen
Open 240 days · reposted 13× · 7 copies open at once
One role advertised over and over, often with several copies live at the same time. It never fires on age alone — a genuinely hard senior role stays open a long time. Age is measured from when freehire first saw the posting, not from the date the source prints, so refreshing that date does not reset it.
Not on the company's own careers board
We found the job on an aggregator, but the company's own careers page does not list it. Only counted where we actually check that page.
Why this counts— Not on the company's own careers board
Not on the company's own careers board · checked 2 days ago
The posting reached us through an aggregator, and the same role is not on the employer's own board. It only counts where we actually crawl that board — otherwise absence would report our blind spot as the employer's fault. The check is re-run continuously and expires if it stops, so a stale answer goes quiet instead of standing.
What happened to applicants
Applications here went unanswered
People applied through freehire and got no answer in the time their stage allows. Only counted when a mailbox is connected, so a reply would have been seen.
Why this counts— Applications here went unanswered
Applications through freehire went unanswered past their follow-up window
People who applied here, whose mailbox is connected so a reply would have been seen, and who were not answered within the window their stage tolerates. Without a connected mailbox we could not tell silence from a gap in our data, so those applications are not counted at all.
People reported no response
Someone says they applied on a given date and heard nothing back. It carries no weight until enough time has passed, and it can be taken back.
Why this counts— People reported no response
People reported applying with no response
Someone states they applied on a given date and heard nothing. It carries no weight until the same span has passed that a tracked application gets, and it can be withdrawn — an employer who answers late costs the posting its evidence.
// why the level is what it is
| under 2 criteria | 2+ criteria fired | |
|---|---|---|
| under 2 people | nothing shown | Possibly inactive |
| 2+ people | Possibly inactive | Likely inactive |
The posting itself can only get you into the right-hand column. The bottom row needs something only people who applied can give — which is why no amount of the first kind ever reaches the strongest wording.
These are observations about the posting, not a claim about the employer.
// your part
The strongest signal is one only you can give: you applied and nobody answered. There are two ways it reaches us.
Report it yourself
On the job, pick Report → “No response”. It asks one thing: when you applied. That date is what tells a real silence apart from impatience. You can take the report back if the company answers later.
Or connect a mailbox
Then it happens on its own: freehire sees the reply arrive, or sees that it never did. Without a connected mailbox nothing is counted — we could not tell silence from a gap in our own data.
// where it is blind
- We only check pages we crawl. If we don't crawl a company's careers page, its jobs aren't judged on that criterion at all. Not finding something isn't proof.
- Age counts from when we first saw it. Sources that refresh the date don't fool us, but a job that was up before we started crawling looks younger than it is.
- Agencies trip this honestly. They advertise roles that belong to their clients, so those roles really are missing from their own page. That's why one criterion is never enough.
- A quiet company isn't a fake job. Recruiters go quiet for ordinary reasons. That's why a silence needs a second person and a second signal before it says anything.
// questions
What is a ghost job?
A posting nobody is actually working to fill — kept up to collect CVs, to look like the company is growing, or simply because nobody took it down. Studies put it between 18% and 27% of listings; Greenhouse, which can see its own customers' hiring pipelines, reported 18–22% per quarter with 70% of its employers having listed at least one.
Does freehire say a company is lying?
No, and it is built so that it cannot. The system observes two things: how a posting behaves, and what happened to people who applied. It never observes intent, so the strongest thing it will say is that a posting may be inactive — always beside the specific facts that led there. "Open 240 days, found only on an aggregator" is checkable; "this employer is not really hiring" is a claim about someone's state of mind.
How many signals does it take before I see anything?
Two. A single signal is weak on its own — a genuinely hard senior role stays open a long time, and a company can be missing from our board coverage for reasons of its own — so one criterion alone shows nothing at all. You always see how many fired out of how many were checked.
Why does it sometimes say "no data" instead of a verdict?
Because that is the honest answer, and it tells you why the warning is not stronger. A posting flagged on two structural criteria with nothing known about applicants is a very different thing from one several people reported. Hiding the empty rows would leave you guessing which of the two you are looking at.
Do you use my applications to flag jobs for other people?
Only as an anonymous count, and only above a threshold. Nothing you wrote, no dates, no identity — and no count at all until at least two different people have contributed, because a count of one would point straight at the single person who applied. Below that threshold the number is absent from the response, not hidden in it.
An unanswered application means the job is fake, then?
No — that is why it takes two people and a second signal. Recruiters go quiet for ordinary reasons, and a silence only counts at all if your mailbox is connected, so a reply would have been seen. Where we cannot observe replies we count nothing, since a gap in our data is not an employer ignoring you.
I applied and never heard back. How do I report it?
Open the job, choose Report, and pick "No response". It asks one thing: when you applied. That date is what separates a real silence from impatience, and it is what makes your report useful to the next person. You can withdraw it if the employer eventually answers.
Does a flagged job get hidden or pushed down?
Neither. It keeps its place in search and in every list, and the mark disappears when the posting closes. The point is to tell you before you spend an hour on an application, not to make the decision for you.
Stop applying into the void
The catalogue is open and needs no account. Tracking your applications is what makes the signal sharper — for you, and for whoever reads the posting after you.