THE 2025 GHOSTED JOBS REPORT：The Hidden Crisis Costing Job Seekers Time and Companies Top Talent

Executive Summary

“Ghosting” has emerged as one of the defining crises of today’s hiring landscape. In the hiring context, ghosting primarily refers to “ghost jobs” – listings for positions that don’t actually exist, have already been filled internally, or were posted without genuine hiring intent – as well as when employers suddenly cut off all communication with job candidates without explanation after applications or interviews.

Our analysis of over 550,000 Jobright users and 4.4 million job applications revealed an uncomfortable truth: ghosting isn’t the exception, it’s the rule. And in today’s strange job market—8 million openings but only 6.8 million unemployed workers, new job additions dipping to 139K in May, and nearly half of job hunters stuck in searches lasting months—ghosting has morphed from a minor irritation to a significant economic problem.

The good news? After crunching the numbers, we discovered ghosting follows clear patterns. It’s predictable. It’s preventable. And it’s costing businesses far more than they realize.

This report breaks down exactly who’s doing the ghosting, why it happens, and how both job seekers and employers can finally break the cycle.

The Universal Experience: Ghosting in Context

Recently, Jobright surveyed its users to gain a deeper understanding beyond anecdotes and measure the true extent of ghosting. The results were eye-opening. Not some, not most, but every single respondent had been ghosted at least once by hiring companies in their job search:

Examining the broader patterns across our user base confirms that this isn’t just a problem of a vocal minority—tracking actual application outcomes reveals non-response rates ranging from 35% to 67%, which vary by industry, job type, and application method.

These astronomical ghosting rates don’t exist in a vacuum. Today’s job market is characterized by fundamental mismatches:

Amid a challenging labor market, companies are facing an ongoing struggle to fill positions, with a significant mismatch between job openings and the number of available candidates. Labor force participation remains stuck at 62%, well below pre-pandemic levels, leaving employers competing for a smaller pool of candidates. Meanwhile, 40% of unemployed Americans have been job hunting for more than 15 weeks, creating a perfect storm of employer caution and candidate frustration.

This tension between labor supply and demand helps explain—but doesn’t excuse—the ghosting epidemic.

The Two Faces of Ghosting: Staff Agencies vs. Direct Employers

Not all ghosting is created equal. When we dug into our data, we found a striking divide between staffing agencies and direct employers:

Staffing agencies ghost candidates a staggering 67% of the time, meaning two-thirds of people who apply through these intermediaries never get so much as an acknowledgment. Direct employers, by contrast, altogether ghost candidates only 2% of the time.

But that doesn’t let direct employers off the hook. While they rarely ghost completely, many still drag candidates through extensive interview processes before disappearing.

The worst offenders? We found five staffing agencies responsible for more than 1.2 million questionable listings across popular job boards:

RemoteWorker US (409,000 jobs)
RemoteWorker CA (280,000 jobs)
Dice (190,000 jobs)
Vetted Health (177,000 jobs)
Varsity Tutors (151,000 jobs)

These aren’t just innocent miscommunications. Our tracking shows deliberate patterns:

50% of these listings get “refreshed” every three days to appear new
Many use convoluted application processes that bounce candidates between multiple websites
Nearly half have suspiciously bare-bones descriptions (under 200 characters)

After tracking millions of applications, we’ve found three unmistakable signs that a job posting is likely a ghost:

The Redirect Trap: Jobs that send you through a maze of websites during the application process often result in a ghost 83% of the time. Each additional hop increases your ghosting risk.
The Reposting Game: When a company keeps deleting and reposting the same job, they’re 78% more likely to ghost. They’re not hiring – they’re fishing.
The Empty Listing: Job descriptions shorter than a tweet correlate with ghosting 92% of the time. If they didn’t invest time in the description, they won’t invest time in you.

These patterns aren’t random. They’re so consistent that we can now predict with 87% accuracy whether you’ll be ghosted before you even hit “submit” on your application. Soon you’ll see what we see. Stay tuned.

The Double Impact: Business Costs and Emotional Toll

Ghosting doesn’t just waste time—it erodes trust and damages brands. When we asked candidates how being ghosted affects their perception of a company:

43% wouldn’t apply to that company again
42% lost trust in the company’s leadership and culture
Only 15% said it didn’t change their view of the company

For major employers, this translates to roughly 215,000 potential future applicants lost each year due to ghosting-related brand damage. And it gets worse: candidates who’ve been ghosted report being 37% less likely to purchase products or services from that company in the future.

The personal impact runs even deeper. When asked whether being ghosted after a final interview or after a first date hurts more, 72% said that being ghosted after a final interview is worse.

Looking deeper at the lasting psychological effects:

These emotional costs compound over time, creating a workforce that’s increasingly disillusioned with the hiring process itself.

Ghosting Hotspots: Where and When You’re Most Likely to Be Ignored

Our data reveals that ghosting isn’t evenly distributed—it clusters in specific industries, locations, and job types.

Industry Ghosting Leaders

Health Care Provider: 29%
Management and Manufacturing: 18%
Engineering: 15%

Geographic Ghosting Capitals

Los Angeles County, CA: 37%
Bentonville, AR: 31%
DFW Metroplex: 24%

Job Level Disparities

Associate positions: 13%
Entry-level roles: 9%
Director-level positions: 6%

Early-career professionals bear the brunt of ghosting, while employers tend to show more respect for the time of senior candidates. This creates a particularly painful dynamic for those just entering the workforce or trying to switch careers.

Remote work—despite its popularity—has become a ghosting hotbed:

Remote positions: 11% ghosting rate
On-site positions: 8%
Hybrid roles: 6%

Our analysis of over 280,000 remote job postings revealed a concerning pattern: highly competitive remote positions (those receiving 500+ applications) are 43% more likely to ghost candidates than similarly competitive on-site roles.

Perhaps most disturbing is the rise of “zombie listings”—job postings that refuse to die:

10% of analyzed jobs stay active for 3+ months despite no hiring activity
5% have been live for 6+ months
3% appear to be “perpetual postings”—companies hire one person but keep the listing active to build candidate databases

For our users, these zombie listings translate to approximately 448,800 wasted applications per year—an average of 9 hours per candidate spent on positions with no genuine hiring intent.

The Transparency Solution: How Companies (and Candidates) Can Fix This

Our most potent finding comes from comparing transparent and opaque job listings:

Postings with salary information: 1% ghosting rate
Postings without salary information: 11% ghosting rate

This 12.9x difference isn’t a coincidence—it’s the single strongest predictor of whether a company will ghost candidates before or after speaking with them. When employers commit to transparency upfront, ghosting practically disappears.

Other transparency factors that dramatically reduce ghosting:

Clearly stated application review timelines: -56% ghosting
Automated application receipt confirmations: -41% ghosting
Published hiring process steps: -38% ghosting

When we look across the survey responses from Jobright users to see why candidates sometimes abandon applications mid-process, a clear pattern emerges:

Application Complexity: Excessively long or redundant forms ranked as the top frustration, with candidates particularly citing multiple redirects and repetitive data entry requirements.
Employer Red Flags: Negative company reviews and concerning workplace culture signals discovered during research emerged as a major deterrent.
Bait-and-Switch Tactics: Job details that change during the application process—particularly regarding compensation, location, or role responsibilities—caused significant abandonment.
Technical Barriers: Poorly designed or malfunctioning application portals created insurmountable friction for many qualified candidates.
Authenticity Concerns: Growing skepticism about whether postings represent genuine hiring intent ranked as a significant but less common factor.

Scaling these findings across our user base, we estimate employers lose approximately 28% of qualified candidates purely due to application friction and transparency issues.

Ghost-Proofing Your Job Search

For job seekers, our data points to clear strategies that dramatically reduce ghosting risk:

✅ Choose direct employers over staffing agencies
Direct employers are far less likely to ghost completely than third-party recruiters.

✅ Target listings with transparent salary information
Salary transparency correlates strongly with employer responsiveness throughout the hiring process.

✅ Avoid employers who constantly repost the same jobs
Frequent reposting often signals data collection rather than genuine hiring intent.

✅ Look for companies that provide application timelines
Published timelines indicate structured hiring processes and greater accountability.

✅ Use Jobright’s Ghost Score to pre-screen opportunities
Our predictive algorithm helps you focus your time on employers most likely to respond.

Recommendations for Employers

Companies looking to gain a competitive advantage in talent acquisition should:

Post transparent salary ranges: This single change shows the strongest correlation with reduced ghosting and improved candidate experience.
Implement automated response systems: Even simple acknowledgment systems significantly improve candidate sentiment.
Provide clear hiring timelines: Setting expectations leads to more positive outcomes even when candidates aren’t selected.
Streamline application processes: Complex, redundant forms drive away qualified candidates before they even complete applications.
Ensure prompt initial responses: Early engagement patterns strongly predict successful hiring outcomes.
Track and eliminate internal ghosting metrics: Companies that measure and minimize ghosting see measurable improvements in brand perception and talent acquisition.

Conclusion: Beyond the Ghost Stories

Let’s be clear: ghosting isn’t just annoying—it’s costing everyone. Job seekers waste countless hours, and companies lose top talent they’ll never even know about.

But here’s the good news: after analyzing half a million job searches, we’ve cracked the code. Ghosting follows predictable patterns that both sides can address right now.

For job seekers, this means focusing your efforts where they count. For employers, fixing your ghosting problem might be the easiest talent advantage you’re not taking.

In a job market this complicated, the companies that eliminate ghosting don’t just hire faster—they build better brands and lock in tomorrow’s talent while their competitors keep fishing in an emptying pond.

The ghosts are everywhere, but now we know exactly how to bust them.

Methodology

This report combines multiple data sources to present the most comprehensive analysis of ghosting to date:

User Application Tracking: Real-time outcome data from 550,000+ Jobright users
Jobright User Survey: Detailed feedback from Jobright users
Posting Analysis: Pattern recognition across 4.4 million job listings
Employer Behavior: Tracking of 1,200+ companies with 100+ job postings
Market Context: Labor data from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and major news outlets

About Jobright: Founded by AI veterans from Google, Twitter, Box, and TikTok, Jobright has rebuilt job search from the ground up to give everyone an equal shot at career success. It eliminates busywork, surfaces better-fit roles, and learns from every application, saving applicants up to 80% of their job-search time. Trusted by 550,000 job seekers—and counting, Jobright proves that the next era of hiring will be driven by intelligent automation.

https://jobright.ai/ai-agent