Real Talk: When Leadership Ghosts (And Why Millions Are Paying the Price)
Part 3 of the Real Talk series on leadership, culture, and what happens when organizations don't show up.
In August, I wrote about what happens when leadership stays silent. Then I showed you what happens when leadership shows up. Today, I need to talk about what happens when leadership ghosts - not just one person, but entire organizations. And not just occasionally, but systematically.
A few days ago, I came across a post on Glassdoor that stopped me cold. It read:
"I'm very disappointed to find so many job listings on Indeed, Glassdoor, LinkedIn, and ZipRecruiter. I submitted over 100 applications in total for the month of September, yet nobody calls back. Often, I am immediately denied even when my qualifications match the job descriptions. What is going on?"
The comments poured in. Real people. Real exhaustion.
"Same issues here. I have put out probably 500 applications since the end of August. I have had 5 actual interviews. I have had just as many scheduled by companies, just to show up on video and sit for 15 mins to realize I was ghosted."
"Over 1000+ resumes over a year with no callbacks for marketing positions."
"I'm very qualified and have 25-30 years of experience and no one has even called for an interview."
This isn't just frustration. This is what happens when the leadership principles I've been writing about break down at scale.
The Pattern You Can't Unsee
When I wrote about that CEO who never responded to my email, some people said I was being too sensitive. One ignored email. What's the big deal?
But look what happens when that silence scales across hiring.
The data is staggering: 27-40% of job postings are ghost jobs. These listings for roles companies have no real intention of filling. That's not an anomaly. That's a system breaking down.
In 2019, companies made 8 hires for every 10 job postings. By 2024, that number dropped to 4 hires per 10 postings. The hiring rate essentially halved in five years.
And it's not just impacting job seekers. It's distorting the entire labor market. With an estimated 1.3 to 1.6 million fake listings flooding job boards, even the Federal Reserve is struggling to make accurate economic decisions.
Think about that: Leadership absence in hiring isn't just hurting individual candidates. It's breaking the economic signals that guide national policy.
Why Is This Happening?
Remember the Marriott CEO who responded personally to my email? That's not just good manners. That's leadership presence. Ghost jobs are the opposite -- leadership absence at industrial scale.
When I dig into why companies post jobs they never intend to fill, the reasons reveal a profound disconnection:
50% say they're "always open to new people" - building talent pools "just in case"
43% want to signal company growth to impress employees, investors, or customers
62% post fake jobs to make current employees feel replaceable
35% are hoping an "irresistible candidate" might apply
Let me be clear: Seven in 10 hiring managers believe posting fake jobs is "morally acceptable."
This is what happens when no one at the leadership level is paying attention. When HR isn't at the strategy table. When there's no accountability for the human cost of organizational theater.
The Real Cost: People, Process & Platform Breaking Down
Ghost jobs aren't a hiring problem. They're a leadership problem disguised as a hiring problem.
Let me show you what I mean using the framework I use with every client at Engage3P: People, Process & Platform.
People Breakdown: When leadership doesn't show up for hiring decisions, HR loses its strategic voice. No one is empowered to ask, "Why are we posting this job if we're not actually hiring?" The result? 61% of candidates are ghosted after interviews - up 9 percentage points just since early 2024. And candidates aren't the only victims. Your own employees waste time interviewing people you never plan to hire, burning trust from the inside out.
Process Breakdown: Ghost jobs reveal undefined decision rights. Who actually approves headcount? Who monitors job postings? The average candidate wastes 47 hours per ghosted application process - time spent tailoring resumes, writing cover letters, and preparing for interviews that lead nowhere. Multiply that by thousands of candidates, and you're looking at millions of wasted hours. That's not process. That's chaos with a job board login.
Platform Breakdown: ATS systems and AI screening tools are absolutely part of the problem. When companies don't understand their own hiring process well enough to configure these tools properly, technology becomes a barrier instead of a bridge. The wrong tool, poorly set up, with no human strategy guiding it, doesn't screen candidates - it screens them out. As one frustrated candidate put it: "I am heavily qualified for all sorts of work, 15 years in highly specialized jobs with vast skill sets, and can barely get anyone to view a resume before an automatic denial." When your screening tools are eliminating proven talent before any human sees them, you don't have a hiring process - you have an elimination process on autopilot.
Technology without human judgment doesn't optimize hiring. It optimizes dysfunction.
The Business Case (That Leadership Is Ignoring)
Just like Arne Sorenson's response cost nothing but returned everything in loyalty and culture, ghost jobs cost everything and return nothing.
What companies are losing:
‼️ Employer brand damage: 80% of candidates won't reapply to companies that ghosted them. 50% won't even buy their products or services.
‼️ Higher costs: Companies with poor candidate experience pay 10% more per hire. For 30 hires at $100,000 per role, that's $300,000 burned simply because candidates felt misled.
‼️ Legal exposure: Ghost jobs may violate data privacy laws in the EU and California. False advertising claims are already emerging.
‼️ Lost talent: When the best candidates realize they were never truly being considered, they disengage completely. And they tell others.
And here's what really keeps me up at night: The companies posting the most ghost jobs are often the ones claiming they "can't find talent."
You can't find talent because you're not actually looking. You're performing.
Real Talk Wrap-Up
When leadership is silent individually, one person feels unseen
When leadership shows up individually, culture ripples outward
When leadership ghosts systematically, entire markets break down
Ghost jobs aren't about overstretched HR teams or outdated ATS systems. They're about what happens when leadership doesn't show up to ask hard questions:
Are we actually hiring for this role?
Who approved this headcount?
What message are we sending to candidates - and our own employees - when we post jobs we can't fill?
The candidates on Glassdoor aren't just tired. They're losing faith. And they have every right to.
Because when 500 applications yield 5 interviews, and ghost jobs account for up to 40% of listings, the problem isn't the candidates.
It's us. Leadership. And whether we're willing to show up.
What Now?
If you're a job seeker reading this: I see you. Your experience is valid, and the system is broken - but it's not your fault.
If you're a leader reading this: It's time to ask whether your hiring process is creating culture or creating ghosts.
Want to know if YOUR organization is creating ghost jobs? Take the Human Momentum Diagnostic - a 3-minute, research-based way to understand how your People, Process & Platform are working together (or not).
Read the rest of the Real Talk series:
📧 Let's talk: hello@engage3P.com
📆 Book time and let's fix this!
Sources:
Entrepreneur, "1 in 4 Job Listings on LinkedIn Are Likely 'Ghost Jobs'"
CNBC, "Ghost jobs: What the rise in fake job listings says about the current job market"
Medium, "From 1 in 8 to 1 in 5: Ghost Jobs Are Distorting the U.S. Labor Market in 2025" 4-8. Stack Overflow, "The ghost jobs haunting your career search"
Greenhouse, "Ghosting, ghost jobs and bots: Candidates reveal their top challenges"
The Interview Guys, "The 2025 Ghosting Index"
TestGorilla, "Ghost Jobs: The Ultimate Deception in Hiring"
Medium, "From 1 in 8 to 1 in 5: Ghost Jobs Are Distorting the U.S. Labor Market in 2025"
Harvard Resource Solutions, "The Rise of Ghost Jobs: Ethical and Legal Considerations"
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