I’m struggling to figure out why companines would do this; the reasons postulated in the article are not convincing.
Possibilities:
The HR personnel are trying to appear to be doing something useful.
Some portion of the current employees might be so marginal that the company wants to keep tabs on the available replacement pool. If the company gets applications from better quality applicants, they might find it easier to let their duds go.
They might be testing trends on pay expectations.
I think they do it to cover up how bad things are. Big Business Rule #1 is ‘Always look successful’. Success raises the stock price. No one wants to look like a bad bet.
I also expect that they're testing insourcing vs outsourcing.
"Why should we outsource this?"
~"Because the market is crawling with candidates who can do it."
or
"Why should we keep this in house?"
~"Because there are not many out there who have this experience."
I was working as a contractor for an HR subcontracting firm. I found a job listing online from my contracting employer for a full-time job. It was as if he’d looked at my resume and written the job specifically for me. He was a great guy, and we got along fine. He was also a practicing Christian. Which explains why he was honest with me. He said, “No, the job’s not real. None of my current advertisements are for real positions. I have to have a list of current resumes if someone comes asking for a particular type of employee.” I started keeping track. My particular specialty was narrow, and I usually knew who had real jobs and who didn’t. I realized that for that time period none of the dozens of postings were real. They were all collecting resumes just in case they got a contract and suddenly needed a dozen people.
That’s how it works. Company A gets a contract, and they’re expected to start performing RGHT NOW. But no one has a staff of idle, qualified people just sitting around waiting for A to get a contract. A gets a contract and they need people within the month.
It used to be that big companies, like Honeywell and General Dynamics could let qualified people sit on overhead until they were needed. But not anymore. If they don’t have a billable job for the employees, the employees are gone before the next pay period starts.
Scams. The "Hey, all remote jerb sign up today and get a check!" check-cashing one is hot right now. They send you a check, tell you to cash it, have you send some back to originator, check will eventually bounce, and no job.
But, who knows if it is actually happening or not.
...And...
They might be testing trends on pay expectations.
Bingo! By Jove! I think you've got it with those two explanations.
My estimate is that less that 50% of advertised jobs are ever filled. There is no intention of filling them. They are just wage and salary surveys.
I spent way too many years working at "Bigtime Mega Corporation." Saw this kind of stuff at first hand. It has been going on for quite a while.
Some companies are doing this to find out which of the current employees are looking for a job. I was at a conference in Columbus two weeks ago and this was a major subject.