Free Republic

Fake job ads are proliferating online, with more companies admitting to posting realistic-looking job openings that don't actually exist. Forty-percent of companies said they have posted a fake job listing this year, according to a survey in May of 650 hiring managers from career site Resume Builder. Three in 10 companies currently have fake listings on their sites or on job boards, according to the survey.

Employers are posting seemingly open roles that were never meant to be filled at all. The labour market is tightening – and it's getting harder to find a job. In the wake of the Great Resignation, which drove more job vacancies than employers could fill, workers often had their pick of open roles. Now, they have largely lost their leverage among layoffs and budget cuts, and those open positions are increasingly rare. Still, roles do exist – or at least appear to. Job boards like LinkedIn and Indeed continue to advertise open positions, and workers are actively submitting applications. Yet...

After applying to more than 300 jobs in the last six months without a single bite, Will no longer bothers to read job descriptions or research companies. It's just a waste of time at this point, said Will, whose real name is withheld but known to Insider. He spends six to 10 hours a day on LinkedIn churning out applications, but says that he and his peers with similar credentials — master's degrees and MBAs from top schools — are having no luck getting interviews. "I'm seeing all of these articles about how companies cannot recruit people fast enough and...