Employers Advertising Jobs That Don't Exist in Reality

reply to post by FissionSurplus


RE: the govenrment using that for "jobs numbers" statistics...that is just bad statistics. Plain and simple The source data invalidates the results.

RE: what the companies are doing....i see no problem with that. The issue here isn't them posting a position, but in that there are few jobs and it creates wasted time for applicants. The companies are doing what they do.

A professional should be getting hired based on their network. LInkedIn is a good way to manage and maintain a network, but the real cheese is in talking to people and making a reputation for yourself.

My current role: i work for a guy that is highly regarded as the best at what he does. If i gave his company name, you would only find mention of it in various magazine articles relating to his work. He has no presence, and has the position of, "I will only work with people insightful enough to find me, and interesting enough to get my attention". Just working for him is a badge of honor.

I got the job through networking. I was referred by someone involved with a completely ancillary aspect of the project leading up to the business, and used that to work my way through the cracks.

Without a network, you will struggle to stand out. Sure, you can fish for something by dropping in resume's and whatnot, but that has not once worked for me in the past. Its always been someone I know recommending me to get me in the door.

I believe you are completely right about the government encourage companies to do this. Not only companies, but those big name, job listing sites.

Here's why:
I get phone calls, at least twice a month, one of them is from that well known job finding site that advertises everywhere. They are always asking us to post a job opening with them. I always tell them we are not hiring right now. (we like to hire local, from right here in town anyway.)
But they always tell me, that's ok, it doesn't matter if the position is open yet, they will keep the applications and resume's on file for us, for when a position does open up.

Sorry, I do think that is dishonest, and very disheartening for the people actually looking for jobs. Especially right now, when so many are desperate here in MI.

Looking for a job or just learning to become a Freegan are about the same thing, unless you have really good marketable skills and a good resume. If you don't and you'll end up at best with a minimum wage job, well that's okay too, but you're just as well off becoming a freegan for a while. Why?

Because say you have to work like 8 hrs a day at a minimum wage job where you're learning next to nothing. Well add to that the prep and travel time and costs and you're realistically looking at about a 10 hr day. Well realistically between social assistance and being a freegan you could find enough food on as little as 3 hrs a day. Leaving you like 7 extra hrs to do what you want, and or work on starting a small business.

That's not for everyone but still like at least being a freegan you're learning to make ends meet for yourself. You're learning self reliance, not just learning how to be a better sheep and make tptb more money that they don't need.

When I was doing HR stuff a couple of decades ago I remember there were certain parameters that if met meant you were required by law to post "available" positions in X number of places for Y number of days.

It was a real PITA because even if there were no real spots or if the hire had already been made from the inside or whatever you still had to post and publish some position. Not only was it a PITA but it was cruel to people who really needed the job. Got their hopes up for a position they would never get.

reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan


Thanks for your response, Texan. Most people do not fall into the category of sought-after professional, however. Most people are just looking for a paycheck in order to survive. Most jobs do just that: Provide a paycheck that allows people to survive...sort of. Many low level positions are posted and NEVER filled. Simple stuff in retail that would take a normal person all of 10 minutes to learn.

There is no reason to do this except to pad the job numbers. Every time I hear the quarterly jobs report and they claim that a certain number of jobs were added in retail, I know now that those numbers are bunk.

I do know how things work in west Texas, however. Lots of jobs that actually pay decently are gained by reputation and word-of-mouth. They are not advertised.

reply to post by chiefsmom


BINGO! The job advertising sites are also guilty of putting stuff out there to make it look like there's a ton of jobs available...however, they could not do so without the express permission of the companies they are advertising for.

While I'm on the subject, I have noticed that the convoluted way some places (especially government) make you apply for jobs online, and deliberately leave out important instructions, then later tell you that your application was rejected because it wasn't done properly, leads me to believe that they do not want people to successfully apply for positions. NeoGov is one such online job application network used by many government sites. Leaving out vital instructions, making it into a misleading maze, thereby guaranteeing that you will screw up something and be knocked out of the running......again, no reason for such chicanery unless they don't really have jobs available in the first place.

I have friends who work in state government who tell me that they advertise for lower-level positions which desperately need to be filled, and yet are NEVER filled.

The IT jobs are 1999 redux.

Advertise something with bloated requirements and below-market salaries.....cry to congress when they can't find anybody....open the H1B floodgates.

Mark my words..it's happening again

FissionSurplus
reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan

 

Thanks for your response, Texan. Most people do not fall into the category of sought-after professional, however. Most people are just looking for a paycheck in order to survive. Most jobs do just that: Provide a paycheck that allows people to survive...sort of. Many low level positions are posted and NEVER filled. Simple stuff in retail that would take a normal person all of 10 minutes to learn.

There is no reason to do this except to pad the job numbers. Every time I hear the quarterly jobs report and they claim that a certain number of jobs were added in retail, I know now that those numbers are bunk.

I do know how things work in west Texas, however. Lots of jobs that actually pay decently are gained by reputation and word-of-mouth. They are not advertised.

I have worked as a nurses aid....got all those jobs by personal referral.

reply to post by spartacus699


I gotta agree with you, Spartacus. Seriously. For so many people, what is the purpose of working so hard, for so many hours, only to find that you are still below the true poverty level? It is a trap, one that most people cannot get out of unless they want to end up homeless, or go on welfare.

I think the days of working hard and advancing up, for most people, are gone. Unless one can get higher education, or luck into a place in which there is room for advancement with management that values hard work and rewards it, it becomes a soul-killing grind.

reply to post by TXRabbit


LOL. I worked as an H1B Visa processor for Homeland Security 8 years ago. They were doing it then, en masse. The requirements were, the employer had to make every valid attempt to find an American citizen to fill the position first, and only after failing to find anybody to fill the position could they petition for a foreign worker to get an H1B Visa. I cannot tell you how many times I saw the employer say they couldn't find a qualified IT professional, engineer or nurse among our citizens, and only an IT person from India, or a nurse from the Philippines, could fill their needs. I always knew it was bull pucky. It is pegged to the incredibly low wages the employers were advertising the jobs for. HELLO!!!

reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan


Again, it's west Texas, Furry! If people know you around here, and you're a good worker, you'll never be without a job. However....try being a newbie to the area, as I am. Not a member of any of the Christian churches around here. No network of people that have known me since I was a kid. I'm chipping away at a stone wall. I don't give up easily, however. Perhaps if I can claim a long lineage of Texas heritage back to the Alamo....but no, I'm a "Left Coast Side Transplant". From California, no less! With parents who were "foreigners". The horror!

Great thread and discussion! SnF

When I was off for 4 months earlier this year,I signed up with multiple job agencies and got a ton of leads that I applied for with no responses.
I always kept checking back to see if those positions had been filled and the were still open.

And even though I have been back to work since May, I still have a flood of emails cluttering up my junk box with the same jobs.
IT'S ALL A JOKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




Peace,
K

reply to post by kdog1982


Kdog, my husband has been seeing the same thing. Same jobs appearing over and over....never being filled.....if you apply for them, your application goes into a black hole, never to be seen or replied to. I created this thread to let people know, if they're job hunting and getting nowhere, there is a reason for it, and it is NOT that they are a loser that nobody wants to hire. It's more likely that they're applying for jobs that do not exist or will never be filled...by anybody.

So, chin up! It won't help you pay your bills, but at least know that job hunting today is like being in a Fun House with a ton of mirrors. It's all illusion, with very little reality.

FissionSurplus
reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan

 

Again, it's west Texas, Furry! If people know you around here, and you're a good worker, you'll never be without a job. However....try being a newbie to the area, as I am. Not a member of any of the Christian churches around here. No network of people that have known me since I was a kid. I'm chipping away at a stone wall. I don't give up easily, however. Perhaps if I can claim a long lineage of Texas heritage back to the Alamo....but no, I'm a "Left Coast Side Transplant". From California, no less! With parents who were "foreigners". The horror!

I forget that you are "one of us".

reply to post by FissionSurplus


Fission,I get my work through a union hall. When things got really slow,I decided to try something outside of being an elevator constructor.
There plenty of jobs,seemingly,that I was qualified for like robotics and industrial maintenance.

But,thankfully,work started to pick up for us.
The funny thing is most of it is from the government and schools and banks.
Very little from the private sector.

For example,this little coal mining town in Kentucky ,Pikeville.
They have all brand new and very nice courthouse ,schools ,library and other government builds.
My question is,where in the heck are they getting all this money when they have been shutting down coal plants right and left in the area?

reply to post by FissionSurplus


I believe that this is probably true, but there is another side to the equation. My husband's boss tried to Hire some additional employees through several online agencies and paid plenty of fees to do so for a couple of years and never even got one applicant from any of it. Decent money, excellent benefits, etc. and no takers with THIS economy? I think these agencies take the prospective employers money AND the prospective employees money and never do anything to earn it!

There's another game I forgot about that applies to larger entities like universities and government jobs.

You may not have the money to fill a position but if you close that position you'll never get it back.

So say a department has a budgeted staff of 12 people but money is getting tight. If somebody is on the verge of retiring or leaving anyway you let that person leave and then never fill the job. This way you're department saves money.

But you cant eliminate the position. If you do you wont be able to just hire a new person when you can afford it. You'll have to propose re-creating the position. Anyone who has worked in a university or government job knows this is nigh impossible.

So the position must remain open but never filled. So month after month you list it. You even accept applications. But no applicant will ever be hired. Not until the department can afford to hire.

Sometimes the money comes back but the department is so used to operating one or two down that they still never hire and just use the money for other things.

A ghost position that only exists for budgeting purposes.

While the conversation on why companies do this is interesting it should also be known that this is not how the monthly jobs report is generated. It is a combination of statistical surveys of the population and employers. Advertising jobs does not change the number one way or the other as the surveys cover hired workers not furture hired workers.

reply to post by littled16


That's the other side of the coin, Little. Rip off companies on the net who take money from employers and don't produce any employees. Amazing!!

reply to post by thisguyrighthere


That is sad. Seriously. How the hell do they get away with that? Bottom line: How does anybody know if a job truly exists, unless they have the inside scoop from somebody who works there and verifies that they are indeed hiring?