Marvin OnumonuA quarter of UK workers have applied for jobs that don’t exist, with younger people hit hardest, research from Employment Hero found.
A quarter (24%) of UK workers said they had applied for a ‘ghost job’ – a role advertised but not actually being recruited for.
This figure rose to 37% among 18 to 34-year-olds.
Only 38% of roles showing up in job searches were seen as genuinely relevant.
Some employers were found to post vacancies to build a pipeline of candidates, test salary expectations or benchmark the market, without any intention to hire.
Some fake listings were linked to phishing, with personal information targeted from jobseekers.
One in three (33%) workers said their current job was hard to find, rising to 46% among the 18 to 34 age group.
Eight in 10 (80%) workers said they had applied for a job and got no response, with over half (54%) saying this was the most frustrating part of job hunting.
Delays and poor communication were also named as major issues, with nearly half (46%) of workers highlighting time-consuming tasks, 44% reporting long waits between interviews and 42% saying they had been ignored after interviews.
Six in 10 (61%) said the job search or hiring process had put them off looking for a new role, rising to 69% among younger people and 67% among women.
The research found almost one million young people were not in education, employment or training, and the UK unemployment rate hit a five-year high in November.
Nathaniel McAllister, founder of Hurdle, said: “Ghost jobs are becoming a real problem, especially on LinkedIn.
“They make the whole job-hunting experience even worse. I was made redundant in March 2025, and at first I thought finding another role would be easy.
“But once I started applying, I quickly realised it wasn’t. Some roles go through multiple stages, and then you might not get the job – or hear anything at all.”
McAllister added: “Over time, I’ve learned a few ways to spot ghost jobs. Look out for roles that keep being reposted, or ones shared by recruiters because they often post the same job every single day where they are often collecting your data.
“Other things to look for is the date that the job is posted (longer than a week old, you probably won’t hear back).
“These patterns don’t guarantee it’s a ghost job, but they’re a warning sign.”
He said: “Job hunting is especially tough for younger workers. I left university in 2023 and was competing with people whose entry-level roles had been delayed during COVID, which put me at an immediate disadvantage because they often had more experience in the workplace.
“These days, most employers expect more than just a degree – they want practical skills and proven achievements (even at entry level).
“Couple this with long delays and poor communication, and it’s easy to see why it’s hard to stay motivated.”
He added: “I can understand why businesses struggle too – I spoke to a company recently that received 4,500 applications for a single role, with many applicants not even matching the criteria of the role itself.
“But for job seekers, ghost jobs and confusing processes make the market feel impersonal and demoralising.
“It’s exactly why so many people give up looking for a new role altogether.”
David Holland, managing director of talent at Employment Hero, said: “Real vacancies usually spell out what you’ll actually be doing.
“That includes clear responsibilities, who you report into, where the role sits in the team and what success looks like in the first few months.
“Ghost roles tend to stay vague, with lots of culture talk and very little day-to-day detail.”
Holland added: “Using a system that connects HR, payroll and recruitment in one consolidated system such as Employment Hero’s platform, means every job is posted by a real, paying employer with an active workforce.
“That makes listings far more likely to be genuine, actively managed and followed up, reducing the risk of ghost jobs by design.
“You don’t need to overthink it. A genuine recruiter or hiring manager should be able to confirm whether the role is an approved vacancy and share a rough timeline for interviews and start dates.
“If answers are vague, delayed or keep changing, the role may not be active.”
Kevin Fitzgerald, UK managing director at Employment Hero, said: “Young people are facing one of the toughest job markets the UK has ever seen.
“On top of fewer opportunities, many are applying for roles that don’t exist, and even when they do, candidates are being ghosted.
“This creates a huge trust problem and also stalling career mobility. Our mission is to create a fairer recruitment experience for both sides of the market, which is why we’ve created the only platform that connects HR, payroll and recruitment with live candidates in one consolidated system globally- where jobs are real, expectations are clear and people are treated with respect.”
