Forget things that go bump in the night, Reading is one of the worst places for frightening job statistic

IF YOU have lost out on a recent job application don’t be spooked, writes James Hastings.

A new study shows an increasing number of many businesses are posting fake vacancies, known as ghost roles, online.

Their aim is to build a future pool of candidates or to give the impression to rivals that their business is booming.

Reading is one of the worst locations in the country for ghost vacancies with 20% of all job listings proving to be fake according to the study.

Adverts for veterinary nurses top the list of nonexisting roles followed by software engineers, cybersecurity analysts, insurance brokers and graphic designers.

Project managers came last among the top ten ghost roles which also included airline pilots.

Reading came ninth in a list of 20 towns and cities most likely to have fake adverts with Islington in London the worst.

Andrew Fennell, director of StandOutCV said ghost job listings have “been around for a while” but were being exposed as the job market becomes more competitive.

He added: “It’s likely they appear more frequently for jobs that require highlyskilled and experienced candidates.”

“Unfortunately, it would be incredibly tough to regulate ghost jobs which is why I tell job hunters to research a role as much as they can, especially if a job description is lacking in detail or was posted a while ago.”

“If the job listing was posted 20-30 days ago, it could still be worth an application.

“To double-check, it’s worth sending a quick message to the recruiter on LinkedIn as this could save you a lot of time in the long run.”

■ To see the full survey, log on to: https://standout-cv.com/ghostjob-listings-statistics-uk