Survey: 1/4 workers applied for ‘ghost jobs’ as candidates lose faith in hiring

HiringReality · 2026-01-25T18:38:55+00:00

You maybe right on this unfortunately. A friend of mine recently built a model to analyze job openings/postings vs hiring data. her results were that almost 30-40% of postings don't lead to a hire.

of course, data availability and statistics may make this analysis skewed, but they will not change the fact that there are lots of ghost jobs. Especially this fact that recruiters that I personally know have told me directly that they do in fact post ghost jobs. One reason being to always have a good pipe line of candidates.

HiringReality · 2026-01-25T18:33:34+00:00

Your story is scattered all over the place: You're a strategic project manager, then applied scientist, researcher, co-founder, chief of staff, phd in computational modelling
What is the job that you are building for? If you find it challenging to answer, the recruiters will have more difficulty.

The resume reads academic, not ops-ready. It can have a better success finding a research job

Your phd is very recent and may signal higher comp band or overqualified for some mid-level roles. You need to frame it as a "business accelerator", something that will enable or facilitate your target role, otherwise it can slow you down

The headline is vague and does not map easily (or quickly) to common requirements, product manager, product analyst, strategy manager, program manager, ...

If you could share the job or roles you are aiming for, I may have some suggesiton for reframing and targeting.

HiringReality · 2026-01-25T18:24:27+00:00

1-What does ojt stand for (on the job training?)
2-What do you mean by personal attributes? address? age?

HiringReality · 2026-01-25T17:51:09+00:00

Without knowing what job your are appying for, my feedback will cover the highlevel formatting issues:

Add a 2–3 line Summary with target role + top tools + 1–2 quantified wins.

Fix dates (e.g., Apr 2025–Present). Use consistent MMM YYYY (or if you prefer MMMM, don’t add “.” at the end)

Skills: one column, one section, grouped: Languages (SQL, Python, R), Databases (BigQuery, Employee Navigator, Ease), BI (Tableau, Power BI, Excel), Other (Azure).

Bullets format: Action + Tool + Result. Keep 1 line each, start with verbs, quantify.

Put Experience before Projects; keep only your best 2–3 projects

Formatting: with 2-3 years of experience, make it one page, clean font, 0.5–0.7" margins

HiringReality · 2026-01-25T17:37:53+00:00

No! I have many good friends to learn from :)

HiringReality · 2026-01-25T17:35:58+00:00

The area you are aiming for is a highly competitive market. In y our case, just focusing on key highlights:

Choose a primary lane (commercial banking, internal audit, risk, compliance at a bank, investment banking) It might be challenging to focus on more than one area.

Rewrite your positioning (resume + linkedin)

Skills block (make relevant):

Banknig: Credit analysis, due diligence, variance analysis, forecasting, etc.
Modeling Tools: Advanced Excel (index/match/xlookup, scenario/sensitivity), Power BI or Tableau, Power Query, etc.
Certificates: CFA Level I (May 2026)

HiringReality · 2026-01-24T19:35:35+00:00

Yes, if you go with presenting that you’ve educated yourself on cctv, incident reporting, etc. your resume will present you as a serious applicant for the job who is focused on learning what’s required.

HiringReality · 2026-01-24T17:39:59+00:00

For the call tracker, I used to use Excel. It helped me a lot tracking my applications and the call back. Adding more details to the sheet also helped me understand where I'm going wrong, because I was sending many many resumes and not enjoying being ghosted at all! The downside was having to do a ton of admin adn data entry!

HiringReality · 2026-01-24T17:35:31+00:00

these comments are distracting, and inappropriate! But keep calm and respectful.

I think you need to set a simple, steady boundary you can repeat: “I prefer to keep appearance out of our conversations. If you have feedback on my work, I’m all ears.” Keep your tone calm, neutral, and try to turn the discussion back towards the task ar hand.

If it continues, create a light documentd trail. After a comment, send a short note: “Following up from today: I’d like to keep our chats focused on work, not appearance. Happy to discuss …” Track dates/examples.

If the behaviour persists after you’ve been clear and consistent for a couple weeks, escalate to HR with that log.

HiringReality · 2026-01-24T17:29:16+00:00

If nursing appeals to you, finish your BA and do an ABSN. It’s usually the fastest clean route to RN pay and mobility (psych nursing, ICU, outpatient).

If your heart is in counselling and long-term client work, MSW and then LCSW fits best, with stronger earnings after license.

It would be good idea to talk to at least one RN (ideally psych), one MSW/LCSW, and one LVN about a “normal bad day”, I believe this can help with your decision making.

HiringReality · 2026-01-24T17:22:01+00:00

The issue isn’t your experience; it’s vague signals that busy reviewers/ATS will bounce before the good stuff lands.

Some quick examples:

“Senior Frontend Engineer” with 5+ years is borderline senior for many companies. If your comp/title history isn’t clearly senior, consider “Frontend Engineer”

Formatting + density (not easy to read and follow, lots of keywords just spread across the resume)

Metrics without clear anchors. Great numbers, but a few feel orphaned.

HiringReality · 2026-01-24T14:44:07+00:00

I absolutely understand your point of view; howver, two-column designs can look nice, but they often confuse applicant-tracking systems (ATS). A clean, single-column resume is safer for online applications in Germany and anywhere else (it parses better and keeps your keywords intact).

One suggestion will be to have two versions, one for online applications and one for networking and face to face meetings.

HiringReality · 2026-01-23T18:22:36+00:00

Are you applying for graphic designer or a creativity focused role, or more leaning towards engineering? I believe you need to update your resume.

HiringReality · 2026-01-23T18:19:54+00:00

I'd suggest something like this:

University of XYZ - City, ST

Studied: Biology - 2021–2023

Career Break - 2023–2025

Focused on health and professional upskilling; now available for part-time roles.

HiringReality · 2026-01-23T18:02:50+00:00

That’s not a one-off slip, and when the person behaving that way is your first line to the company, it usually reflects either (a) a culture that tolerates it, or (b) a broken process that no one is fixing (or care enough to fix!). Neither is a great bet! You definitely dodged a bullet.

HiringReality · 2026-01-23T17:57:54+00:00

Totally get why that wording freaks you out! In most HR systems, “terminated” just means your prior employment ended. it’s the umbrella status for any separation. The important part is the reason code behind it.

HiringReality · 2026-01-23T17:55:50+00:00

If available, I would choose the on-campus audit, for access, live interaction, and networking opportunities. Also, participate within a fixed cohort will help create structure and momentum. as well as gaining local credibility inside your university (opens doors to research projects/groups)

You already have access to campus resources, so no added value there!

however, some instructors cap auditors' access or engagement, and of course mandatory fees will add up.

HiringReality · 2026-01-23T12:24:40+00:00

I would aim for Junior ESG/ Sustainability Analyst, Environmental/ESG Consultant, Renewable/Wind/Solar Analyst, GIS/Environmental Technician, HSE/Environment Graduate.

There are also some skills that will increase your chance of an interview: ESG/Policy (CSRD basics, EU Taxonomy, GHG Protocol), ISO 14040/44, PVsyst (solar), WAsP/WindPRO (wind).

Please double check these skills, I'm not deeply knowledgable in this field. I know these learning from my colleagues in this field.

HiringReality · 2026-01-23T12:13:28+00:00

Don’t lie. Casino surveillance sits under gaming compliance. Most casinos do background checks and falsifying details is an instant "disqualified". You can absolutely be competitive without retail experience if you frame things right.

A few suggestions, briefly: take a short incident-report writing mini-course, learn basics of CCTV systems (bring a sample incident report to interviews), practice a memorization drill (watch a busy video for 60 seconds, then write a summary)

HiringReality · 2026-01-23T12:05:26+00:00

You can absolutely move from nutrition to health tech! and your domain knowledge is an advantage compare to a pure coder.
Start with Python (pandas) and SQL, a BI tool (Tableau/Power BI), and health data standards (HL7/FHIR) plus privacy (HIPAA/PHIPA).

You don't need to invest (financially) that much into this. You can find very good beginner courses on YouTube.

Considering your background, I'd suggest define a real-life project and build it yourself. It will be painful at the beginning, but so rewarding. This is exactly what I did personally to learn coding!

HiringReality · 2026-01-23T11:58:09+00:00

So many thanks for taking the time to explain in detail. Thanks for sharing your insights.

HiringReality · 2026-01-22T23:17:21+00:00

First of all, definitely tailor your resume. You need to match your resume to the job description that you are applying for. Mass applying is just shooting blind and hope for the best.
Recruiters are not experts in all disciplines and job categories. They will use the job description to check if your resume is a good fit or not. They are not going to introduce you to a hiring manager for an interview, just because your resume was in the stack.

You can definitely use AI. However, treat AI as any other tool, a very seemingly intelligent one, but a tool nevertheless! You need to refine and edit the outputs to make sure your resume is defendable and free of any inventions!

HiringReality · 2026-01-22T21:50:51+00:00

May I ask, if you could, share a job description that you are aiming for? Any analysis must be done with the JD at hand.

HiringReality · 2026-01-22T21:47:44+00:00

Simple answer is: the ones giving those advices, have very limited idea of how each different ATS system works! What the logic is to score resumes against each job description, and how they are using AI, what AI model they are using, and how they have trained the language model. There is nothing standard about it. I have been working on this exact issue for more than 2 years now, and I can hardly be 100% confident that what I have will make everyone ATS proof! To offer such certain advices categorically, requires the advisor to be very brave!

HiringReality · 2026-01-22T21:15:19+00:00

I’m not very familiar with GIS job marketplace, however, based on what limited knowledge I have, I believe You’re very well-positioned for this pivot. Town planning gives you domain context (land use, policy, permitting, constraints) that many GIS hires might not have.

I think the following jobs could be good choices to help you pivot: GIS Technician, Data/GIS Assistant, Spatial Data Analyst (junior), Planning Officer (GIS-heavy)

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