If your job search feels like you are applying into a black hole, you are not imagining it. “Ghost jobs” have become common enough that lawmakers are moving to clamp down. A recent Forbes piece highlights US state efforts to curb deceptive job ads, and New York has a bill targeting postings that are not tied to a real intention to hire (bill text, plus coverage from NY1).
If you are in Singapore or anywhere in Asia, the legal story is interesting, but the career lesson is practical. When job boards get polluted, the smart move is not “apply harder”. It is to find live headcount and get chosen before the posting matters.
1) Treat job ads as a lead list, not proof of demand
Most job seekers still behave as if a job ad equals an open seat. In 2026, that assumption quietly destroys your energy and confidence. Some postings are evergreen pipeline building. Some are internal hires dressed up as “fair process”. Some are budget-dependent roles that die in the next cost review.
Even hiring platforms have tried to put numbers around the mess. Greenhouse’s “State of Job Hunting” materials discuss the scale of ghosting and ghost jobs (Greenhouse blog, and the report infographic PDF).
My headhunter take: the ad is not the opportunity. The opportunity is a manager with budget, a problem, and urgency. Your job is to locate that person and that problem.
2) Use three filters to avoid wasting your best weeks
If you are mid-career, you do not have unlimited emotional energy. You also do not have unlimited runway. Here is the triage I would use if I were job hunting today.
Filter A: Freshness and movement. If a role has been reposted for months, or the job description looks templated and unchanged, assume low urgency until proven otherwise. That is not “negative”. That is protecting your runway.
Filter B: Ownership. Who owns the outcome? If you cannot identify the likely hiring manager, or at least the function leader, and the role reads like “support everything”, you might be looking at a placeholder.
Filter C: Proof of hiring. Before you spend two nights on a case study, look for evidence the company is actually closing hires. Team announcements, internal mobility posts, product launches, expansion news, or a pattern of new starters on LinkedIn. This matters in Singapore where teams are lean and hiring cycles get paused easily.
If you want a quick diagnostic of where your search is leaking energy, run a fast career health check on CoachCAROL, then tighten the plan.
3) Build optionality the way senior hires actually happen
When postings are unreliable, you need a parallel path that does not depend on job boards.
Picture a 40-something regional operations leader in Singapore. Strong track record, credible teams delivered, but applying to “Director, Transformation” roles and hearing nothing back. If half the ads are noise, the move is to stop behaving like a consumer of listings and start behaving like a supplier of outcomes.
- Pick 15 target organisations where your function clearly matters, not 150 easy applies.
- Write a one-page value note for each: the business problem you suspect they have, what you would fix in 90 days, what metrics move.
- Get a warm entry to the hiring manager or their trusted lieutenants. In Asia, this is how hiring risk gets reduced.
- Ask a direct question early with recruiters: “Is this role approved and actively being filled this quarter?” If they dodge, you have your answer.
When you finally land a real process, you cannot show up generic. If you need a practical reset, start with our interview tips, then rehearse your business narrative like a leader who understands numbers, trade-offs, and consequences.
Ghost jobs are a market signal that the visible job market is less trustworthy. So stop outsourcing your hope to job boards. Build a tighter system: better signals, better targeting, and relationships that surface live headcount before the posting becomes a mirage.
Sources
- Ghost Job Ads Are Latest Employer Tactic Targeted By State Lawmakers, Forbes
- N.Y. state Senate passes bill to crack down on ‘ghost jobs’, NY1
- New York Senate Bill S8877 (job advertisements disclosures), New York State Senate
- Greenhouse State of Job Hunting Report (blog), Greenhouse
- Greenhouse State of Job Hunting 2024 (infographic PDF), Greenhouse
