You apply. You hear nothing. Two weeks later, the same listing appears again. You start to wonder if the role was ever real. In many cases, it was not.
Ghost jobs are listings posted on job boards for roles that are not genuinely available. The company is not reviewing applications, has already filled the position internally, or never approved the headcount in the first place. In Singapore, this problem is structural — and it hits expat candidates harder than anyone.
How common are ghost jobs?
A 2024 Resume Builder survey of over 1,000 hiring managers found that approximately 40% of companies admitted to having at least one ghost job posted at any given time. Roughly 30% said they currently had active listings with no real intent to fill them soon.
A separate Clarify Capital survey found that 68% of hiring managers kept job postings open for more than 30 days even when they were not actively reviewing applicants. One in ten had listings older than six months.
These are global figures. Singapore adds its own layer: the Fair Consideration Framework.
Why Singapore has a structural ghost job problem
Under MOM's Fair Consideration Framework (FCF), employers must advertise a role on MyCareersFuture for at least 14 days before they can apply for an Employment Pass. This rule exists to ensure local candidates get a fair shot.
In practice, it creates a category of listings where the candidate is already identified. The company has a foreign hire in mind. The listing exists to satisfy a regulatory requirement. Other applicants — expats and locals alike — apply in good faith to a role that was never genuinely open to them.
There is no law against this. MOM tracks EP application outcomes, but does not publish data on how many FCF postings result in a genuine local hire versus a compliance exercise.
Why companies post ghost jobs
- Talent pooling. Collect resumes now, hire in 3-6 months when headcount is approved.
- Salary benchmarking. See what applicants ask for to calibrate internal pay bands.
- Growth signalling. Active listings suggest momentum to investors and clients.
- FCF compliance. The listing satisfies a regulatory requirement for a specific EP application.
- Recruiter activity metrics. Agencies keep roles live to hit KPIs or build their candidate database.
- Nobody closed it. Role was filled. ATS was never updated. The listing lingers for weeks.
How to spot a ghost job in Singapore
Listing-level signals
- Posted for more than 30-45 days without updates
- Reposted on a regular cycle (every 28-30 days is a common auto-renew interval)
- Extremely vague description with no specific deliverables or reporting line
- Salary range missing or absurdly wide (e.g. SGD 4,000-12,000)
- Apply button leads to a generic talent community form, not a role-specific application
Company-level signals
- Dozens of open roles but no recent interview reviews on Glassdoor
- LinkedIn headcount flat or declining while "actively hiring" badge stays on
- Role on aggregators but not on the company's own careers page
- Same role posted by multiple agencies with slightly different titles
Process signals
- No acknowledgement email after applying
- No interview activity after 2-3 weeks
- Recruiter cannot confirm timeline, budget, or hiring manager
- Role disappears and reappears without explanation
Why this hits expats harder
Every application from an expat candidate carries higher cost. You research EP eligibility. You check the salary against COMPASS benchmarks. You assess whether the company is likely to sponsor. You coordinate across time zones for interviews that may never come.
A local candidate wastes 15 minutes on a ghost job. An expat can waste days — and the downstream cost compounds. If you are making relocation decisions based on pipeline signals, a ghost job creates a false positive that can delay your real search by weeks.
FCF-specific ghost jobs are particularly cruel for expats: the listing mentions EP eligibility, suggesting sponsorship willingness. But the role was never open to you. It was a compliance posting for a different candidate's visa application.
What you can do about it
- Check listing age. If a role has been up for 45+ days on a non-niche position, treat it as likely dead.
- Verify the source. Check whether the role appears on the employer's own careers page, not just on aggregators.
- Watch for repost patterns. A listing that vanishes and reappears every 28 days without changes is almost certainly on auto-renew.
- Apply fast to fresh listings. Singapore pipelines fill within 7-14 days. After that window, applications are rarely reviewed even for live roles.
- Track your applications. A log helps you spot patterns and avoid re-applying to the same ghost listings through different channels.
Or let RoleRadar AI do this filtering for you. Every role in RoleRadar AI passes freshness checks: source URL validation, repost detection, and description-hash comparison. Ghost jobs and recycled reposts are removed before they reach your shortlist.
Stop applying to roles that were never real. RoleRadar AI shows only verified-live Singapore listings with clear visa signals.
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