A ghost job is an advert for a role that nobody is trying to fill. Some are left up by mistake. Some are posted to collect CVs. You can usually tell which before you send anything, with a few checks and one short email.
What is a ghost job, and how is it different from a bad advert?#
A ghost job is a vacancy advertised with no intention or immediate plan to hire. Greenhouse, a recruiting software company, defines it as a position advertised with no intent to hire. A bad advert is different. It is badly written, but there is a real role behind it.
Four things get called ghost jobs, and they are not the same:
- A stale advert. The role was filled and nobody took the advert down.
- A vague advert. The role is real, and the person who wrote it left out the detail.
- A CV collector. The advert exists to gather applications, with no role behind it today.
- A general call for CVs. It says plainly that it is looking for conveyancers to speak to, not that it has a vacancy.
Only the third is a trap. The fourth is honest if it says what it is. The first two cost you an afternoon.
Why do firms and recruiters post jobs they do not plan to fill?#
Usually to collect CVs, or because nobody took the advert down. Employment Hero's January 2026 write-up says ghost jobs are typically posted to build a candidate pipeline, test salary expectations or benchmark the market, rather than to fill a vacancy today.
In legal recruitment there is a further reason, and it is ours, not a surveyed one. A CV is something a recruiter can show a firm. A bank of conveyancer CVs is easier to sell than a promise to look. So an advert with no named firm and no pay figure deserves a second look.
A firm can drift into it too. A partner says a team may need another fee earner. The advert goes up. Then the budget is not agreed, and the advert stays.
None of this means every vague advert is a trap. It means the cost of finding out should sit with the advertiser, not with you.
How common are ghost jobs in the UK?#
Nobody knows exactly. We found no UK government or independent count of ghost jobs, and no figure for legal vacancies. What exists comes from software vendors, and each figure measures something different.
18 to 22%
of jobs posted on Greenhouse's own platform in any given quarter were classed as ghost jobs. Platform data from a recruiting software vendor, not a UK or legal count.
Up to 34%
of UK roles posted online were "never actively being recruited for", in a Greenhouse survey of over 1,200 employers in the UK, US and Germany. The figure for all three countries was 22%. A vendor survey, as reported by HR Review.
24%
of UK workers said they had applied for a ghost job. A vendor survey by Employment Hero in January 2026. The pages we read give no sample size.
Read these with care. The first counts adverts on one platform. The second is what employers said. The third is what workers believe. In Greenhouse's separate 2024 survey of 2,500 workers across the US, UK and Germany, three in five candidates said they suspected they had met a ghost job. Suspicion is not proof, but it does show the damage to trust.
For a lawyer, the useful reading is simple. Some adverts are not real, nobody can say what share, and you can check for yourself.
What does UK law say about advertising a vacancy?#
If a recruitment agency advertises a specific role, it must hold the details of that role and the firm's authority to recruit for it. That is regulation 27 of the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003. The words "ghost job" appear nowhere in it. This is the nearest the rules come.
Here is what gov.uk says an agency must do:
- Before advertising. It must not advertise a job without the full details of the position. It must also make sure the firm has definitely said it is looking for someone to fill it.
- In every advert. It must show its own full name and whether the job is temporary or permanent.
- If the advert gives a rate of pay. It must also give the nature of the work, the location and the minimum experience or training needed.
There is one exception. The authority rule covers adverts about positions that hirers seek to fill. A general advert for work-seekers that is not about a specific position does not need the firm's authority or the details of any position. That is why a clear "we are looking to speak to conveyancers" can be lawful, and why wording matters.
The rules do not make an advert useful. The gov.uk list does not require an agency to show pay, and it does not require the firm's name. They also cover agencies and employment businesses. We did not find a matching rule in those regulations for a firm advertising its own role. The advertising code does apply to a firm's own adverts. CAP Code rule 20.2 says employment marketing must relate to genuine vacancies, and the ASA upheld complaints about job listings that did not relate to genuine vacancies in a ruling dated 17 June 2026. This is not legal advice.
The REC, the recruitment industry body, has a Code of Professional Practice for its members. It says members adhere to principles of "truth in advertising" and only advertise positions for which they have documented permission to recruit.
Complaints about employment agency legislation go to the Fair Work Agency. It began on 7 April 2026 and brought together several enforcement bodies, including the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate.
How can you tell a real legal vacancy from a CV trap?#
Look at what the advert names. A real vacancy has details that only the firm could have supplied. A trap tends to be vague in exactly those places.
Warning signs
- No firm named, and no description of it
- "Competitive salary"
- "Various locations"
- Several roles in one advert, no detail on any
- No date, or the same advert reposted unchanged
- A request for your CV and nothing else
Signs of a real vacancy
- The firm named, or described by size, practice area and town
- A pay band for this role
- One town and a working pattern in days
- One role, one team and one person to report to
- A posting date that is recent
- Says who reads applications and what happens next
Then ask the questions the advert should have answered. This is the same logic as in how to read a legal job advert, applied to a different worry. There the question is what a phrase hides. Here it is whether a role exists at all.
Is the pay shown as a figure or a band?
YesRead on. A band means someone set a budget.
NoAsk for the band by email before you send a CV.
Is the firm named or clearly described?
YesCheck the firm's own website for the same role.
NoAsk for the firm's name. A reason for withholding it is worth hearing.
Is the working pattern given in days?
YesGood. You can weigh the commute.
NoAsk what hybrid means in days a week.
Is there a recent date?
YesGood. The role is likely live.
NoAsk whether the role is open today.
A quick table of places to cross-check:
| Check | Where | What you want to see |
|---|---|---|
| The firm's view | The firm's own careers page | The same role, with matching duties |
| The recruiter's view | The recruiter's jobs page | The same pay, place and date |
| The date | The advert itself | Recent, not unchanged for months |
| The contact | The advert or the reply | A named person writing from a work address |
For conveyancing roles, add one more check. A real team can tell you how many live files a fee earner carries. If you want the number to look for, read how many live files is too many before you reply.
What should you ask before you send a CV?#
Ask who the firm is, what the pay band is, what the working pattern is, and whether the role is open today. Then ask what happens to your CV. Our guide on what to ask a legal recruiter before you send your CV has the longer list.
Most of these cost nothing to ask. If the answer to each is a plain yes, you can send the CV with some confidence. If two or three are missing, ask before you send.
On this siteSee live roles with the pay shownEvery Wilson Mannion advert shows the pay or earnings basis, the working pattern and the date, so you can check the basics before you write to anyone.Browse the jobsHow do you test an advert in one email?#
Send four short questions and see whether the reply answers them. Do not attach your CV. A real role should get four plain answers. In our experience a collector tends to reply with an invitation to ring, or with silence.
Write from your own address
Keep it short. Name the role and the date on the advert.
Ask four things
The firm, the pay band, the working pattern in days, and whether the role is open today.
Leave the CV out
You are testing the advert, not applying yet.
Give it two working days
That is our suggestion, not a rule. A real recruiter with a real role has the answers to hand.
Read the reply
Four answers is a good sign. "Call me and I will explain" is information too.
Here is wording you can copy:
Hello [name], I saw your advert for the [role] on [date]. Before I send a CV, could you tell me the firm, the pay band, the working pattern in days a week, and whether the role is open today? Thank you.
If the reply is a request for your CV first, you have learned something. If it never comes, you have learned something else. That is a theme of our piece on why recruiters ghost lawyers.
Why do pay, place and working pattern make an advert easier to trust?#
They are details a firm has to settle before it can hire, so an advert that shows them has usually been through a conversation with the firm. A missing figure does not prove a ghost job. It does remove the easiest evidence that the role is real.
- Jobseekers who would not apply without salary information41%
CV-Library survey of 1,043 UK jobseekers, August 2026
- UK job adverts that included salary information58%
CV-Library analysis, previous 12 months
- UK Indeed postings that included pay58%
Three months to June 2026
Source: CV-Library, reported by Onrec, 13 October 2026; Indeed Hiring Lab, 3 August 2026
Those are vendor and job board figures, so treat them as indicative. They still point one way. Many UK jobseekers will not apply without pay, and a large share of adverts still leave it out.
The same CV-Library report asked 233 recruiters and direct employers why they leave pay off. Pay varying with experience came first at 27%. Wanting a wider pool of applicants came next at 16%. Budgets not yet being finalised was 13%. That last one is the point. If a budget is not final, the role may not be either.
Every Wilson Mannion advert shows the pay or earnings basis, the working pattern and the date. We say so because it is the simplest test of an advert we know. For the case for pay on every advert, see why legal job adverts should show the salary. For the market around it, the salary guide has the bands.
What can you do if you think an advert was a trap?#
Keep the evidence, ask in writing what happened to your CV, and move on. You have lost a little time. You do not owe the advertiser anything more.
- Screenshot the advert. Keep the date, the wording and the link.
- Ask where your CV went. Ask in writing whether it was sent to any firm and which one.
- Ask where they found you. The ICO says an organisation that gets your data from another source should tell you where it came from, within one month.
- Complain if the rules look broken. The Fair Work Agency handles employment agency legislation. Gov.uk lists it on its pay and work rights page.
- Stop spending time on it. A role that stays vague after one email is not worth a second.
If you are applying through us, you do not have to guess. A named person looks after you, no CV goes to a firm without your say so, and it costs lawyers nothing. You can ask us the four questions above on a 20-minute confidential screening call. For conveyancing roles, see our conveyancing recruitment page.
On this siteAsk the four questions on a callA 20-minute confidential screening call on Microsoft Teams. You decide what happens to your CV.Book a callSources
- legislation.gov.uk: The Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003, regulation 27 (Advertisements)
- GOV.UK: Employment agencies and businesses: Job advertisements
- GOV.UK: Overview of the Conduct Regulations 2003 (guidance updated 22 June 2026)
- GOV.UK: Pay and work rights helpline and complaints
- REC: Code of Professional Practice
- Greenhouse: 2024 State of Job Hunting report (vendor survey of 2,500 workers in the US, UK and Germany, December 2024)
- HR Review: One in three UK job ads may be fake as ghost jobs erode trust in recruitment (23 December 2025, reporting a Greenhouse survey)
- Employment Hero: Ghost jobs and fake job listings discourage UK job seekers (13 January 2026, vendor survey)
- Onrec: 4 in 10 jobseekers won't apply without a salary, reporting CV-Library's Candidate Behaviour Barometer 2026 (13 October 2026)
- Indeed Hiring Lab: Indeed's 2026 Mid-Year UK Jobs and Hiring Trends Report (3 August 2026)
- ICO: Your right to be informed if your personal data is being used
- ASA: CAP Code, section 20, Employment, homework schemes and business opportunities (rule 20.2, employment marketing communications must relate to genuine vacancies)
- ASA: ruling on StudySmarter GmbH (17 June 2026), job listings found misleading because they did not relate to genuine vacancies
This is general information, not legal advice. Where a figure comes from another organisation, the source is above, and we say when it is dated.