Ask HN: Recruiters, why do you repost jobs with 1000 applications a month later?

Companies and the recruiters who work for them post ghost jobs for various reasons. You can find plenty of writing and discussion about it on HN, Reddit, YouTube, even mainstream media. Look at the Wikipedia entry for "ghost job."

Not really a new practice, but having job postings and job searching online makes it more obvious. Running ads for jobs the employer may not fill has few downsides and doesn't cost much.

Digging through job postings and applying to them has turned into a numbers game, and an arms race of automation and now AI tools. I suggest a more effective job hunting strategy, because worrying about ghost job postings just wastes your time if you intend to find a job.

> I suggest a more effective job hunting strategy

What specifically do you suggest?

Employers generally prefer hiring internally first, then through word of mouth (referrals). Career coaches and people with experience job hunting will tell you to leverage everyone you know to get in front of the hiring manager. A good professional network counts for a lot more than keywords on a CV. By network I mean people you actually know or have worked with, not the fake network cultivated on LinkedIn.

A more targeted approach as described in books like What Color Is Your Parachute? and Who's Hiring Who? will let you actively target a job, rather than passively sending in hundreds of applications/CVs like everyone else.

Aren't you limiting yourself to your social network? Won't most of your social network primary be in bigger companies and the ones in smaller companies may not need you because they are filling that role. When you apply around the globe you can get a total new experience.

Some combo of both could grow your network while opening new areas.