A "ghost job" is a posting for a position the company doesn't actually intend to fill, at least not now, and not the way the ad implies. They exist to collect resumes for some future need, to satisfy posting requirements, to signal growth, or simply because nobody bothered to take the ad down. For tradespeople, they're worse than an annoyance: time spent applying to ghosts is time not spent on postings where a foreman is genuinely short-handed.
There's no single tell. But ghost postings tend to share a profile, and once you know it, you can read a posting in thirty seconds and decide whether it deserves your application.
1. No pay range: or a meaningless one
“Competitive wages.” “Pay based on experience.” A company that's serious about filling a position knows what it can spend and says so, because pay is what makes qualified people apply. A posting that hides pay is either fishing to see who'll work cheap, or not really hiring at all. A range so wide it's useless ($25-$60/hr) is the same red flag in different clothes.
2. It's been up forever
Real trades jobs fill fast, good journeymen don't stay on the market long, and employers with crews to staff move quickly. A posting that's been live for 60, 90, 120 days either isn't real, has impossible requirements, or pays under market. Check the posted date before you spend time applying.
3. The same ad runs year-round
Some companies keep a permanent “now hiring journeyman electricians” ad running to build a resume pile for the future, to show clients they're growing, or to make current staff feel replaceable. If you've seen the identical posting from the same company every month for a year, that's a pipeline ad, not a job.
4. Vague on everything that matters
No location beyond a province. No shift. No start date. No mention of which site, what kind of work, or what tickets you actually need. Employers with a real, urgent vacancy describe it specifically, because the details are what attract the right person. Vagueness is what postings look like when there's no actual crew waiting.
5. You can't tell who the employer is
“A leading industrial contractor” with no name is sometimes a staffing agency building a candidate list, sometimes for jobs that exist, sometimes for jobs that might exist someday. There are legitimate reasons for confidential postings, but they're rare in the trades. If you can't tell who you'd be working for, you can't check them out either.
6. Instant interviews: then silence
Ghost jobs often have automated front ends: you apply, get a same-day “next steps” email, maybe even an automated screening call, and then nothing. The pipeline was the point. A real hiring foreman with two electricians short on a deadline calls you back, because the gap costs them money every day.
7. The requirements don't match the trade
A “journeyman plumber” posting that asks for five years of experience but says nothing about a CofQ. A “welder” ad with no mention of CWB tickets or pressure ratings. When the requirements read like they were written by someone who's never met the trade, no tradesperson reviewed the posting, and there may be no tradesperson job behind it.
What an honest posting looks like
Flip every red flag and you get the profile of a posting worth your time: a real hourly range, a named employer, a specific location and shift, the tickets actually required for the trade, a recent posting date, and a way to reach a human. None of that is exotic, it's just what hiring looks like when a company genuinely has a gap in the crew and money walking out the door until it's filled.
Where WrkCrew stands
Ghost jobs are one of the reasons WrkCrew exists. Our rule set is built to make them structurally difficult: every posting must disclose a real pay range, no "competitive," no "DOE," and ranges spread wider than 40% get blocked automatically. When the full platform launches, employer verification and posting freshness rules add two more layers. If a posting does slip through that looks like a ghost, there's a report button on every job, we'd rather pull a listing than waste a tradesperson's evening.
Every job on WrkCrew shows real pay.
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