The Ontario ghost job law took effect on January 1, 2026. Covered employers with at least 25 employees must state whether a publicly advertised posting is for an existing vacancy. If they interview someone, they must tell that applicant whether a hiring decision has been made within 45 days. Greenhouse says 18 to 22 percent of jobs on its platform are classified as ghost jobs in a typical quarter.
Does the law ban ghost jobs?
No. It requires disclosure, not a universal ban. Employers can still advertise an evergreen or exploratory opportunity, but covered postings need to say whether an actual vacancy exists. The rules also require compensation information, disclosure of certain AI use and record retention.
How big is the problem?
Greenhouse's estimate comes from its own platform and classification method. It should not be treated as the percentage of all jobs everywhere. Its worker survey still captures the trust damage: three in five candidates suspected they had encountered a ghost job, and 61 percent said they had been ghosted after an interview.
The recruitment lesson
Transparency is not administrative decoration. If a role is real, say so. If it is a talent pool, say that too. The easiest candidate-experience fix is often an honest noun.
That principle also applies to automated interview screens and to how we measure AI hiring quality. I have spent nearly a decade in hiring. Candidates can handle uncertainty. What exhausts them is uncertainty pretending to be a promise.
The Ontario ghost job law took effect on January 1, 2026. Covered employers with at least 25 employees must state whether a publicly advertised posting is for an existing vacancy. If they interview someone, they must tell that applicant whether a hiring decision has been made within 45 days. Greenhouse says 18 to 22 percent of jobs on its platform are classified as ghost jobs in a typical quarter.
That is both a modest rule and a revealing one. A labour market had to write down that an advertisement should disclose whether the thing being advertised currently exists.
What does Ontario now require?
Ontario Regulation 476/24 applies the publicly advertised job-posting rules to employers that employ 25 or more people on the day a posting goes live. Covered postings must include a statement about whether the employer expects the position to be an existing vacancy.
The wider rules also require a compensation range in many postings, disclosure when artificial intelligence is used to screen, assess or select applicants, and three years of record retention. Employers that interview an applicant must communicate whether a hiring decision has been made within 45 days of the interview, or the last interview when there is more than one.
The law does not force an employer to hire. It does force the process to become a little less imaginary.
Why do employers post jobs that are not immediately open?
Not every ghost posting begins with bad intent. A company may build an evergreen talent pool, benchmark salaries, test market interest, anticipate approval or leave an old requisition live after priorities change. A hiring team can also be waiting for a budget decision that never arrives.
Those explanations do not erase the candidate's cost. A serious application can require research, rewriting, assessments and personal data. The employer may call it pipeline building. The applicant experiences it as a possible life change.
How reliable is the 18 to 22 percent figure?
Greenhouse says its internal data classifies 18 to 22 percent of postings on its platform as ghost jobs in a typical quarter. That is useful platform evidence, not a census of the whole labour market. Different job boards, employers and definitions may produce different rates.
The same report surveyed 2,500 workers in the United States, United Kingdom and Germany. Three in five suspected they had encountered a ghost job, while 61 percent said an employer had stopped responding after an interview. Suspicion is not verification, but trust can collapse before a candidate has courtroom-quality proof.
What should a good job ad disclose?
- Vacancy status: Say whether the role is approved and currently open.
- Purpose: If it is an evergreen pipeline, name it clearly.
- Timing: Give the next review date or expected decision window.
- Compensation: Publish a useful range rather than an ornamental one.
- Process: Explain the stages, any AI use and who will contact the applicant.
- Closure: Remove stale postings and notify interviewed candidates.
The recruitment lesson
I have spent nearly a decade in hiring and talent acquisition. Candidates can handle uncertainty. What exhausts them is uncertainty dressed as a firm promise.
That is why disclosure matters beyond Ontario. The same obligation appears when a company deploys an automated interview screen. Tell people what is real, what the system does and what happens next. It also belongs in any honest measure of AI hiring quality. A fast funnel that fills itself with phantom jobs is not efficient. It is theatre with analytics.
If a role is real, say so. If it is a talent pool, say that too. The easiest candidate-experience fix is often an honest noun.
