How to Tell If a Job Posting Is Fake: 11 Signals, Ranked by Weight
The 10-second test before the 45-minute application
About 27% of listings are ghost jobs (Analysis of LinkedIn listing data, 2026). You cannot know for certain whether any single posting is real — but you can measure how many known risk patterns it matches, in seconds.
That is exactly what a risk-signal score does: it stacks the evidence that IS visible, and tells you what to verify manually for the evidence that isn't.
The 11 signals, ranked by weight
These are the patterns our engine checks, heaviest first. Each links to a full explainer with sources and what to do about it.
| Signal | Weight | Share of score |
|---|---|---|
| No salary range listed | 18 | 15.8% |
| Posting older than 30 days | 16 | 14.0% |
| Reposted again and again | 14 | 12.3% |
| Boilerplate, buzzword-heavy description | 12 | 10.5% |
| Vague or stacked job title | 10 | 8.8% |
| 'Always hiring' / talent-pipeline language | 10 | 8.8% |
| No named hiring manager or contact | 8 | 7.0% |
| No concrete details anywhere | 8 | 7.0% |
| Urgent hiring, zero specifics | 6 | 5.3% |
| Implausibly wide salary range | 6 | 5.3% |
| Hidden or masked employer | 6 | 5.3% |
No single signal proves anything. A high score means many independent patterns agree — that is when you should verify before investing time.
The signals job boards won't show you
The two strongest metadata signals — posting age and repost history — together carry 26.3% of the total score. And they are exactly the ones boards obscure.
Repost history is fully disclosed by 0 of the 10 major boards. 2 boards don't reliably display a posting date. The board that shows you the most is USAJOBS (93.9% of signal weight visible); the one that shows the least is CareerBuilder (63.2%).
Board-by-board workarounds are in the coverage map — including which boards reset the date when a listing is reposted.
What a real listing looks like
Real reqs leak specifics, because a real manager wrote them while needing someone:
- A salary range where the ceiling isn't double the floor.
- A named team, a named manager or recruiter, a real email.
- Concrete numbers: team size, tools, the product, an interview timeline.
- A recent posting date — and no monthly repost pattern.
- An employer who is actually named.
What a score can and cannot tell you
Be honest about the limits, because the tools that aren't honest get people hurt:
FAQ
No salary range — it carries 15.8% of our total score weight. Real, budgeted roles have a number; ghost roles dodge with 'competitive salary'.
Yes — ghost listings appear on every major board. The boards differ in what they let you verify: from USAJOBS (93.9% of signal weight visible) down to CareerBuilder (63.2%).
It is probabilistic. It measures how many known risk patterns a listing matches — high scores warrant verification, not accusation. Real roles can score high; ghosts can score low.
Past 30 days, risk rises meaningfully; past 60-90 days, treat the listing as stale unless the company confirms it is active.
Pipeline building, image of growth, internal budget games, or neglect. It costs them nothing — the cost lands on applicants.