I got tired of applying to LinkedIn postings that had been "active 4 days ago" for three months straight. Turns out I wasn't paranoid — the data backs it up. So I built a Chrome extension to flag them, and along the way I worked out how to detect a "ghost job" from inside the browser without hitting any external API. Sharing the playbook here.
The numbers (so you know this isn't rare)
Nearly 4 in 10 hiring managers admit their company has posted jobs with no real plan to fill — Resume Builder 2024 hiring-manager survey, widely reported by WSJ, NYT, and BBC throughout 2024–2025
18% of recruiters say they're actively doing it right now (same survey)
40% of job seekers cite ghost-job frustration as a top complaint (Indeed 2025 candidate sentiment data)
