I have seen that happening inside a company (big one). There is an internal job market, and I would say the ratio is about 20% or more fake. From every 20 applications to postings that seem like a copy of my resume, I get 5 replies (the rest is black hole, or come a reply 10 months later) from the replies, eventually 2 interviews.
At some big companies at least, I think it is a policy to have to post the job publicly even if the person who was waiting in line inside the department for a few years already has it.
I have had two jobs in the past posting inside the department that 2 or 3 people had to waste their time interviewing for with zero chance just as a matter of policy. The manager had to interview x number of people in the name of fairness or something like that.
> At some big companies at least, I think it is a policy to have to post the job publicly even if the person who was waiting in line inside the department for a few years already has it.
One option is HR compliance with some kind or procedure.
One other thing I've seen (many times) is to pacify an over-worked team: the team is working crazy over hours, demotivated, asking for help. The manager knows is impossible to hire (head count / budget limits) and so they open a Job Offer, where they can show "we are searching for help, but nobody comes". How do I know? once I was in such over exploited team, so each of the team made a fake resume that was, of course, like a glove for the position. Nobody got a call back. When we confronted the manager, he had to confess. [in case somebody asks himself, 6 months later the whole team was gone]. Then same company, I applied for a job, where my resume was really perfect for the position. As I received the canned response, I called the manager, pressed a little bit, and also said "we had to do as we are searching, but we are really not".
Yet another one I know of, because of reasons: HR consulting companies and also some HR departments want to test if they are paying too much/too little, want to have some "market measurement". They fake jobs, fake interviews, and they would inconspicuously ask "how much are you earning now" and/or "how much do you want to earn" and that is all they want from you really.
Yeah I've heard that angle too. Really nasty. Glad the team wassable to stand up for themselves and walk away from the abuse. Sure wish that could be the outcome more often; it'd fix a lot of things overnight.
