Ghost jobs
IndustryAlso called ghost job postings or ghost postings. The defining feature is that applicants are never told the role may not be open.
A ghost job is a posting for a role the employer has no immediate plan to fill. The reasons vary: the position was already filled or cancelled and the ad was never taken down; the budget was never approved; the company is collecting résumés to build a pipeline for later; the hire is already decided internally and the listing exists to meet a process requirement; or the ad is there to signal growth.
From the candidate's side a ghost job is indistinguishable from a real one. You tailor an application, submit it, and hear nothing — which is why the term has spread through job-seeker communities. It is hard to measure from the outside, because whether a role is genuinely open is information only the employer has.
The practical takeaway for job seekers is to weigh a listing's age, whether it has been reposted repeatedly, and whether the company shows other signs of hiring, and to rely less on any single application as a route in.
On Ewance
A ghost job asks you to queue behind a listing that may lead nowhere. An Ewance challenge works the other way round: it is a real brief from a company that wants the problem solved, and what you produce is verifiable work you keep whether or not any role follows. It is a way to put evidence in front of employers instead of adding another application to a pile.
Decide by doing.
The fastest way to know whether challenge-based learning fits you is to ship one.