How to spot a fake job ad

You spent hours drafting the perfect cover letter, and sweated through a nail-biter of a job interview. Then you found out that someone who already works there got the job.

It’s a dirty secret in recruitment, but many of the jobs advertised are already earmarked for internal candidates. “It happens all the time,” says Rusty Rueff, a former head of HR for Electronic Arts who’s board director for career website Glassdoor.com. “I’d say with 35% to 40% of jobs that are advertised, they are already pretty sure they will hire internally.”

Why would a company bother to advertise when they have someone in mind? Often it’s just a case of manager checking if the grass is greener, or to prove due diligence to the hiring manager’s superiors. Sometimes it’s just because HR didn’t bother to check whether the manager already had a preferred choice. Legal issues also come into play —a company may need to advertise before getting a work visa for a foreigner, or it may want to have a “diverse candidate pool” to show that minority candidates were interviewed.

Clues that a company isn’t serious about hiring outsiders include ads on obscure websites, or asking for skills only an insider could have, such as familiarity with in-house software. Job seekers can also look to sites like Glassdoor.com, where people share their experiences.

However, the best way to know if an ad is legit is to work your contacts. “That way when a job is posted you can do your own due diligence to find out if there’s already a candidate,” says Liz Grant of HR firm Right Management.