Avoid reposted jobs at all costs!
Here's why that might not be the best advice.
It's tempting to write off all reposted jobs as having a sinister intent.
We think of companies unable to find a "good" candidate, despite exhausting hundreds or even thousands of applications, and still needing more to choose from. It's an indication their process is very broken or they are completely unrealistic, or both. And you're right to be suspicious of these.
Or it could be a "ghost job," one that was never intended to be filled. Unfortunately, companies use these to puff themselves up, to appear more successful (aka growing) than they actually are. You can apply to these, but don't expect to hear back.
What if I told you there are cases where reposted jobs are good, or even great?
Would it surprise you to learn that in this job market, where HR teams have been cut to the bone, the remaining HR staff are looking for shortcuts? Shortcuts that might include grabbing an old job posting and changing a few things.
Perhaps they make minor adjustments, such as updating the salary or refining the job description.
But sometimes, they change everything.
Yup, I've seen it in our data. Jobs that use the same job ID (generated by the ATS), yet have completely different content. Different title, different requirements, different everything. But since the ID is the same, it's considered a repost.
Other reposts happen when job listings are taken down to fix a mistake, update the work environment, or clarify job requirements. I've seen several separate "Remote, **some location" posts taken down to be replaced with a single one with "Remote, US." That's a beneficial repost.
And of course, there's the case where it's a legitimate repost. Someone in the role has left or been promoted, and the company has decided to reuse an old post, with or without changes. It's faster than creating a new one (again, strapped HR teams).
Or maybe, albeit unlikely, they truly didn't get enough matching applicants. Or they made an offer and it fell through, and they decided to start over.
So how can you tell an ill-intentioned repost from an acceptable, or even improved, repost? Sadly, you can't.
That may mean you continue to skip reposted jobs.
If that's your approach, ZenSearch makes it easy by clearly indicating all reposted jobs— you don't need to remember if a job looks familiar. And if you really hate reposted jobs, you can hide them.
Like everything on ZenSearch, you decide. It's your job seeking experience.
On the other hand, those reposts might be worth a quick peek. It could be exactly what you're searching for.
Check us out at ZenSearch.jobs and share our platform with anyone looking for something new. Together, we can make job searching a little more zen.
