I've heard that many of the jobs posted on general jobs boards like that are never intended to result in a hire. They are posted when the company already knows who they are going to hire, but are legally obligated to post the position, or when the company wants to manufacture evidence that "no qualified candidates" could be found locally.
There's usually tells that it's a compliance post.
Used to be very specific instructions about mailing a resume to an address with a reference number. And advertised only in the newspaper. But Immigration said they can't do that one anymore; has to be the same submission methods (email, webform, whatever) as an actually open position and advertised/listed in the same places too.
But they'll still have the other tells, which is very specific experience and education requirements which happen to line up exactly with their preferred candidate. Sorry, we did our best, but we can't find any local candidates with a 4 year BS degree, a minor in Clown Studies, and 3 years experience with very specific software that isn't used many places (experience most likely obtained at the hiring company during internship or while on OPT; or while on H1-B if this is in support of a green card, rather than in support of H1-B).
I would say that's more prevalent in HN. A lot of the "Who's Hiring" posts are veiled show-and-tells. Some of those companies clearly have no intention of hiring. Even got an automatic rejection email from one of those (within a minute of applying). To be fair, it does work - I've discovered some interesting startups and market niches from the Who's Hiring threads.
As an opposite data point, when I was looking for a job I interviewed with multiple companies that I found on HN who is hiring. And one of them ended up hiring me. Two years later I work for them still.
Yes, but I doubt they use the HN jobs board for that. In fact, it will hurt their chances. They can simply post on a very generic job board (e.g. Monster) and say no qualified candidate applied.
The HN job board is much more likely to produce a qualified candidate.
H-1B visas. To convert to a green card, you need to demonstrate a labor shortage, and a common way is to post job openings, look at the candidates, and tell the government "They all sucked compared to the guy we currently have."
If they don't suck, the guy fails the labor certification and may have to wait a year to apply for the green card again. However, he doesn't lose his job, and the qualified candidate never gets an interview.
So yes, it's pretty standard for the companies to post openings they don't have.
But I really doubt they post on the HN jobs board. Most will go through more formal channels.
Could be visa-related, it's very easy to craft a posting that only your already-identified preferred candidate will qualify for. I firsthand know of companies that did this for H-1B employees.
Or any public sector job where positions have to be posted but you already have your internal hire, son-in-law, or cousin lined up.
I can tell you that when I moved from a contract position to full time at Dell Services (now NTT Data Services), they had to review and possibly? interview 2 additional candidates despite hiring from within.
