· Jun 26, 2025
Brendon Bernard argues in Indeed Hiring Lab that cheaper online recruiting may leave more openings unfilled
Markdown · JSON · Original source
Brendon Bernard’s article was published on June 26, 2025. He argues that the internet made recruiting easier and cheaper, and that this may have increased job openings without a matching rise in hiring. Employers can keep a search open longer or hold out for a preferred candidate when advertising costs less, Bernard suggests. That could leave job seekers with more openings to choose from, but also more low-intensity postings that rarely lead to meaningful contact. He says such postings could contribute to reports of “ghost postings.” Bernard also notes that the labor market’s overall condition and mismatches between employers and job seekers make the effect of technological change difficult to assess. He concludes that easier posting may help explain why openings remain elevated relative to hiring, while some job seekers may find work harder to land than the number of postings suggests. Whether recruiting costs are driving that gap, alongside other labor-market factors, remains uncertain.
Headline and summary by Escape Meridian, prepared by Luna from the attributed source. A source check is not independent confirmation of the source’s claims.
Original source
· Article
Source details
Original source date: Jun 26, 2025 (2025-06-26).
Date basis: Date from the publisher’s archive: its article address or archive listing.
Added to Escape Meridian: 2026-11-13T07:38:23.177Z. First observed: 2026-10-30T18:40:30.512Z. Retrieved: 2026-10-30T18:41:47.159Z.
Referenced by
Recorded citations and public file attachments. A reference alone does not establish agreement or influence.
No public references recorded here yet.
Limits
Text as retrieved on October 30, 2026; originally published June 26, 2025. Bernard describes the relationship between lower posting costs, recruiting intensity, openings, and hiring as potential, and notes that other labor-market factors also affect hiring. The article does not establish how much of the gap between openings and hiring is attributable to lower recruiting costs.
Open question
How much of the gap between job openings and hiring reflects lower recruiting costs and less intense searches, rather than other labor-market factors?
Source-stated
Brendon Bernard argues that online recruiting has become easier and cheaper, potentially increasing recruiting activity and job openings without a comparable increase in hiring.
These developments could be related, as the greater ease of advertising job openings online has potentially increased recruiting activity itself
Source-stated
Bernard says lower posting costs could lead some employers to keep searches open longer or hold out for a preferred candidate, reducing the chance an opening leads to a hire in a given month.
they might be more willing to hold out for the perfect candidate, even when suitable job applications are pouring in.
Source-stated
Bernard says more openings may give job seekers more options, while low-intensity openings may frustrate applicants who receive little response.
Job seekers benefit in the first case, even if hires don’t rise with openings, because they have more job opportunities to choose from.
Source-stated
Bernard says assessing the effect of technological change on hiring is difficult because economic conditions and mismatches between job seekers and employers also affect labor-market changes.
Assessing the impact of technological change on hiring processes is difficult because other factors, including the overall state of the economy, as well as mismatches between job seekers and employers, are always driving swings in the labor market.
Source-stated
Brendon Bernard’s article was published on June 26, 2025.
By Brendon Bernard June 26, 2025
Source and contributor context
Indeed Hiring Lab · Publisher
The publisher is identified here. No individual author has been inferred.
Source media
Media retrieval status: unchecked.
Terms and references
Reference context selected by Escape Meridian; separate from source evidence. Entity mentions do not establish authorship, involvement or endorsement.
Indeed Hiring Lab
Indeed Hiring Lab is the economic research arm of the job site Indeed, publishing analyses of job postings, wages and hiring trends.
Editorial provenance
Version 1. Publication ID: d95a5e23-7bec-80ce-6467-82ffca0adaa5.
Prepared by openai/gpt-6-luna; grounding review by anthropic/claude-opus-5.5.
Source check: passed by anthropic/claude-opus-5.5 on 2026-11-13T07:33:42.667Z. This checks fidelity to the source, not whether its claims are independently true.
Editorial selection: accept; reasons: bridge_admitted_by_model.
Observation: 9ac96d980e823c1e53646d6d1203dba4b88599834f7cac89eedbd00a4db44e3a. Source text hash: 96fbd952e5fbb5ffd10d44104a0c12dd8e55f336376392cba201c91ec80cb199.
Revision and source-check history
Version 1 · 2026-11-13T07:38:23.177Z
Brendon Bernard argues in Indeed Hiring Lab that cheaper online recruiting may leave more openings unfilled
Brendon Bernard’s article was published on June 26, 2025. He argues that the internet made recruiting easier and cheaper, and that this may have increased job openings without a matching rise in hiring. Employers can keep a search open longer or hold out for a preferred candidate when advertising costs less, Bernard suggests. That could leave job seekers with more openings to choose from, but also more low-intensity postings that rarely lead to meaningful contact. He says such postings could contribute to reports of “ghost postings.” Bernard also notes that the labor market’s overall condition and mismatches between employers and job seekers make the effect of technological change difficult to assess. He concludes that easier posting may help explain why openings remain elevated relative to hiring, while some job seekers may find work harder to land than the number of postings suggests. Whether recruiting costs are driving that gap, alongside other labor-market factors, remains uncertain.
Original source
· Article
Source details
Original source date: Jun 26, 2025 (2025-06-26).
Date basis: Date from the publisher’s archive: its article address or archive listing.
Added to Escape Meridian: 2026-11-13T07:38:23.177Z. First observed: 2026-10-30T18:40:30.512Z. Retrieved: 2026-10-30T18:41:47.159Z.
Limits
Text as retrieved on October 30, 2026; originally published June 26, 2025. Bernard describes the relationship between lower posting costs, recruiting intensity, openings, and hiring as potential, and notes that other labor-market factors also affect hiring. The article does not establish how much of the gap between openings and hiring is attributable to lower recruiting costs.
Open question
How much of the gap between job openings and hiring reflects lower recruiting costs and less intense searches, rather than other labor-market factors?
Source-stated
Brendon Bernard argues that online recruiting has become easier and cheaper, potentially increasing recruiting activity and job openings without a comparable increase in hiring.
These developments could be related, as the greater ease of advertising job openings online has potentially increased recruiting activity itself
Source-stated
Bernard says lower posting costs could lead some employers to keep searches open longer or hold out for a preferred candidate, reducing the chance an opening leads to a hire in a given month.
they might be more willing to hold out for the perfect candidate, even when suitable job applications are pouring in.
Source-stated
Bernard says more openings may give job seekers more options, while low-intensity openings may frustrate applicants who receive little response.
Job seekers benefit in the first case, even if hires don’t rise with openings, because they have more job opportunities to choose from.
Source-stated
Bernard says assessing the effect of technological change on hiring is difficult because economic conditions and mismatches between job seekers and employers also affect labor-market changes.
Assessing the impact of technological change on hiring processes is difficult because other factors, including the overall state of the economy, as well as mismatches between job seekers and employers, are always driving swings in the labor market.
Source-stated
Brendon Bernard’s article was published on June 26, 2025.
By Brendon Bernard June 26, 2025
Source and contributor context
Indeed Hiring Lab · Publisher
The publisher is identified here. No individual author has been inferred.
Source media
Media retrieval status: unchecked.
Terms and references
Reference context selected by Escape Meridian; separate from source evidence. Entity mentions do not establish authorship, involvement or endorsement.
Indeed Hiring Lab
Indeed Hiring Lab is the economic research arm of the job site Indeed, publishing analyses of job postings, wages and hiring trends.
Editorial provenance
Version 1. Publication ID: d95a5e23-7bec-80ce-6467-82ffca0adaa5.
Prepared by openai/gpt-6-luna; grounding review by anthropic/claude-opus-5.5.
Source check: passed by anthropic/claude-opus-5.5 on 2026-11-13T07:33:42.667Z. This checks fidelity to the source, not whether its claims are independently true.
Editorial selection: accept; reasons: bridge_admitted_by_model.
Observation: 9ac96d980e823c1e53646d6d1203dba4b88599834f7cac89eedbd00a4db44e3a. Source text hash: 96fbd952e5fbb5ffd10d44104a0c12dd8e55f336376392cba201c91ec80cb199.
passed · 2026-11-13T07:33:42.667Z · anthropic/claude-opus-5.5
Publication: d95a5e23-7bec-80ce-6467-82ffca0adaa5
attribution — pass: The reading consistently attributes the argument to Brendon Bernard writing for Indeed Hiring Lab, which matches the byline. It presents the source's claims as his hypotheses rather than established facts. The text is a single argued article, not a listing.
By Brendon Bernard
summary — pass: The reading leads with Bernard's argument: cheaper online posting may have raised openings without matching hires. It explains the two channels, more options versus low-intensity searches, and defines low-intensity postings and ghost postings in plain language. It also keeps his hedged, conditional tone and his caveat about confounding factors. The title and question follow from the source's open issue. Omitting the vacancy-yield statistics does not prevent understanding.
Beyond just pushing up job openings themselves, the declining cost to post a job vacancy could have also contributed to the weaker link between openings and hires
date — pass: The originalPublished date of 2025-06-26 matches the article dateline, at day precision. The page was modified in September 2025, but every claim draws on core body text whose data runs through April and May 2025, so that text is plainly part of the original. The reading uses no carousel or related-story items and has no hindsight framing. The evidence is a publisher page, so no archive disclosure is needed.
By Brendon Bernard June 26, 2025
support — pass: Each claim matches its excerpt and keeps the source's hedging (potentially, could, may). The benefits and frustrations for job seekers, and the conclusion that some may find work harder to land, are source-stated. The uncertainty about cost-driven versus other factors reflects Bernard's own caveat. No unsupported stakeholder effects are added.
some job seekers today might find it tougher to land work than expected, given still somewhat plentiful job postings
media — pass: No media is selected, and no verified media candidates were supplied, so nothing was chosen or invented.
Challenge or correct this reading
Send a correction or an opposing source with this reading’s URL. Disagreement and uncertainty can remain unresolved.
Indeed Hiring Lab is the economic research arm of the job site Indeed, publishing analyses of job postings, wages and hiring trends.
Explore Indeed Hiring LabIndeed Hiring Lab is the economic research arm of the job site Indeed, publishing analyses of job postings, wages and hiring trends.
Explore Indeed Hiring LabIndeed Hiring Lab is the economic research arm of the job site Indeed, publishing analyses of job postings, wages and hiring trends.
Explore Indeed Hiring Lab