Finding a job these days isn’t easy.
Whether it’s filling out endless applications, dealing with no-show recruiters for interviews, or never hearing back at all, a lot of job seekers are feeling stuck.
And just when you think you might finally be making progress, things take a weird turn.
That’s what happened to TikTok creator Amanda Hill (@amandaa.hill), whose video about a recent job interview has now been viewed over 35,900 times.
The job interview that was but wasn’t
Hill explains that she had a job interview earlier that day. It was for a retail role, and as it turned out, it wasn’t just her.
“It happened to be a group interview,” she says. “There were three other people interviewing for this position.”
Everything seemed pretty standard—until the end, when the interviewer asked if anyone had questions. Hill did.
“If I were to accept this job, how many hours a week could I expect?” she asked.
That’s when the shock came. “She says, ‘Well, we don’t actually need anybody right now.’”
Yes, allegedly, after calling people in for interviews, the employer admitted they weren’t even hiring.
“What?” Hill exclaimed, concluding the video.
So, why even hold the interview?
Hill doesn’t say what company it was or whether the interview was scheduled through a job site or in person.
But jobs being posted for roles that don’t actually need to be filled—something often called “ghost jobs”—isn’t as rare as you’d think.
Back in 2022, Clarify Capital surveyed over 1,000 employers and found some surprising data.
61 percent said they had no plans to fill a listed role within two months. Even more surprisingly, 1 in 5 admitted they didn’t plan to hire until the following year.
Why companies do this isn’t clear, but there are plenty of theories floating around on discussion boards.
In one Reddit thread, for example, a commenter guessed it’s done to make candidates feel “more desperate” and willing to accept lower pay or bad conditions—while still thinking the problem is them, not the system.
@amandaa.hill What was this gathering for then??? #jobmarket #retail ♬ original sound – amandaa.hill
Viewers were stunned
People in the comments section couldn’t believe what they were hearing.
“WHAT DO THEY MEANNNN?? WHY AM I HERE THEN??” one person wrote, echoing the confusion Hill seemed to feel in the video.
Others suggested turning the experience into a warning for future applicants. “Leave a Google review for that company and warn everyone in your community not to interview with them because all they do is waste people’s time,” one viewer advised.
One commenter who claimed to be a former hiring manager even gave some behind-the-scenes insight: “We were supposed to ‘always be hiring’ just to get applications and interviews because our turnover rates were so high.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Hill via TikTok comments for more information.
Internet culture is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter here. You’ll get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.
