We want to make hiring better for everyone—more respectful for job seekers, and easier for organizations to build trust and communicate clearly. Below, we walk through the full meaning and intent of each pledge commitment, along with realistic expectations for how to meet them.
The version of the pledge found on our main page is abbreviated for ease of presentation and understanding. But we don't expect companies to be able to manage these pledge elements perfectly in every case, so let's go through the pledge elements separately.
đź‘» No Ghost Jobs: We only post roles we are actively hiring for.
“A fake job, ghost job, or phantom job is a job posting for a non-existent or already filled position. The employer may post fake job opening listings for many reasons, such as inflating statistics about their industries, protecting the company from discrimination lawsuits, fulfilling requirements by human-resources departments, identifying potentially promising recruits for future hiring, pacifying existing employees that the company is looking for extra help, or retaining desirable employees. They may also use this strategy to gather information regarding their competitors' wages.” –Wikipedia
This pledge is relatively straightforward: You won’t post jobs on your site—or elsewhere on the web—that are not in active hiring. If you complete a hiring process, you’ll make that clear to people who apply by removing the job posting from your own website.
If you keep a generic “join our team” or “future opportunities” listing open, make sure it’s labeled as such—transparency here is key.
đź“… Clear Timelines: We communicate estimated timelines for reviewing applications.
Applicants should be fully aware of how long it will take to review applications and receive an initial response. This information can be included directly in the job posting or in an automatic confirmation email sent immediately after an application is submitted. For example: “Applications will be reviewed starting May 1. Expect to hear back from us by May 15 at the latest.” Providing this upfront helps set expectations and reduces uncertainty for applicants.
If your team receives an unexpectedly large number of applications, it’s fine to adjust the timeline—just send a brief update to all applicants letting them know it may take longer than expected. This doesn’t need to come from an individual and can be sent from a “do not reply” address or a mail merge system.
We do not expect that applicants will have access to anyone at the company until they have been contacted to begin the interview process.
📬 Close the Loop: We notify all interviewees in a timely fashion when a position has been filled.
Note that this pledge says interviewees and not applicants. Any applicant who has not been contacted to begin the interview process should not expect to receive word back from the company if the previous pledges were being upheld—after the deadline of when they expect to hear back, they can simply assume they were not chosen to move forward.
Interviewees, on the other hand, should always be contacted to let them know if the job was filled and that they can no longer expect to receive any contact from the company. This is not a difficult task, and as with the previous pledge, does not necessarily require that notification comes from a specific person, as opposed to a “do not reply” address.
The bottom line is that interviewees should know they are no longer in the running, while anything beyond that is unnecessary. Templates or mail merge tools can make this painless—it doesn’t need to be personal, just clear and respectful.
✍️ Job Details Matter: We provide accurate information about job responsibilities, pay range, and remote work options.
Job applicants should never be surprised by what they hear during the interview process—or even after accepting an offer. Many people have come to expect that what’s written on the job description is “too good to be true,” and that’s ridiculous. Companies and organizations should be taking great care to be clear, direct, and accurate about what they actually post on a job description and ensuring that it reflects what they intend to be an employee’s experience.
If things change during the interview process—perhaps the process itself clarifying things that were not clear beforehand—interviewees should be made aware of the changes immediately in a discussion that asks if they accept the new provisions and considers carefully whether they might still be a good candidate.
🧍 Human Review: At least one real person looks at every application.
Perhaps the most challenging pledge for companies and organizations that get a lot of applicants for their roles, we want to be clear that this only applies for applicants that have followed the directions on the job posting. For example, if a job required a cover letter but none was provided, then it makes sense that no one would need to review that application. Or, if the application required that questions be answered with the resume, if those questions are not provided then human review would not be required.
It’s easy enough to provide “self screening” tactics which ensure that the applicant pool is curtailed to only the people actually motivated to get an interview, that there shouldn’t be any reason for applicants to be screened entirely by automated processes. Use simple prompts like “Tell us why you want this role” or “Share one idea you’d bring to the team”—these help you filter for thoughtful applicants while still giving everyone a chance to be seen by a real person.
🙏 In closing
These practices don’t just support job seekers—they reflect the kind of thoughtful, transparent, and respectful culture great candidates want to work for. We don’t expect perfection. We do hope you’ll try your best, stay communicative, and help build a better hiring culture.