Ghost jobs, meet ghost events: What FIFA’s $11,000 tickets and empty seats teach you about the hidden job market

By Jim Stroud

FIFA claimed it received more than 500 million ticket requests for the 2026 World Cup, roughly six percent of the planet. Then cameras at early group-stage matches panned across rows of empty seats. Meanwhile, final-round tickets hit $11,000 through FIFA’s new dynamic pricing system, up from an original face value of around $6,400 – allegedly.

Five hundred million requests. Empty stadiums. Eleven-thousand-dollar tickets for seats nobody is sitting in. If that sounds absurd, wait until you hear what the job market is doing.

The Ghost Job Problem Is Real—and It Affects You Directly

A 2024 survey from MyPerfectResume found that 81 percent of recruiters admitted their companies post ghost jobs—positions that are either already filled, have no actual budget behind them, or exist solely to collect resumes for some undefined future need. A 2025 follow-up by Clarify Capital suggested the practice is still widespread.

For a college student sending out dozens of carefully tailored applications, this is not a statistic. It is a gut punch. You are spending hours customizing cover letters, tweaking resumes, and preparing for interviews that may not correspond to a real opening.

FIFA manufactured demand by announcing 500 million ticket requests. Companies manufacture demand by posting jobs they have no intention of filling. Both create the illusion of opportunity while wasting the time of the people who showed up ready to participate.

Dynamic Pricing Has Come to the Job Market Too

FIFA introduced dynamic pricing for the first time at a World Cup in 2026; tickets that started at one price and escalated based on demand. The result was final tickets that cost nearly double their original listing. The people who could afford $11,000 for a soccer match are not the same people who grew up dreaming of attending a World Cup.

The job market has its own version of dynamic pricing. Entry-level roles now routinely require two to three years of experience, specific software certifications, and portfolio projects that would have been considered mid-level expectations five years ago. The “price of admission” keeps rising, and the people being priced out are the ones the system was supposedly designed to serve—new graduates.

When a company posts an entry-level role that requires three years of experience and fluency in five tools, they are not looking for an entry-level candidate. They are running dynamic pricing on talent, hoping to get mid-level work at a junior salary.

Empty Seats Tell You Where the Real Opportunity Is

Here is what the empty seats at the World Cup actually reveal: the market is inefficient. FIFA overpriced certain matches and underestimated how many fans would simply stay home or watch from a bar. The demand was real, but the distribution was broken.

The job market has the same inefficiency. There are millions of open roles in the United States right now, but they are concentrated in sectors and regions that do not match where most graduates are looking. Healthcare, skilled trades, logistics, and government agencies are hiring aggressively. Meanwhile, every graduate wants to work in tech, consulting, or media, the equivalent of trying to buy a World Cup final ticket.

The students who recognize this inefficiency and adjust their strategy will find opportunities faster than the ones fighting over the same oversubscribed seats.

How to Spot Ghost Jobs and Find Real Ones

1. Check the posting date. If a job has been listed for more than 60 days, it is likely a ghost. LinkedIn and Indeed both show posting dates. If the listing says “30+ days ago,” move on.

2. Look for specific hiring signals. Real openings usually name the hiring manager, mention a start date, or reference a specific project or team. Vague postings with generic descriptions are red flags.

3. Apply to companies, not just postings. Identify organizations you want to work for and reach out to recruiters or hiring managers directly, even if there is no posted opening. Many roles are filled before they ever hit a job board.

4. Use the empty-seat strategy. Look where other graduates are not looking. Government agencies, nonprofit organizations, regional healthcare systems, and growing mid-size companies are often hiring with less competition and more realistic expectations for entry-level candidates.

5. Track your applications like a portfolio. Keep a spreadsheet of every application: company, date, role, status, and follow-up actions. If you notice a pattern, certain industries respond faster, or certain resume formats get more callbacks, double down on what is working.

6. Ask directly in interviews whether the role is funded and approved. It is a professional question, and it filters out companies that are collecting resumes without a real position behind them. Any recruiter who reacts negatively to that question is telling you something important.

Stop Buying Overpriced Tickets

FIFA sold a story about record-breaking demand and then delivered half-empty stadiums at luxury prices. Too many companies do the same thing with job postings: manufacturing urgency, inflating requirements, and leaving candidates sitting in an empty waiting room.

You do not have to play that game. The job market is not as scarce as it looks. It is inefficient. And inefficiency rewards the people who are willing to look where others are not.

Skip the $11,000 final. Find the match with open seats, a great atmosphere, and a team that actually wants you in the stands. That is where your career starts.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jim Stroud is a Career Intelligence Analyst, labor market strategist, and Head of Market Strategy & Industry Engagement at ProvenBase. With more than two decades of experience in recruiting, sourcing, and labor market analysis, he helps organizations and job seekers make sense of a rapidly evolving employment landscape.

He is also the publisher of The Recruiting Life newsletter (focused on labor trends and the future of work), Career Intelligence Weekly (which tracks the hidden job market), and host of The Jim Stroud Podcast (commentary on the world of work). He is also an international conference speaker, job search workshop facilitator for college students and author of multiple books on career strategy and recruiting.