Finding a job has become increasingly difficult worldwide. Millions of people now spend hours every day applying for jobs, completing online tests, filling out lengthy forms, and attending interviews. For many, job searching has effectively become unpaid labor.

Hiring practices have grown increasingly unbalanced. Employers frequently demand extensive assessments, multiple interview rounds, and detailed application forms, often without providing any feedback or final decision. At the same time, ghost job postings that collect large numbers of applications without any genuine intention to hire have become widespread. These practices allow employers to consume enormous amounts of human time and effort without accountability.

While a small number of individuals may secure employment quickly, many others remain trapped in this process for months or even years. Job searching is no longer a purely individual challenge. It has become a global social and economic problem.

Governments can no longer remain passive. Job seekers’ time, attention, and labor are not free resources. Clear rules, transparency, and enforcement are urgently needed to restore balance and fairness to the hiring process.

Our Demands

1. State Run Job Verification Platform

Governments must develop an official, state run website to verify and monitor all job postings and applications.

2. Mandatory Platform Integration

All job postings must be registered on this platform with real time transparency regarding the number of applicants job posting content recruitment status including active, paused, or closed

3. Penalties for Ghost Job Postings

If an employer receives at least 50 applications for a position and hires no one, the employer must pay a significant administrative fine to the state. This measure would directly discourage ghost job postings.

4. Per Application Employer Tax

Employers must pay a small fee such as one dollar per application to the state for every job application they receive. This will discourage mass and non serious job postings.

5. Compensation for Tests and Assessments

If an employer requires anything beyond a CV and cover letter such as tests, assessments, or lengthy forms, the time spent by the candidate must be compensated at no less than the minimum wage. Employers must collect candidates’ bank details in order to make these payments.

6. Compensation for Interviews

If a candidate is invited to an in person interview, employers must cover transportation and, where necessary, accommodation costs. If the interview is conducted online, candidates must still be paid the minimum wage equivalent for the time spent.

7. Reporting and Enforcement Mechanisms

Unpaid compensation and rule violations must be easily reportable through the state run platform and integrated job boards. Serious financial penalties must be imposed on non compliant employers.

8. Mandatory Hiring Timelines

Employers must complete the hiring process or formally close the job posting within 30 to 60 days. Failure to do so must automatically mark the posting as non compliant.

9. Mandatory Outcome Notification

Employers must inform all applicants of the outcome of their application. Silence and non response must be treated as a violation.

10. Restrictions on Reposting the Same Role

Repeatedly reposting the same position without making a hire must trigger regulatory review and potential sanctions.

11. Salary Transparency Requirement

All job postings must include a clear salary range. Vague terms such as competitive salary must be considered non compliant.

12. Ban on Repeated Assessments

Candidates must not be required to complete the same tests or assessments multiple times for the same role within the same company and year.

13. Limits on Candidate Data Usage

Employers may only use candidate data for the specific role applied for. Any further use must require explicit candidate consent.

14. Global Employer Compliance Score

A public compliance or trust score must be created for employers based on violations, unpaid compensation, ghost postings, and complaints. This score must be visible to job seekers.

15. Legal Accountability for Job Platforms

Job listing platforms must share responsibility for enforcing these rules. Platforms that continue to host non compliant job postings must also face penalties.

Conclusion

Job searching is one of the most vulnerable periods in a person’s life. A system that is opaque, unregulated, and entirely employer driven is no longer acceptable. Governments worldwide must act to protect job seekers’ time, labor, and dignity.

This campaign calls for a transparent, accountable, and humane global hiring system.

If you believe job seekers’ time and labor deserve respect, transparency, and fair treatment, please sign this petition and share it. Collective action is necessary to push governments to act and to bring accountability to global hiring practices.