ChatGPT often sends job seekers to already closed listings
In brief
According to Journal du Net, ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity name a specific job opening in more than nine answers out of ten. A 16 October test of 205 queries across 79 towns found that seven in ten ChatGPT listing links no longer led to an online offer. Half of those pages said the offer was closed, and Perplexity showed a similar pattern.
What it changes for an SME
For an SME that hires, a candidate who follows an AI link may land on a closed ad and leave. According to Journal du Net, the employers ChatGPT names shift quickly: the same question asked twice a few hours apart kept a median of only one employer in common out of seven. Keeping open roles easy to find on your careers site, and taking ads down everywhere the day a role is filled, lowers that risk, even though a one-day test on high-volume jobs is not a national estimate. A French Senate bill tabled on 10 September 2026, not adopted as of 26 October, would also ban job ads without a salary range.
What you can do
- Check that your open roles are easy to find, starting on your careers site.
- Remove a listing from every board the same day the role is filled.
- Ask ChatGPT for jobs in your roles and towns, then open the links to see what a candidate actually reaches.
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