As the Job Market Stutters, Simulated Work Is Surging
Amid a faltering job market, the demand for simulated work experiences—such as virtual internships and AI-driven job simulations—has surged as a way for workers to gain experience and prove skills without traditional employment.
Background
- This article covers a trend where job seekers, facing a slow or uncertain labor market, create "simulated work" — fake projects, fabricated freelance gigs, or artificial employment histories — to make their resumes look active and appealing to employers.
- The practice is distinct from outright lying about past jobs. It often involves building plausible-looking websites, GitHub repositories, or LinkedIn activity for made-up clients or startups.
- It has been accelerated by AI tools (like ChatGPT and Midjourney) that make it cheap and easy to generate convincing portfolio materials (code, design work, writing samples).
- "Simulated work" is a specific term used here. It differs from "job sims" (pre-employment tests) or "work simulations" used in training; it refers to fabricated professional output by applicants.
- The phenomenon reflects growing anxiety among white-collar and creative workers who face prolonged job searches and feel penalized by resume gaps, even when those gaps are involuntary.