it appears that a large number of companies post fake job openings, with no intention of hiring, to keep the "morale up", and also trick existing overworked employees. They even do interviews with absolutely no intention of hiring. I have no words. https://www.resumebuilder.com/3-in-10-companies-currently-have-fake-job-posting-listed/
@djlink I've been in a situation on a small, overworked team with two positions to refill, and after months of interviewing candidates the company announced it wasn't actually going to replace/fill the positions after all.
So not only were they (Google) wasting the candidates' time, they were wasting our time doing and reviewing the interviews.

