The tiny German startup I worked at last year was posting 4 dev positions. After some financial problems hit they announced (internally but in an official manne

The tiny German startup I worked at last year was posting 4 dev positions. After some financial problems hit they announced (internally but in an official manner) that they were not going to hire anybody. Couple weeks later I pointed out to the person responsible for hiring that the postings were still up. They explicitly responded that they will keep them up. I didn't get an actual reason but I think it was for job market "research" and to keep a steady stream of applicants to threaten existing employees with replacement.