How to tell if a job posting is still open
Few things in a job search waste more time than a carefully written application to a role that closed weeks ago. Job boards and social feeds keep postings visible long after the employer has stopped reading them. Here is a checklist you can run in a few minutes before you apply.
1. Find the posting on the employer's own career site
This is the single most useful check. Most companies, from Indian IT services firms to global capability centres (GCCs) and startups, publish every opening on their own careers page, usually powered by a hiring system such as Workday, Greenhouse, Lever, SuccessFactors or an in-house portal.
- Search the company's careers page for the job title, or for the requisition ID if the posting shows one.
- If the role is listed there, it is very likely still open.
- If it has gone from the careers page but is still up on a job board, the board is probably showing a stale copy.
- Apply on the employer's site where you can. Your application lands directly in the system the recruiter works in.
CareerAgent reads jobs from employers' own career sites for this reason. When a posting disappears there, it disappears from CareerAgent too.
2. Read the posting's age, carefully
- "Posted 30+ days ago" is not a dead end, since many roles take a month or more to fill, but treat it as a reason to check the career site before investing time.
- A recent "posted" date can be misleading. Some boards reset the date whenever a posting is refreshed or reposted. If the career site shows the same requisition ID with an older date, trust the older one.
- Hiring seasons matter. Campus and fresher drives often have fixed application windows. Once the stated last date has passed, the posting usually stays up for a while even though nobody is reviewing it.
3. Spot evergreen postings
An evergreen posting is one a company keeps open all year to collect resumes, rather than to fill a specific vacancy. They are not scams, and some do lead to interviews, but your application may sit in a pool until a real opening appears. Signs to look for:
- generic titles such as "Software Engineer – Multiple Openings" or "Talent Pool", with no team or project named;
- the same posting reappearing with a fresh date every few weeks;
- wording such as "future opportunities" or "we are always looking for".
Apply if the company interests you, but don't count it as an active lead, and prefer a specific posting from the same company if there is one.
4. Watch for consultancy reposts
Recruitment consultancies and staffing agencies often repost a client's job on job boards and social media, sometimes without naming the client. Many are legitimate, but the repost may outlive the original opening, or the "client" may be several companies at once. Before you share your details:
- Look for the actual employer's name. If the posting won't say, ask.
- Search the employer's own career site for the same role, as in step 1.
- Be wary of any posting that asks for a registration fee, a "training deposit" or payment of any kind. Genuine employers and agencies do not charge candidates to apply.
- Share documents such as your PAN or Aadhaar only at the offer stage, and only with the employer directly.
5. When in doubt, ask
If a posting looks open but you are not sure, a short, polite message to the recruiter or a current employee on the team is reasonable: "Is this role still accepting applications?" A quick no saves you an evening.
If you find a dead posting on CareerAgent
Use the flag on the posting to report it as closed, a dead link or wrong, and we check it. Where jobs come from explains how reporting works.