layiq
/la·yiq/adjective
worthy; deserving; fitting; suitable.
A role, opportunity, or path that merits attention, time, and pursuit.
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How to tell if a job posting is still open, step by step
A posting is still open when the employer’s own page lists it and Apply works. Start from the Apply link, find the same job on the employer’s careers page, read what the page and its dates say, and ask the recruiter if it is still unclear. A job board can keep showing a job after it has come down,15 and a missing page does not tell you why.1
On this page
What “open” can mean
Hiring systems keep more than one status for a job, so a page that is gone and a role that is filled are not the same thing. Each system says so in its own words.
- Greenhouse. Its support pages say “A job status and a job post status are different statuses.” Turning off a post “means the post is no longer visible to candidates,” while closing the job means the employer is “not actively seeking to fill a position.” A post set to Offline “is not visible on any job boards, even though the job itself may be open and the hiring team may be actively interviewing candidates to fill it.”1
- Lever. Its developer documentation describes four states. Published postings “appear on your public job site,” closed postings “will NOT appear on your public or internal job sites, likely because they are roles that you’ve already filled,” and internal postings, which the Lever app calls “unlisted,” stay off the sites even though “anyone with the link to an internal posting can apply.”4
- Ashby. Its posting API lists published jobs and marks each as listed or not. If a job is not listed, “this listing should only be available via direct link.”5
Greenhouse also says one reason an employer turns a post off is that the hiring team “has received a sufficient number of strong candidates to consider for the position and doesn’t want to receive additional applications.”1 So a missing page can mean filled, paused, full or hidden, and only the employer knows which. Whether an employer ever meant to hire is a different question, and our guide to spotting a ghost job covers it.
Six steps to check one posting
1. Start from the Apply link, not the board
A board page shows a copy. The employer’s page is the source. On LinkedIn, the help center says “If you see the Apply button instead of the Easy Apply button, you’ll be routed to that company’s website or job board to continue the application process.” Signed out, choose Apply and then “Apply on company website.”89 On Indeed, an Apply button that leaves Indeed means “Indeed will redirect you to the employer’s applicant tracking system (ATS).”11
If the button says Easy Apply, the application stays on LinkedIn,8 so there is no employer link to follow. Go to step 2 and look for the job on the company’s own site.
2. Find the same job on the employer’s careers page
Search the careers page for the exact title and location, and for the job or requisition ID if the listing shows one. Some careers pages carry the hiring system’s job ID in the web address. Greenhouse says it adds a gh_jid parameter “between your root URL and job ID,”2 and Ashby’s embed documentation refers to an ashby_jid parameter that tells the page “which job to display.”6 An address that carries one of those parameters is that hiring system showing one job, and the value after it is the job’s ID.
3. Read what the page says
Look for a working Apply button, an error page, a redirect to a list of openings, or wording about applications closing. Employers that list jobs in Google’s job search are told that “Jobs that are no longer open for applications must be expired in one of the following ways,” and two of them are to ensure the validThrough date “is populated and in the past” or to “Remove the page entirely (so that requesting it returns a 404 or 410 status code).”7 An error page is therefore a normal way for a closed job to look. It is also what a hidden post looks like, since Greenhouse says “any links to the post stop working.”1
Some pages carry an end date in their structured data. Google describes validThrough as “The date when the job posting will expire,” and tells employers that “If a job posting never expires, or you do not know when the job will expire, do not include this property.”7 A missing end date means nothing, but a date in the past is a clear signal.
4. Read the dates for what they mean
A posting can show several dates, and they do not mean the same thing. A board’s ‘posted 2 days ago’ is its own label.
| Source | Date field | What the source says |
|---|---|---|
| Greenhouse public job data | first_published and updated_at | Greenhouse’s Job Board API documents a first_published date and a separate updated_at date for a job.3 Read them as two dates. |
| Lever | createdAt | Lever’s documentation describes it as “Datetime when posting was created in Lever,” and lists a separate updatedAt, “Datetime when posting was last updated.”4 |
| Ashby public job data | publishedAt | “ISO DateTime when the job was last published.”5 A job published again can show a newer date. |
| Google’s guidance for employers | datePosted | “The original date that employer posted the job.”7 |
Each hiring system has its own page in our Ghost Job Checker series: Greenhouse, Lever and Ashby.
5. Remember the board has its own clock
A job board can show a job for longer or shorter than the employer’s page does. Indeed’s employer FAQ says free job posts are “visible for up to 30 days” while Sponsored Jobs “stay visible for as long as they’re sponsored.”12 LinkedIn’s help center says a free job “will be paused after being active for 14 days,” and that promoted jobs “stay active until you close them or will expire after 6 months of being active.”10 These pages are written for employers, and the details can change. Treat a board listing as a lead and the employer’s page as the answer. Our guide to job sites without sponsored listings explains paid listings.
6. Ask the recruiter or hiring contact
If the page does not settle it, ask. A short message works best:
- Name the job title, the location and the job ID, and paste the link you are looking at.
- Ask two things: whether the role is still open, and whether applications are still being reviewed or when they close.
- Say you will apply on the employer’s own page once you hear back, or ask whether there is another way to apply.
Use a contact you found on the company’s own site. The FTC advises you to “Contact the company directly using a phone number you know to be legitimate — not one you got from the ‘recruiter.’ Or go to the company’s website.”13
What you find and what to do
| What you find | What it can mean | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| The employer’s page lists the job and Apply works | The job is published at the source. That does not say how fast the employer is hiring. | Apply there, not through a copy of the listing. |
| The board still shows the job but the employer’s page does not | The board may be behind the employer,15 or the employer may have turned the post off while the role stays open.1 | Ask the recruiter, and check the careers page again in a few days. |
| The link goes to an error page or a list of openings | A removed page is one way a closed job ends, and a hidden post also stops working.71 | Search the title on the careers page. If it is not there, treat the job as unconfirmed and ask the recruiter before you spend time on an application. |
| A recruiter sent the link and it is not on the careers page | It may be an unlisted posting, reachable by link but kept off the public list.45 | Ask the recruiter to confirm it is open. |
| The page asks you to pay, or asks for a Social Security or bank account number before anyone has answered your questions about the job | Paying to apply is a warning sign: the FTC says “Honest employers, including the federal government, will never ask you to pay to get a job.”14 It also warns about requests for a Social Security or bank account number for “employment paperwork” before anyone answers your questions.13 | Stop, share nothing yet, and verify the employer through its own website. |
Let the Ghost Job Checker do the first pass
For Greenhouse, Lever, Ashby, Workday and Workable links, the checker asks the hiring system’s public job data whether the posting is still published and what posting date it gives.15 Paste the Apply link, not the LinkedIn or Indeed link. It reads the employer’s hiring system and not the board, and tells you what it could not check. It shows evidence, not a verdict, so it cannot say whether a recruiter is still reviewing applications.
Paste a Greenhouse, Lever, Ashby, Workday or Workable Apply link into the free Ghost Job Checker to see whether the posting is still published and what date the hiring system gives. No sign-up needed.
Check a job linkHow a LAYIQ job page answers this
LAYIQ’s public summary says each current job has a page “with the employer’s posting, pay when the employer publishes it, and the employer’s posting date,” and that a job that closes at the source is no longer shown as open. Its page answers HTTP 404, or says “This job is closed” with no Apply button.16 The same summary says LAYIQ sends every applicant to the employer’s own posting to apply.16 LAYIQ lists only the employer sites it can read,15 so a job that is missing from LAYIQ says nothing about whether it is open.
Frequently asked questions
How can I tell if a job posting has been filled?
From the outside you usually cannot. A page that is gone can mean filled, paused or hidden, since Greenhouse says a post can be turned off “even though the job itself may be open.”1 The employer’s page shows whether the job is still published, and the recruiter can say whether it is being filled.
Why is a job on LinkedIn or Indeed but not on the company’s website?
The board may be behind the employer, or the post may be hidden on the employer’s side. Boards also run their own clocks: Indeed says free job posts are “visible for up to 30 days,”12 and LinkedIn says promoted jobs “stay active until you close them or will expire after 6 months of being active.”10 Check the careers page and ask the recruiter.
What does a 404 or an error page on a job link mean?
It can mean the job has been removed. Google tells employers to remove expired jobs so that requesting the page “returns a 404 or 410 status code,”7 and Greenhouse says that when a post is off “any links to the post stop working.”1 It does not say whether the role is filled, so search the careers page and ask.
Is it safe to email a recruiter to ask if a job is open?
Yes, if you use contact details from the company’s own website. The FTC advises contacting the company “using a phone number you know to be legitimate,” and not one the recruiter gave you.13 Ask whether the role is open and whether applications are still being reviewed. Never pay to be considered.14
Does a recent posting date mean a job is open?
No. A date shows when a system recorded the posting, and systems record different dates. Greenhouse lists first_published and updated_at,3 Lever lists createdAt and updatedAt,4 and Ashby lists publishedAt, “when the job was last published.”5 A date helps you judge age. It does not show that anyone is reviewing applications.
Sources
- Greenhouse Support. Change a job post’s status (opens in a new tab). Accessed October 7, 2026.
- Greenhouse Support. Job post URL for non-Greenhouse-hosted job posts (opens in a new tab). Accessed October 7, 2026.
- Greenhouse. Job Board API (opens in a new tab). Accessed October 7, 2026.
- Lever. Lever API documentation: Postings (opens in a new tab). Accessed October 7, 2026.
- Ashby. Ashby Job Postings API (opens in a new tab). Accessed October 7, 2026.
- Ashby Knowledge Base. Embedding Ashby job boards in an external careers page (opens in a new tab). Accessed October 7, 2026.
- Google Search Central. Job posting (JobPosting) structured data (opens in a new tab). Accessed October 7, 2026.
- LinkedIn Help. Apply for jobs on LinkedIn (opens in a new tab). Accessed October 7, 2026.
- LinkedIn Help. Apply for jobs as a guest user (opens in a new tab). Accessed October 7, 2026.
- LinkedIn Help. Differences between free and promoted jobs (opens in a new tab). Accessed October 7, 2026.
- Indeed Help Center for Job Seekers. About Jobs on Indeed: What You Need to Know (opens in a new tab). Accessed October 7, 2026.
- Indeed. Indeed Employer Frequently Asked Questions (opens in a new tab). Accessed October 7, 2026.
- Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Advice. Scammers impersonate well-known companies to recruit for fake jobs on LinkedIn and other job platforms (opens in a new tab). Published August 8, 2023. Accessed October 7, 2026.
- Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Advice. Job scams (opens in a new tab). Accessed October 7, 2026.
- LAYIQ. Ghost Job Checker (opens in a new tab). Accessed October 7, 2026.
- LAYIQ. LAYIQ summary for AI assistants (llms.txt) (opens in a new tab). Accessed October 7, 2026.