February 15, 2026
Open jobs, open secrets
How long do job postings stay open?
Jobs stay open 3–4 weeks, but commenters cry ‘forever listings’ and hidden agendas
TLDR: Most listings stay live around 3–4 weeks, with Admin closing fastest and Retail lingering. Comments erupt over “evergreen” posts, alleged visa-testing openings, and whether portals are a waste, while data nerds want clarity on reposts and remote vs onsite—insights that help candidates time their applications smartly.
Turns out most job postings hang around for 20–30 days, with roughly a quarter lingering past 59. Retail & Hospitality stick around longer (median 33), Admin & Office sprint (just 18), and Product/Design is a slow burn (30.5). Warehouse and seasonal work? Blink and you’ll miss it—often closed within a week.
But the comments turned this into a soap opera. One puzzled user rattled off theories and finally sighed, “None of these explain the data.” Another dropped a bomb: they saw a company keep a single posting open four years, hiring over 100 through the same evergreen doorway. Cue jokes about Schrödinger’s job—always open, already filled.
The hottest take: an allegation that some software engineering roles stay open to satisfy H1B/PERM requirements (a US work visa and green card process). Sparks flew, others demanded receipts, and a data geek begged for remote vs. onsite and seniority splits, plus clarity on reposts that can inflate “open time.”
Meanwhile a veteran advised skipping the resume portal grind entirely: build open-source projects, ship apps, blog—anything with public proof. So yes, apply early (the first week or two is solid), but the real drama is whether postings are signals or stage props. More transparency, please.
Key Points
- •Sample covers 475,840 active job postings observed over the last 180 days.
- •Overall, postings typically stay open 3–4 weeks; the median is 20–30 days and ~25% exceed ~59 days.
- •Category medians vary: Retail, Food & Hospitality (33.0 days) is longer; Admin & Office (18.2 days) is shorter.
- •Several categories show long upper tails (e.g., P75 ≥ 60 days in Customer Support & Success, Product, Design & UX, Retail).
- •Methodology estimates visibility from crawl first-seen to snapshot; figures are visibility estimates, not exact publish-to-close durations; early applications (1–2 weeks) are recommended for professional roles, earlier for time-sensitive roles.