Quick answer: For most roles, 2 to 4 weeks is enough. Indeed’s own guidance says most job postings stay active for around 30 days, and tells candidates their odds are best if they apply within the first week or two. Past that window with no real hiring activity, a posting stops looking patient and starts looking abandoned.
What’s a normal length for a job posting?
Two to four weeks, long enough to gather a real pool without sitting so long that it looks stale to anyone scrolling past it twice.
Indeed’s own career advice content puts most postings at around 30 days active, while noting that applying within a week or two of posting gives candidates their best odds, since the employer is paying closest attention early. That’s a reasonable anchor for the other side too: if you haven’t gathered enough good applicants in two to four weeks, the problem is probably the ad or where you’re posting it, not the clock.
What happens to postings that sit open too long?
They start to look like something the company never intended to fill, even when that’s not true.
SHRM’s October 31, 2024 reporting on ghost jobs (by Roy Maurer) cited two data points worth taking seriously: Greenhouse Software data showing about 20% of job listings had no hiring activity in a given quarter since 2022, and Revelio Labs data showing hires per job posting have roughly halved since 2019. Neither number proves any single listing is fake. Together they show a lot of postings just sit there, and candidates have learned to assume the worst about ones that look stale. For the deeper dive into why companies post roles they never intend to fill, see why companies post ghost jobs online.
Should you close it and repost, or just leave it?
Close it, or pause it, once you’ve stopped actively reviewing applications. A posting with no one reading the inbox behind it is the exact pattern that erodes trust, whether or not you meant for that to happen.
If you’re between rounds of review and expect to pick it back up in a week, say so in the post rather than leaving candidates guessing. A line like “reviewing applications on [date], we’ll be in touch after that” costs nothing and tells people the silence is normal, not a sign the role vanished.
When does it make sense to leave a posting open longer?
When you’re genuinely hiring for the same seat on a rolling basis, not when you’ve just forgotten to take it down. That’s a deliberate, disclosed choice, and evergreen job postings covers exactly when that’s honest and when it’s the same thing as a ghost job wearing a nicer label.
The difference from this post: evergreen is about roles you refill often on purpose. This post is about the normal, one-off hire, where “still open” past a month usually means something in the process stalled, not that you planned it that way.
What’s the risk of closing a posting too soon?
Missing good candidates who were about to apply, or who needed a little longer to notice the listing. If you’re consistently short on volume at 2 to 4 weeks, the fix is usually distribution, not keeping the same ad open indefinitely.
A practical checkpoint is the two week mark: look at real applicant volume so far, not just days elapsed. A posting that’s still quiet at two weeks is more often a sign the ad or the channel needs fixing than a reason to wait longer. Revisit it again before the four week mark so it doesn’t quietly slide into looking abandoned. Too many job applications, not enough candidates covers the opposite problem, when volume is fine but quality isn’t, which is the other half of this same decision.
What should you check before deciding to extend a posting?
Look at applications per week, not total applications since the post went live. A listing that pulled 20 applicants in week one and 2 in week three is slowing down, and extending it rarely reverses that on its own.
If weekly volume is dropping and you still need candidates, the fix is almost always the ad itself: the title, the pay range if you’re allowed to show it, or where it’s posted, not giving the same listing more time to be seen by the same shrinking audience. Check that trend before you touch the close date.
Does posting to more places fix a slow listing?
Usually, yes, faster than leaving one listing open for twice as long. Posting the same role to more places from one listing, rather than managing separate listings by hand, is most of what actually speeds up the two to four week window. Publish one listing to your Canvider careers page and, on Pro and up, to LinkedIn, plus the other job boards you set up in Settings, so the fix for a slow posting is usually wider reach, not a longer clock.
Frequently asked questions
How many days should a job posting stay live?
About 2 to 4 weeks for most roles. Indeed's own guidance says most postings stay active around 30 days, and tells candidates to apply within a week or two of posting since their odds drop after that.
Should I take a job posting down once I have enough applicants?
Yes, or at least pause it. Leaving a posting up after you've stopped reviewing applications is exactly what makes candidates suspicious that the role was never real to begin with.
What's the difference between a job posting that's open too long and a ghost job?
Intent. A posting open too long by accident is a process gap. A ghost job is a posting with no genuine plan to hire at all. Both look the same to the candidate staring at an old listing, which is why the fix for both is the same: close it or say plainly that it's ongoing.