The Problem With Applying to Every Open Role You Find
Job boards are not live databases. They are notice boards, and nobody is required to take the notice down when the situation changes. A posting can sit open while a team is in a budget review, while an internal candidate is already lined up, or after the headcount was quietly pulled. You can spend an hour tailoring a resume and cover letter for a role that was effectively closed before you found it.
This does not mean job boards are useless. It means you should spend thirty seconds checking a few signals before you invest real time in an application.
Four Signals That a Posting May Already Be Dead
1. The posting is older than 30 days with no repost
Most active searches at small to mid-size companies close within three to four weeks. If a role has been up for six weeks or more and the company has not reposted it or updated it, the search has either stalled or the team is moving slowly on purpose. Neither situation favors a cold application. Check the original post date, which most boards display, and compare it to today.
2. The company has recent layoff news
A quick search of the company name plus "layoffs" or "hiring freeze" filtered to the last 90 days takes under two minutes. If a company announced cuts in the last quarter and the posting went up before that news, the role may have been listed before the freeze and never removed. LinkedIn's company page sometimes shows headcount changes month over month, which is another fast check.
3. The LinkedIn employee count is shrinking
On a company's LinkedIn page, the "About" tab shows headcount and sometimes a trend line. A company that has lost employees in recent months while posting new roles is not necessarily a red flag, but it is worth noting. It may mean the posting is a backfill for someone who left, or it may mean the team is not actually growing.
4. The same role has been reposted multiple times
Search the job title and company name together on Google. If you find the same role posted in January, then again in April, and again now, that is a signal the search keeps getting paused or restarted. It could mean the bar is genuinely high, or it could mean internal disagreement about what the role should be. Either way, it is useful context before you spend time applying.
What to Do With This Information
You are not trying to predict the future perfectly. You are trying to allocate your time better.
- If a role has two or more of these signals, deprioritize it. Apply to cleaner opportunities first.
- If you still want to apply to a stale posting, try to find a person at the company, a recruiter or team member, and send a short LinkedIn message before or alongside submitting. This confirms whether the role is still active and puts your name in front of a human before the ATS does anything with it.
- If a role is fresh (posted in the last seven days), has no freeze news attached, and the company headcount is stable or growing, treat it as a genuine priority and tailor your application fully.
A Quick Example
You find a marketing coordinator role at a mid-size software company. The posting is 45 days old. A two-minute search shows the company announced a hiring pause in July after a funding round closed smaller than expected. That is two signals. Instead of spending an hour on a tailored application, you send a brief LinkedIn note to the recruiter listed on the post asking whether the role is still active. If they confirm it is, you apply. If they do not respond in a week, you move on without the sunk cost.
The goal is not to avoid risk. It is to spend your limited application energy on roles where someone is actually waiting to read what you send.