How Long Do Job Postings Stay Up? We Watched 19 AI Job Boards Daily From Aug. 22 to Oct. 12, 2026

Longer than a month, in most cases: of 739 job postings we watched from the day they went up, 611 (83%) were still live on the employer’s own board on day 30, and 186 of 267 (70%) were still live on day 45, in daily reads of 19 AI-company job boards from August 22 to October 12, 2026. The 30-day figure you see quoted comes from job sites like Indeed, where a free post is visible for up to 30 days. On an employer’s own careers page there is usually no clock at all.

This is also our weekly AI Hiring Report. On Monday, October 12, 2026 we counted 3,803 open roles on the same 19 boards, 50 fewer than on October 5.

How long do job postings stay up on an employer’s own site?

On the 19 AI-company boards we watched daily between August 22 and October 12, 2026, 97% of new postings were still up after a week, 93% after two weeks, 83% after 30 days and 70% after 45 days. Each figure only counts postings we could follow for that many days, so the pools shrink: 1,550 postings for day 7, 739 for day 30 and 267 for day 45.

We cannot yet say how long a typical posting lasts in total. Our watch is 51 days old, and most postings outlive it. What we can say is that a posting being three or four weeks old is normal on these boards, not a warning sign by itself.

When a posting does come down, how old is it?

Of 1,292 posting links that disappeared from these 19 boards between August 22 and October 12, 2026, the median had been up 63 days, counted from its posted date to the first daily snapshot where it was gone. A quarter were gone within 36 days, and a quarter lasted 114 days or more. 176 of them had been posted at least 180 days earlier.

Short lives exist too: 267 of those 1,292 links came down within 30 days. A link vanishing does not always mean the role was filled. Our October 5 count of postings taken down found 13 that came back under a new link the same week.

This week alone, October 5 to 12, 2026, 338 links came down. Their median age was 66 days; 52 were 30 days old or less, and 55 were older than 180 days.

Why do job sites say 30 days when employer pages run longer?

The 30 days is a job-site rule, not an employer rule: Indeed’s employer FAQ, last updated August 3, 2026, says “All free job posts will be visible for up to 30 days” from the day they are posted. LinkedIn’s help page on free job posts, read October 12, 2026, says a free post “remains active for up to 14 days,” is then paused, and closes after 30 days if it is not promoted.

Paid posts run longer. LinkedIn’s page on posting duration says paid job posts stay open until the employer closes them or “the job automatically closes after 6 months.” So the same opening can drop off a job site after 30 days and still be live on the company’s careers page.

Careers pages built on applicant tracking systems have no built-in 30-day limit that we could find. Greenhouse’s help center, read October 12, 2026, says site admins “can create publishing rules that automatically unpublish job posts after a set period of time.” That is a rule an employer can choose to set. We did not find an equivalent Ashby page, so we make no claim about Ashby.

How old are the jobs that are open right now?

Of the 3,803 postings open on these 19 boards on October 12, 2026, the median was 62 days old by the posted date each board showed that day, and 743 (20%) were more than 180 days old. 1,000 were 30 days old or less, 1,359 were 31 to 90 days old, 701 were 91 to 180 days, 520 were 181 days to a year, and 223 were more than a year old.

The oldest was Figure AI’s Helix AI Engineer, Perception, which its board dated November 15, 2022. OpenAI’s Researcher, Robustness & Safety Training was dated May 25, 2023. Both were still listed in their boards’ public feeds on October 12, 2026.

Can the “posted” date on a job change without a new posting?

Yes: 95 postings open on October 12, 2026 showed a later posted date than the one we recorded when we first saw the same link, all on boards that run on Ashby. OpenAI had 34 of them, ElevenLabs 26 and Cohere 10. OpenAI’s Strategy & Operations Programs, Support posting read June 10 when we first saw it and October 9 on October 12.

That matters if you filter by “posted in the last week.” A posting can look new and still be the same opening from months ago. On the Greenhouse boards we read, the first-published date did not move. We have not confirmed why the Ashby dates change, and we do not assume a reason.

It also changes how old a board looks. Measured by today’s dates, ElevenLabs’ open postings have a median age of 12 days, the youngest of the 19. That is partly the re-dating, not only fresh hiring.

What changed on the 19 AI job boards this week?

Between Monday, October 5 and Monday, October 12, 2026, open roles on the 19 boards fell from 3,853 to 3,803 (minus 50), with 288 new posting links and 338 links gone. The biggest drops were ElevenLabs (minus 41), OpenAI (minus 17), Cohere (minus 17) and Scale AI (minus 10). The biggest gains were Waymo and Anthropic (plus 8 each) and 1X (plus 7).

Pay did not move. The median advertised US range across 2,221 postings with pay was $226,000 to $310,500 on October 12, against $226,000 to $310,250 a week earlier. US postings our tracker flags as entry-level rose from 144 to 168.

Of Waymo’s 29 new links this week, 11 were 2027 summer internship postings. If that is your search, our guide on when summer 2027 internships open covers the timing.

Is ElevenLabs hiring less than in August?

By count, yes: ElevenLabs had 255 open postings on its board on August 22, 2026 and 129 on October 12, 2026, about half. This week 74 of its links came down and 33 went up. The postings that came down were mostly in Revenue (35), Engineering & Product (17) and Growth (12).

Its board does not say why, and we have not confirmed a reason. Our inference is only that fewer listings could reflect filled, merged or paused roles; the board does not show which, so we draw no conclusion.

Last week we promised to recheck the 13 postings that came back under new links. On October 12, 2026, all 13 new links were still up, at OpenAI, Anthropic, Perplexity, 1X, Waymo and Nuro.

Should you apply to a posting that is two months old?

Yes, if it is still live on the employer’s own site: on October 12, 2026 the median open posting on these 19 boards was 62 days old, so two months is the middle of the pack, not the end. Check the employer’s careers page, not a copy on a job site, because the job site may have dropped or kept it on its own schedule.

Indeed’s own data notes, updated September 9, 2025, say postings “may remain online for a period of time after being filled.” That is the honest limit of any count, ours included. A live link tells you the application is open, not that the seat is empty.

Our earlier piece on whether to apply to old job postings goes through the trade-offs, and what day of the week most jobs are posted covers timing.

Four checks before you apply to an older posting

1. Open the employer’s own careers page. If the role is there, the application is open. Our jobs board links straight to the employer’s page for every role we count.
2. Look for the same title under a newer link. If two versions exist, apply to the newer one.
3. Do not trust “posted 2 days ago” alone. We saw 95 links whose posted date moved later without a new posting.
4. Set an alert instead of refreshing. Our guide to job alerts for specific companies shows how.

If you do not meet every listed requirement, see whether to apply anyway. Applying to more than one role at a company has its own rules, covered in can you apply to multiple jobs at the same company.

Do federal job postings follow different rules?

Yes: the USAJOBS Help Center, read October 12, 2026, says most federal announcements close on the closing date shown, while “Some job announcements stay open indefinitely.” Those are called open continuous; you can apply at any time. The closing date on the announcement is the one to trust.

Federal postings are not in our 19-board count. For federal and lab roles, see national laboratory jobs that do not require a degree.

Answers to the timing questions job seekers type

How long do job postings stay up on Indeed?

Indeed’s employer FAQ, last updated August 3, 2026, says free job posts are visible for up to 30 days from the day they are posted. Sponsored posts and the employer’s own page can run longer.

How long do job postings stay up on LinkedIn?

LinkedIn Help, read October 12, 2026, says a free post is active for up to 14 days, then paused, and closes after 30 days if not promoted. Paid posts stay open until closed or 6 months.

Is a job posting that has been up for 60 days still real?

It can be. On October 12, 2026 the median open posting on 19 AI boards was 62 days old. Check that it is live on the employer’s own careers page before you apply.

Why do some job postings stay up for months?

Employer careers pages have no default expiry. 223 of 3,803 open postings on 19 AI boards on October 12, 2026 were over a year old. Indeed’s data notes say postings may stay online after being filled.

Does an old posting date mean the job is old?

Not always the other way round. On October 12, 2026, 95 open postings on Ashby-run boards showed a later posted date than when we first saw the same link, so a new date can hide an old opening.

Where to read more on the Jobs Desk

Employers in this report: whether OpenAI is still hiring, whether Anthropic is hiring, whether Waymo is hiring, whether Scale AI is hiring and whether Figure AI is hiring.

For a first job, start with entry-level AI jobs with no experience and whether the AI job market is saturated. Daily numbers live on the AI jobs tracker, and our method is on how we count.

Have a posting you want us to check? Ask the desk, or visit the Jobs Desk. We are not recruiters and take no money from employers. Postings can close at any time; the employer’s own page wins. Never pay to get hired, and see our job scam rules.

How we counted: each day we read every open posting on 19 boards through Greenhouse’s public job-board API and Ashby’s public job-posting feed, keyed by the full posting link. Posted date is Greenhouse’s first-published date or Ashby’s published date. A posting is “still up” on day N if its link appears in our snapshot N days after its posted date. A link that disappears is gone from that board; we do not know whether the role was filled.

Pages read October 12, 2026: Indeed, employer FAQ (last updated August 3, 2026); Indeed, free job post limit; LinkedIn Help, free job posts; LinkedIn Help, renewability and duration of a job posting; Greenhouse, automatically publish or unpublish a job post; USAJOBS Help Center, job announcement closing types; Indeed Hiring Lab, data FAQ (updated September 9, 2025); Figure AI, Helix AI Engineer, Perception; OpenAI, Researcher, Robustness & Safety Training; OpenAI, Strategy & Operations Programs, Support.

Videos checked October 12, 2026: CNBC on YouTube; Bloomberg Podcasts on YouTube.