Answers, measured rather than guessed

We read 1,077 employers’ own careers pages every day and keep the record — 524,322 live postings right now, plus every one we’ve watched come down. These pages answer the questions job seekers ask, using that record.

Some of these questions can’t be answered by anyone — how many applications it takes, what share of postings are fake. Those pages say so and show what we can measure instead, rather than repeating a number that has been passed between blogs until it looked like a fact.

• How long do job postings stay up?The full distribution of posting age across every board we crawl, with the industry breakdown.
• How long does it take to hear back after applying?Nobody can measure an employer's reply from outside. What can be measured is how long the posting lasts.
• Why am I not hearing back from jobs?How much of what is listed right now has been listed for a very long time, and what that does and does not explain.
• What does it mean when a job posting is taken down after an interview?How old postings are when they come down, how often they come back, and why removal is not a decision.
• How many applications does it take to get a job?We cannot answer this one, and we say why. What we can show you is the size and staleness of what is open.
• What is a ghost job?The term describes an intention. We can only measure duration — so here is the duration, and where the line sits.
• How long does the hiring process take?Posting lifespan is a floor on hiring time, not a measure of it. The difference matters and is explained.
• Do companies post fake jobs?Intent is not observable from a careers page. Duration is. What the duration data supports, and what it does not.

Looking for a specific employer instead? Browse the companies we track, or see the longest-open postings.