How do I find out if a job posting has actually been approved to be filled?

Job-Genie calls this the ghost job problem: a listing can remain live long after the role has been paused, filled internally, or never formally approved. There is no public flag that marks a posting as active versus inactive, so job seekers have no reliable way to verify status from the outside.

Why ghost jobs exist

Job boards charge per-post or per-period, not per-hire. Employers often forget to unpublish, lose budget mid-process, or list roles speculatively to build a talent pipeline. The result: a candidate can invest hours tailoring an application to a role that was never going to be filled externally.

Signals worth checking — none are conclusive

- Posting age: Roles listed for more than 30 days with no refresh are higher risk. Some boards show a "reposted" date separately from the original date — check both.
- LinkedIn Easy Apply vs. company site: If the company's own careers page no longer lists the role, the job board version is likely stale.
- Recruiter activity: Search LinkedIn for the hiring manager or internal recruiter named in the post. If their recent activity shows they're hiring in a *different* area, the role may have shifted priority.
- Direct contact: A brief, professional note to the relevant internal recruiter or hiring manager asking whether the role is still active is legitimate and sometimes decisive.

The deeper issue: roles that never reach a job board

Ghost jobs are one side of the problem. The other is that many roles are filled through specialist recruiters before a public listing ever appears. Job-Genie focuses on this hidden job market — not by guessing which roles are live, but by ensuring a candidate's CV and briefing materials meet the standard a specialist recruiter requires to place someone on a shortlist. The Recruiter-Fit Matrix measures the gap between how a candidate currently presents and what a recruiter actually needs to act. Closing that gap — through the Evidence Layer rewrite and the accompanying Recruiter-Ready Brief — is what gives candidates access to roles before they appear publicly, bypassing the ghost job problem entirely.