How long should a job advert run, and what to do in week two

7 minute read · Updated 2026-08-27

How long should a job advert run is really two questions: how long before you can judge it, and what you do with the answer. Pull an advert after four days and you have learned nothing. Leave it up for three months without touching it and you have learned nothing either, while the vacancy quietly costs you every week. This guide sets out a sensible default, what the first week tells you, and a specific checklist for week two when the inbox is quiet.

How long should a job advert run: 30 days is a sensible default

Thirty days is long enough for the advert to be seen by people who only look at the weekend, and short enough to force a decision. It is the standard duration here: every advert runs for 30 days, and applications come straight to your inbox and dashboard with the CV attached as they arrive.

The reason a fixed window works is that visibility is front loaded. A new advert appears at the top of listings and goes out in alerts when it is posted, so the earliest days carry the most exposure. That is a mechanism, not a promise, and it means two things: post the advert when you are ready to respond, and treat a quiet first week as information rather than an accident.

Adjust the window for the role. Hourly and high volume roles usually move fastest and can be decided inside a fortnight. Qualified, licensed and specialist roles, or anything in a small local market, need the full month and sometimes a second run. Seasonal recruitment should be worked backwards from the date you need people on site, adding the notice period they will have to serve.

What the first week should tell you

Do not count applications alone, count relevance. Three numbers are enough: how many applied, how many could actually do the job, and how many you would happily interview.

• Plenty of applications, few relevant. The title is too broad or the essentials are not stated clearly. Tighten both.
• Few applications, most relevant. The advert is working and the market is simply small. Keep it running, and start approaching people directly.
• Nothing at all. Something structural is wrong: no pay figure, an internal job title, a vague location, or a requirements list that scares people off.

Sift daily rather than waiting for a closing date. In shortage roles such as HGV drivers, registered nurses, electricians and experienced care staff, good candidates are in three processes at once and a week of silence hands them to somebody faster.

The week two checklist for a quiet vacancy

1. Check the pay against three live adverts for the same role within twenty miles. If you are below all three, no amount of rewriting fixes it. Remember the National Living Wage rises every April, so a rate that looked fine last year may now be at the floor.
2. Rewrite the title as the trade term candidates search for plus one qualifier, following our guide to job advert titles.
3. Cut the essentials to four or five that you would genuinely reject someone for lacking, and move the rest to a desirable list.
4. Add the missing detail that decides whether people apply: shift pattern, exact site and postcode area, whether a driving licence is needed, parking, overtime rates, holiday above the statutory 5.6 weeks.
5. Reduce the apply steps. If applying takes more than a few minutes, you are losing employed candidates first.
6. Phone the near misses. The two people you filed as almost right are cheaper to convert than a second advert.
7. Reconsider the shape of the job. Two part time roles, a later start, a four day pattern or funding a ticket such as SMSTS or a Driver CPC module can open a market that is currently closed to you.

Refresh, extend or start again

If the advert was fundamentally sound and simply needs more time, let it run. If you changed the title or the pay, that is effectively a new advert and it deserves a fresh full run rather than the tail end of the old one. Reposting an identical advert that already failed is the one option that reliably wastes money.

Our position on this is deliberately simple: we will write or rewrite an advert for you free, and if a live advert gets no applications at all we will run it again free for another 30 days. There is no placement fee, no contract and no minimum term, so a second run costs you nothing but the ten minutes it takes to tell us what changed.

Closing dates, rolling adverts and being honest

A closing date creates urgency and gives you a clean point to make a decision, which is why it suits structured recruitment in education, healthcare and the public sector. It also loses you anyone who finds the advert on day thirty one. For most commercial roles a rolling advert with early sifting works better, with a line saying you will interview as suitable applications arrive and may close early.

Whatever you choose, honour it. If you say you will respond within a week, respond within a week. If you close early, tell the people already in the process. Candidates talk, and an employer with a reputation for silence pays for it on the next vacancy. For the process behind that, see our guide to screening job applications when you are doing the hiring yourself.

Next step: if your advert has been live a fortnight and it is quiet, work through the week two checklist above and send it to us for a rewrite before you spend anything else.