Is this company really hiring? How to check before you apply

A job posting isn't proof of a vacancy. Some roles are already filled internally, some are kept open to build a candidate pipeline, and some are simply never taken down. Sending a tailored application to a role that isn't really open costs you an evening you could have spent on one that is.

You can't always know for certain, but a few quick checks will tell you a lot.

Signs a role is genuinely open

• It's recent and still active, and it appears on the company's own careers page — not only on aggregator sites.
• The description is specific: a named team, real responsibilities, tools, and a clear level, rather than generic buzzwords.
• You can identify who the role reports to, or the team it belongs to.
• The process is described (stages, timeline) or a recruiter responds to a direct question.

Signs to be cautious

• The same role has been reposted repeatedly over many months with no visible change.
• The wording is vague, or says the company is "always hiring" for the role.
• You're asked to pay a fee, or to hand over sensitive personal documents very early. Legitimate employers don't charge you to apply.

A fifteen-minute verification routine

• Check the company's careers page for the same listing and its posting date.
• Look for recent company news — funding, expansion, new leadership, or restructuring — that explains why the role exists.
• See whether people have recently joined a similar team, and whether the company has announced layoffs recently.
• If you have a contact, ask directly: is this role open, what's the target start date, and how many interview stages are there?

Look at the wider market too

Individual companies are noisy. It also helps to know whether the industry as a whole is hiring. Our Singapore hiring pulse shows job openings and retrenchments by industry, straight from official Ministry of Manpower data, so you can weigh a single posting against the bigger picture.

Then keep score

Track where you applied and what happened. Over a few weeks your own outcomes will show which kinds of roles actually respond to you — which is more useful than any general advice, including this article.