You can control when job posts go live and come down in two ways: org-level publishing rules that automatically apply to posts based on office, or per-post scheduling that lets you set specific dates and times on individual posts.
Auto-publish/unpublish rules
Site admins can create publishing rules that automatically unpublish job posts after a set period of time and optionally republish them on a recurring cycle. Rules are scoped to one or more offices, so any job post linked to a covered office inherits the rule automatically – no recruiter action required.
Rules help organizations meet job-posting compliance requirements, such as application deadline laws in jurisdictions like Colorado, without manually managing dates on every post. When a rule applies to a post, the per-post unpublish and republish scheduling fields are locked and cannot be edited by recruiters.
Note: Rules only apply to job posts published after the rule is created. They are not retroactive – existing live posts are not affected when a new rule goes into effect.
Create a rule
To create a publishing rule, navigate to Configure > Job Boards & Posts. Rules are managed in the Automated job post publishing rules section of that page.
Click Configure, then Create rule.
When creating a rule, configure the following settings:
- Offices: Select one or more offices the rule applies to. An office can only belong to one rule at a time – offices already assigned to another rule cannot be selected. You can optionally create one All Offices rule per org as a fallback for any office not covered by a more specific rule.
- Unpublish period: How long after going live the post stays up before automatically unpublishing. Enter a count and unit (hours, days, weeks, or months). Minimum is 7 days.
- Republish period (optional): How long after unpublishing before the post automatically goes live again. If left blank, the post stays unpublished and the cycle does not repeat. Minimum is 1 day.
- Notify recruiters: When enabled, the job's assigned recruiter(s) receive an email each time the post is automatically published or unpublished.
- Display application deadline to candidates: When enabled, the application deadline (derived from the post's next scheduled unpublish date) is shown at the bottom of the candidate-facing job post.
Note: The unpublish period must be at least 7 days. The republish period, if set, must be at least 1 day. Entering values below these minimums will return a validation error.
When multiple rules apply to a post
A post can be linked to multiple offices, and offices can have parent offices – so more than one rule may apply to a single post. When this happens, Greenhouse resolves the conflict using the most conservative approach:
- Unpublish period: The shortest period among all applicable rules is used.
- Republish period: The longest period among all applicable rules is used.
- Recruiter notifications: If any applicable rule has notifications enabled, the recruiter is notified.
- Application deadline display: If any applicable rule has deadline display enabled, the deadline is shown to candidates.
Edit or delete a rule
You can edit a rule at any time, including while job posts are actively using it. Rule changes take effect on a rolling basis as job posts reach their next publish or unpublish dates. They do not retroactively affect posts that are already live.
To delete a rule, navigate back to the Automated job post publishing rules section from Configure > Job Boards & Posts, click the trash icon and confirm you want to delete the rule.
When a rule is deleted, any publish/unpublish dates it already set on job posts remain in place as regular manually-set dates and are no longer managed by the rule. All rule changes are recorded in the change log.
Schedule dates on a job post
To schedule publish and unpublish dates on a job post, navigate to a job by clicking the Jobs tab on the navigation bar and selecting a job from the subsequent list.
From the job page, click Job Setup and select Job Posts from the left panel.
Click the job post you want to edit, or add a new one, then scroll down to the Automatic job post publishing section. Read more about creating or editing a job post here.
Note: When a publishing rule applies to a job post, the unpublish and republish scheduling fields are locked and cannot be edited. You can still set the initial publish date manually. You can also manually toggle the post live or to draft at any time, but manually unpublishing a post halts the automated unpublish/republish cycle — no republish date will be scheduled. If the post is published again, the rule will re-evaluate and schedule a new unpublish date.
You can add multiple schedules by clicking Add Another and defining additional dates and times. For example, if you set a job post to publish one week and unpublish the next, adding a third schedule lets you re-publish it again.
Schedules are based on the current user's time zone.
To automatically show the unpublish date as the application deadline, or to email recruiters when a job is automatically published or unpublished, check the boxes below the schedule.
Note: To access these settings, you must be using the updated job board settings under the Job Board Settings page.
Application deadline display
When a post is set to automatically unpublish (either through a publishing rule or per-post scheduling) you can display the upcoming unpublish date as an application deadline on the candidate-facing job post. The deadline appears at the bottom of the post, formatted as "The application deadline for this role is {{date}}" and is also exposed via the Job Board API.
If a post has multiple unpublish dates scheduled, only the next upcoming date is shown. The deadline is timezone-aware and updates automatically as the post cycles through publish/unpublish periods under a rule.
Recruiter notifications
When recruiter notifications are enabled (either on a publishing rule or via the per-post scheduling checkboxes) the job's assigned recruiter(s) receive an email each time the post is automatically published or unpublished. If a job has more than one assigned recruiter, all receive the notification. Notifications are system-generated and are not customizable.