Job ad expired before your interview? How to find it again, and keep every ad you apply for

An expired ad is not a filled job

Job boards run ads for a set time, and the ad comes down when that time ends or the employer takes it down, whatever stage the hiring has reached. Seek's help centre, checked on 6 October 2026, says ads stay live on Seek for 30 days unless the employer expires them earlier, and that an employer can re-list a role still unfilled after 30 days. Where an ad has a closing date, the employer is meant to expire the ad when they stop taking applications or edit it to show a new date. Seek also notes that employers recruiting through their own website sometimes close the job there while the ad still shows as live on Seek.

Indeed's help puts it in one status: "Job closed" means the employer closed the job or the job expired. Either way, an interview invitation tells you more than the ad's state does. Shortlisting and interviews usually start after applications close, so by the time you are invited, the ad has often gone.

Where to find the ad again

Work through these in order. Most people find the wording at the first or second step.

• Seek's Applied jobs. When you apply through Seek itself, Seek's help says your Applied Jobs list keeps a copy of the job ad and a record of the resume and cover letter you sent. If the ad sent you to the employer's own website, only the ad is kept. Seek's help on saved jobs says a saved job you apply for stays on the Applied jobs page for 90 days, so look sooner rather than later.
• LinkedIn's Job tracker. On a computer, Jobs, then Job tracker, then the Applied tab. Opening the job shows its details page and, if you applied on LinkedIn, the resume you used.
• Indeed's My Jobs. The Applied tab. Indeed says you can view an application's details, including the resume you used, only if the job was posted directly on Indeed.
• Your inbox. Search for the employer's name and phrases such as "thank you for applying" or "application received". A confirmation email from a hiring system often names the role and a reference, and sometimes links to the full ad.
• The employer's careers page. Large employers and public sector agencies often keep the vacancy, with the position description attached, on their own site for longer than the board does. Seek suggests a search engine for finding an employer's own site and contact details.
• A web archive. The Internet Archive's Wayback Machine at web.archive.org sometimes holds a copy of a public job page if you have its address. It is hit and miss for job ads, so treat it as a last try.

If you saved nothing at all and cannot remember which role this is, our article on seeing every job you applied for rebuilds one list from your inbox and the boards in about 20 minutes, and our article on how to track job applications sets out what to keep for each job from then on.

Ask for the position description

In New Zealand it is normal to ask for the position description before an interview, and recruiters expect the request. Many roles have a fuller description than the ad: the purpose of the role, who it reports to, the key tasks and the skills they are looking for. That is what the panel will question you on. A short reply to the invitation is enough:

Ask for the salary band only if the ad gave one, or if you are dealing with an agency recruiter who will expect the question. If the ad was silent on pay, wait for them to raise it. While you are writing, it is also reasonable to ask who will be on the panel and how long the interview will take.

Prepare from what you have

Once the position description arrives, it is your main source. Read it alongside three other things:

• The CV you sent. The panel will have that version in front of them, so make sure you are working from the same one, especially if you tailor your CV for each role.
• Your cover letter. Anything you claimed there is fair game for a question.
• Your notes. What attracted you, anything a recruiter said on the phone, and anything you found out about the team.

Take the key tasks in the position description and match each one to a short example from your own work. Our guide to job interview questions in New Zealand covers the behavioural questions most panels use, and how to answer them with examples. If no position description comes in time, build the same list from the ad's wording and your cover letter, and ask early in the interview what a typical week in the role involves.

Next time, keep the ad when you apply

The fix for next time is to keep the whole ad, the position description and anything said about pay with the job on the day you apply, while the listing is still live. Boards keep their own lists for a limited time and only for applications made through them, so a copy of your own is the only one you control.

On a computer, you can save the job in one press with the jobtracker.co.nz Chrome extension or a button on your bookmarks bar. Press it on the ad on Seek, LinkedIn, Indeed, Student Job Search, ZEIL or a careers page, check what it found, and the title, employer, listing reference and whole ad are kept with the job, and stay after the listing comes down. It saves the ad you are looking at; it does not bring across ads or applications from your board accounts. On a phone, use + Add job in the app, put the link in Listing URL and paste the ad into Job description. Paste the position description into the same job when it arrives, and note which CV you sent, so the next interview invitation finds everything in one place.

Keep the ad with the job