LinkedIn Easy Apply vs the company website: which is better?

LinkedIn jobs come with one of two buttons. Easy Apply lets you apply without leaving LinkedIn. Apply (with an arrow) sends you to the employer's own careers site, which is usually an applicant tracking system such as Workday or Greenhouse. People ask which one gets more interviews. The honest answer is that the button matters less than what you send, but there are real differences worth knowing.

What Easy Apply sends

An Easy Apply application is a short form inside LinkedIn:

• Your contact details, taken from your profile.
• A resume, uploaded for this job or chosen from ones you saved.
• Answers to the employer's questions, if they added any: years with a tool, work authorisation, notice period and so on.

According to LinkedIn's help pages, relevant skills from your profile may be included with the application, and LinkedIn may offer to save your resume and answers to fill in future applications. If the job was posted by a recruiting agency, your application may be shared with the agency's other clients when your profile matches their roles.

The employer then sees your application in LinkedIn's applicant list, or in their own tracking system if they have connected it to LinkedIn, as some large employers have.

LinkedIn also limits how many Easy Apply applications you can send in a day and how fast, to curb automated applying.

What the company website gets you

The Apply button takes you to the form the employer built in their tracking system. It is longer: often an account, your work history field by field, and more questions. In return:

• Your application sits where the recruiters work. It is in the same system and the same pipeline as candidates from every other source.
• You answer every question they set, including ones that do not fit in an Easy Apply form.
• Fewer people finish it. A longer form means a smaller pile, though the people who finish are often the more serious applicants.

Our guides cover the common systems field by field: Workday, Greenhouse, Lever and Ashby, and iCIMS, Taleo and SuccessFactors. Not sure which one a job uses? See which ATS is this job using.

The real difference: volume

Easy Apply takes a minute, so popular Easy Apply jobs fill up fast, and many applications come from people who barely read the posting. Recruiters reviewing a pile like that move quickly. Being early helps (see how to find jobs posted in the last hour), and so does a resume that shows the core requirements in its first few lines.

A long company form has the opposite problem: it takes twenty minutes, so it is only worth it for jobs you fit.

Which to use

Use Easy Apply when it is the only option, which means the employer chose to receive applications on LinkedIn and will review them there. Treat it as a real application: attach a resume tailored to the job, not the one you saved months ago, and answer the questions carefully.

Use the company website when the job offers only the Apply button, obviously, and when you have a choice between the posting on LinkedIn and the same job on the company's careers page. The company's own form is the more complete application.

Do not apply twice. Sending the same application through Easy Apply and the company site rarely helps, and it can create two candidate records for the same job. If you already used Easy Apply, keep that one.

What matters on either path

• The resume you attach. Tailor it to the job. Our guide to tailoring a resume without making things up takes about fifteen minutes per job, and finding the keywords in a job description shows which terms to use.
• Screening questions. Questions about work authorisation, location, notice period or salary can filter you out before anyone reads your resume. Answer them truthfully and check each click. See how to answer common screening questions.
• Fit. Neither button helps with a job whose core requirement you do not meet. Decide before you apply: see should you apply if you don't meet every requirement.

After you apply

Easy Apply applications are listed under My jobs on LinkedIn, and LinkedIn may tell you when the employer views your application. Company-site applications are tracked in that system's candidate page or by email; our guide to application status meanings explains labels like "In review". Keep your own list of where you applied and when, so you do not apply twice or forget to follow up.

How Shortlist handles both

On a LinkedIn job, Shortlist scores how well you match the posting first, so you know whether it deserves the effort. Its Apply button opens Easy Apply on the same page, or the company's application in one new tab, where Shortlist fills the form from your profile and stops before Submit. You can keep every application in one list, whichever path you took.

FAQ

Do recruiters look at Easy Apply applications?

Yes, when the employer chose Easy Apply for the job. The applications arrive in LinkedIn's applicant list or in the employer's own tracking system. Because Easy Apply jobs can get many applicants quickly, applying early and attaching a tailored resume both help.

Is it better to apply on the company website instead of Easy Apply?

When you have the choice, the company's own form usually gives a more complete application and puts you directly in the recruiters' system. When Easy Apply is the only option, use it; that is where the employer reviews applicants.

Can I apply on both LinkedIn and the company website?

You can, but it rarely helps, and it can create duplicate records for the same job. Choose one.

Does Easy Apply send my whole LinkedIn profile?

It sends your contact details, the resume you attach and your answers, and LinkedIn says relevant skills from your profile may be included. The employer can also open your public profile, so keep it consistent with your resume.