Don’t create a dead end with your Application link

There are two things we’re really proud of in how our job board works:

1. We respect SLPs. We don’t sell employers their contact information. We don’t drown them in emails about jobs they don’t want. We DO make sure every job on our job board is clear and transparent, so they choose great-fit jobs for themselves.

2. We respect employers. We help you highlight what’s good about your job. We give you honesty about parts of your job post that are unclear or could be improved. We find SLPs who are good matches for your roles, and simply send them to you! We’re just advisors and a conduit—and unlike most job boards, we do not own your application process.

    

Own my application process?! Employers with professional recruiting teams already know what we’re talking about and it’s a breath of fresh air, because they immediately see that we’re not going to control or nickel-and-dime them the way other job boards do. Your ATS link goes right inside our application button, and you never have to even touch our site after posting. It’s so low-touch you’ll forget your login to our system!

But… here’s the problem with us letting you own your own process:

• If you know what an ATS is, and understand how to apply source tracking, there is no problem. You can stop reading here, and we’ll see your jobs on our board!
• But if you’re thinking, “What on earth are they talking about?!” read on. We need to teach you how to build an apply link that works for you!

How most job boards work

The purpose: The purpose of a job board is to get lots of views of your job from the right candidates (check!), get them interested (check!), then get them to apply.

Application Links:  Job boards love when you keep the application process inside their system (e.g. “Indeed Apply”) because it keeps control with them. They own all the data, they sell it to whoever they want, your applications become the billable unit, and they force you to keep coming back to their system! It’s basic platform moat.

Larger companies know this is happening, and don’t allow it. Top recruiting experts know better than to let this game be played on their dime. Instead, they use an ATS (Applicant Tracking System) that funnels everything to them. They post their jobs all over the place online—multiple job boards, multiple social media locations—but the leads and applications always funnel to one place that they own. And with digital tracking, they know where those leads come from because each job board they post on carries a unique link directing into their ATS. Common ATS systems include Greenhouse, Workable, Ashby, but there are many others.

How does Informed Jobs work? We require you to use your own application link. Companies that have an ATS give us that. But less-experienced business owners (or maybe you’re highly experienced and just have low turnover! If so, love that for you!) sometimes get stuck here because they don’t know what link to give us or how to structure it. That’s what we’ll teach you next.

How to build an Apply link that works on Informed Jobs

If you have an ATS link with source tracking, use it. If not, here’s what you’ll do:

1. Create a two-step form

   Use a Google form, AirTable, or your own website. Whatever you’re comfortable with is fine! But you want it to have two steps. The first step of your application needs to capture basic contact information—name and email only. That should save before the candidate clicks the next step to the full application. This way you don’t lose the people who clicked "Apply," got interrupted, and never came back. You have their email and can follow up.

2. Keep it brief

   SLPs prefer efficient, straightforward applications that signals you’re organized and value people’s time. There’s no downside to making it easy, and short. Two minutes > 10 minutes. You’ll can ask more questions later, after you have a candidate pool.

    

That’s it! When you hand us a link on Informed Jobs, we’re just expecting something that allows you to capture leads—an ATS, a Google Form, or a link to a page on your website with a form embedded.

Warning: We said we don’t control your hiring process, and we don’t! That means you can give us Indeed links if you really want to. Just keep in mind that Indeed will charge you to do that—every time our website drives traffic through that Indeed link, you’re paying them for those clicks. Indeed will also tell you the applicants came from them, when they came from us (we can get you that data—just ask us for it!)

Additional tips:

If you’re stuck with a long application, get ahead of it

Some organizations (e.g. school districts) are locked into a mandatory application that takes forever and is irrelevant to SLPs. If that’s you, put a lead collection form in front of it that acknowledges the length and apologizes for it. This does two things: it shows candidates you understand their time has value, and it captures their information before they abandon the process halfway through.

Don’t demand documentation before an interview

Requiring transcripts from experienced SLPs, proof of every CE course, or letters of recommendation before anyone has even spoken to the candidate is too much, too early. Ask for what you need when you actually need it.

Don’t ask for unpaid work

Case studies, sample reports, and video demonstrations before any human contact are a hard no for most candidates. If the task is substantial enough to be useful to you, it’s substantial enough to pay for.

Don’t require background checks or fingerprinting before an offer

These are offer-stage steps. Putting them at the front of the process asks candidates to spend time and often money on a job they haven’t been offered.