Hey Recruiter, Want to Talk to Me? Fill Out This Application First

What if, instead of people applying to jobs, the jobs applied to people? If you’re a recruiter competing in a tight market for software engineers, this could be your new reality.

First came the six-figure salaries and the stock options. Now, some software engineers are making one more demand: If recruiters want to connect, they’ll have to complete an application first.

The idea, called Reverse Apply, is the brainchild of Laskie, a hiring platform startup that specializes in placing senior software engineers. Laskie has created a templated application — a Google Doc — that candidates can attach to their LinkedIn profiles, email accounts, websites, and GitHub profiles. 

Mission: Have recruiters provide job info up front

The form asks recruiters to answer 15 straightforward questions on such topics as what a job pays, where the employee would be located, and what programming languages and tools are required for the position. The goal is to give software engineers important facts so they don’t spend their time responding to jobs that wouldn’t make a good fit. Candidates can customize the Google Doc to meet their own specific requirements and desires.

Since its launch in September, the Reverse Apply link has been copied hundreds of times as software engineers attached it to their websites and social media accounts. 

It’s easy to see why. Despite the slowing job market, tech workers remain in high demand, allowing them to be choosy about which recruiter solicitations, if any, they’ll respond to. 

“With Reverse Apply,” says Laskie CEO Chris Bakke, “candidates can get the questions they want answered before they agree to get on the phone for an initial interview.”

Candidates are encouraged to add text like “Invite me to a job” to entice recruiters to click on the Reverse Apply form. One kink: The application isn’t visible to recruiters when they conduct LinkedIn searches using the LinkedIn Recruiter view unless the candidate has placed the link in the About section of their profile.

Victor Herrera, lead software architect at Code Minds, has added Reverse Apply to his LinkedIn profile and is urging his peers to do the same. “It’s not a secret,” Victor says, “that right now the demand for software developers and engineers is so high. Too many recruiters are asking for things that don’t fit your profile, as well as making offers that just don’t match your expectations.”

More work, but a potential upside for recruiters too

Laskie can’t measure the number of recruiters who’ve filled out the forms. But candidates are reporting that they’re receiving responses, the company’s CEO reports. “We’ve had positive feedback both from candidates and recruiters,” Chris says. He adds that they’ve also heard “it’s an interesting way to cut through the noise and actually get to the top of some of these top candidates’ inboxes.’” 

It remains to be seen whether recruiters will agree. But the customizable application form, while time-consuming, takes a lot of the guesswork out of what a potential candidate is looking for or considers important.

Rob Allen, vice president of talent and engagement at GitLab, notes that there’s a certain efficiency possible with this new tool. 

“Recruiters,” Rob says, “spend a significant amount of time sending initial messages and then follow-up messages, sometimes with no response at all. This process seems like a good way of getting all the information to a potential candidate and allowing them to make a well-informed decision and potentially reaching a successful outcome quickly.”

Likewise, talent acquisition consultant Ryan Hahs wrote in a LinkedIn post: “I always do my best to share details up front in an attempt to set myself and our firm apart from others. . . . I would happily apply to a candidate rather than asking an individual to apply to a job.”

While software engineers may have the leverage today to ask recruiters to fill out applications, that could change if demand weakens. 

Chris says he doesn’t see that happening anytime soon. “My perspective,” he says, “is that regardless of how the market shakes out, there’s going to be this insatiable demand for software engineers and similar roles for a very long time.”

In the meantime, Laskie is considering adapting Reverse Apply to fit jobs in sectors beyond tech. It’s easy to see how this tool might work for in-demand roles such as nurses or salespeople.

“There’s always a certain percentage of the job market that is so in-demand that at any given time companies are fighting tooth and nail to hire them,” Chris says. “I think the idea of ‘jobs applying to people’ in very in-demand professions is the future.”

Final thoughts

Recruiters may soon find themselves having to decide whether it’s worth their time applying to a candidate. One of the best ways to make that decision is by testing this approach and monitoring the results, says GitLab’s Rob Allen.

“It will all come down to the data and the return on investment,” he says. “Recruiters will need to try this approach for a 90-day period and see if despite spending more time filling out information, they get more engaged and interested candidates coming back to them.” 

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