Apply on the company website or through LinkedIn or Indeed?

If you are wondering whether to apply on the company website or LinkedIn or Indeed, the short answer is usually the company website, when you have the choice. But the difference is smaller than the internet makes it sound.

Recruiters interviewed by The Muse said most applications end up in the same applicant tracking system whichever way they arrive, and the article's conclusion was plain: "You can't go wrong whichever way you apply."^[5] No one has shown that a recruiter marks you down for the button you pressed.

The reasons to prefer the company website are practical ones. You see the whole form. You choose every answer. You know the employer is real. The rest of this guide explains each.

It depends on how the employer set up the posting.

• LinkedIn gives employers two options. Applications can be collected on LinkedIn, in the recruiter's LinkedIn account, with a notice emailed to the address the poster gave. Or applicants can be sent to an external site to apply. In that second case, LinkedIn says it keeps no record of who applied.^[3]
• Indeed works the same way. "Easily apply" jobs show an Apply now button and keep you on Indeed. Others show "Apply on company site" and send you to the employer.^[4]

So much of the time the choice is already made for you. The job board's button takes you to the company website, and that is where you apply. The real decision comes only when the posting offers a one-click option and the same job is also on the employer's careers page.

More than your resume. LinkedIn says the job poster receives your primary email address, your full LinkedIn profile, and whatever you include with the application: resumes, cover letters, answers to screening questions, contact details.^[2] It also says relevant skills from your profile may be included.^[1] LinkedIn saves your earlier answers and offers them again next time, and you can review or change them before you submit.^[2]

This matters for two reasons.

• Your profile is part of the application. If it is out of date, or tells a different story from the resume you attached, the employer sees both.
• Saved answers are easy to send without reading. An answer that was right for the last job may be wrong for this one.

On the company's own form, nothing goes in that you did not put there. It takes longer. You also know exactly what you sent.

There is a little evidence, and it needs care. CareerPlug, a hiring-software company, analysed more than 7.1 million applications to more than 16,000 employers in 2022, mostly small businesses. It found that people who applied from a company careers page were 3.5 times more likely to be hired than people who applied from job boards.^[6]

That does not mean the route caused the result. People who go looking for a careers page have usually chosen the employer on purpose, and that shows in their applications. The same report found referrals did far better still: 9 times more likely to be hired than job-board applicants.^[6] A recruiter told The Muse the same thing in words: the best bet is an internal contact who refers you, because it gets attention faster.^[5]

So do not apply twice by two routes hoping to double your chances. We found no evidence that it helps. Choose one route, do it properly, and if you know someone inside, ask them.

Yes, in a few situations.

• The employer only takes applications there. A very small company may have no applicant tracking system at all, and resumes go to someone's email.^[5] If the posting has no company-site option, the board is the front door.
• You are using the board to discover jobs. Boards are good for finding employers you had not heard of. Find the job there, then apply on the employer's page.
• A recruiter contacted you there and asked you to apply through their link. Do what they asked.

None of this makes the boards bad. They are a good place to look and a weaker place to finish.

Usually, but check. The Federal Trade Commission warns that scammers take outdated ads from real employers, change them, and post them on sites such as Indeed and LinkedIn. Its advice is to visit the organisation's official website and look for the job in its careers section.^[7] If you got there by typing the company's address yourself, you know where you are. That check is one more reason to finish on the company website.

1. When a job-board posting interests you, open the employer's careers page in a new tab and look for the same job.
2. If it is there, apply there. If it is not, treat the posting with some doubt.
3. If one-click is the only route, update your profile first and read every saved answer before sending.
4. Apply once. Write down the date, the route and the link.
5. Whatever the route, read the whole application before you press Submit. That last look is yours, and it is the one step no tool should take for you.