Easy Apply vs Company Website: Where Should You Apply?
Many LinkedIn postings give you two routes: an Easy Apply button that sends your profile and CV in a couple of clicks, or an Apply button that takes you to the company's own site. Easy Apply vs company website is a real choice, and neither answer is always right. Here's what each route involves, the trade-offs between them, and a quick way to decide for a given job.
What each option is
Easy Apply lets you apply without leaving LinkedIn. It fills in your contact details from your profile, attaches a CV you've uploaded, and may ask a few screening questions the employer set up. Depending on how the company works, the application is reviewed inside LinkedIn or passed on to the company's own hiring system. From the outside, you usually can't tell which.
Applying on the company site means going to its careers page, usually a form run by an applicant-tracking system such as Greenhouse, Lever or Ashby. You upload a CV, add contact details and links, and answer the questions the company chose: work authorisation, location, notice period, sometimes a cover letter.
Not every posting offers both. If a job only has Easy Apply, that's how the company has chosen to receive applications, and it's the route to use.
The trade-offs
| Easy Apply | Company website | |
|---|---|---|
| Time per application | A few minutes | Often longer: forms and custom questions |
| Room to tailor | Limited: CV and short answers | More: cover note, custom answers, links |
| What the company sees | Your profile and CV | What you entered, in their format |
| The posting you read | LinkedIn's copy | The original, current version |
| Where it lands | LinkedIn or the company's system | The company's hiring system |
| Risk of a careless application | Higher: it's easy to apply unread | Lower: the effort forces a second look |
When Easy Apply makes sense
Easy Apply is a useful tool, not a shortcut to be ashamed of. It's a good fit when:
- It's the only option. The company picked it, so use it.
- Your profile is complete and matches your CV. The recruiter then sees one consistent picture, and the profile adds context a CV can't.
- A recruiter or hiring manager posted the role personally. You can follow up with a short message to the person who will read your application.
- The company is small. Teams without a separate hiring system often review LinkedIn applications directly.
- You're a clear fit and speed matters. A complete, relevant application sent today beats a perfect one sent next week.
When the company site is better
- The questions matter for your case. If you're applying from outside the company's usual hiring region, the location and work-authorisation questions are where you explain your situation. Read remote IT jobs actually open to Europe before answering them.
- You want to add more. A short cover note, a portfolio or a GitHub link may not fit into a quick form.
- It's a priority company. For the places you most want to work, the extra effort is worth it.
- The LinkedIn copy looks old or thin. The careers page shows whether the role is still open and what it actually says.
- You found the job somewhere else first, on a careers page, a remote board or through an alert. Apply where the job lives.
Common mistakes
- Applying twice. Easy Apply today, the company site tomorrow. It looks disorganised and can create duplicate records. Pick one route per role and write it down; a simple job application tracker is enough.
- Using Easy Apply for volume. Clicking through dozens of postings a day without reading them rarely leads to replies. If silence is the problem, see no replies to job applications.
- A profile and CV that disagree. Different job titles or dates in the two raise questions. Keep them consistent.
- Rushing the screening questions. Short answers still get read. Answer "Are you authorised to work in…?" honestly and precisely.
- Sending the same CV everywhere. Whichever route you take, the CV should reflect the posting. Here's how to tailor your CV to a job posting without rewriting it each time.
A 30-second decision
For each job, ask:
- Is this a priority company or an unusually strong fit? Use the company site, with a tailored CV and a short note. Our cover note templates help here.
- Is Easy Apply the only option? Use it, but read the full posting first.
- Do I need room to explain something, such as location or notice period? Use the company site, or send a short message to the recruiter alongside Easy Apply.
- None of the above? Either route is fine. Take the faster one and spend the time saved on your next good application.
Where each fits in a search
Most people end up using both. LinkedIn is where you discover a broad range of roles and see who you know. The company's own page is where you send the applications that matter most. The skill is choosing per job, not picking a side once and for all.
Hot Jobs finds new roles on company career pages and two remote boards and, whenever it can, links straight to the company's own application page, so the company-site route is one tap away. It doesn't apply for you. It costs €3, paid once. Connect the bot