1. Quickstart Guide

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To quickly set up Reverse Apply and have recruiters apply to you, just follow these steps:

Add the Reverse Apply text and link to your LinkedIn About page.

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Example text:

^{I get a lot of messages from recruiters. To respect both of our time, instead of messaging me, please fill out this form: [custom URL, from step #3 below]}

1. ‍Make a copy of the Reverse Apply form. (You will need to be signed into Google Drive.)
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2. (Optional) Customize the form's intro or any questions.
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3. Hit "Send", then copy the shortened URL. This is the public link you can now use on LinkedIn, email, your website, etc.
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4. (Optional) Hit "Responses", then the three dots, then select "Get email notifications for new responses".
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5. Add the link to your LinkedIn, email templates, website, GitHub, and anywhere else you have a profile.

That's it! Now, you will get an email every time a recruiter applies to you.
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You can use the same text and link to reply to recruiter LinkedIn messages and emails. This way, all your recruiter applications will come into a single place.

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2. Add a clickable link near the top of your LinkedIn profile
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1. Make sure you have 'Creator mode' turned on.
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2. Edit your LinkedIn page: Under "Website", add your custom URL and text.

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Example text:

^{Invite me to a job}

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3. Add Reverse Apply to Gmail

1. In Gmail, hit 'Settings' (gear icon).
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2. Hit "Advanced", then go to "Templates" and select "Enable", then "Save Changes"
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3. Compose a new message
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4. Add the Reverse Apply text and link to your email
   
   
5. Hit the three dots, go to "Templates", "Save draft as template", "Save as new template", then name the template (e.g. Reverse Apply), hit "Save"
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6. Test it out: Reply to a message, hit the three dots, go to "Templates", "Insert Template", then select your template

That's it! Now you can quickly respond to recruiter emails and have them all apply to you in the same format.

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Example text:

^{Hi there! Thanks for your email. I get a lot of messages from recruiters. To respect both of our time, instead of messaging me, please fill out this form: [custom URL]}

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4. What is Reverse Apply?

It's time for recruiters to apply to you.

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The software engineers we work with keep showing us how they:
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• Get spammy or vague messages from recruiters where they can’t tell what the exact job, stack, or employer is

• Don't know what the interview process is or if it requires whiteboard interviews

• Have screening calls that turn out to be a waste of time

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To solve this, we started putting all the information upfront into our highly-targeted messages to engineers. They appreciated it.

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But still, better messages didn’t seem like the most efficient solution.

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Then, our CTO Daniel found an engineer who’d created his own reverse apply form. We saw that it was time to change the paradigm. To design a tool for software engineers to have recruiters apply to them.

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We worked with a team of software engineers and recruiters to find the sweet spot of a) the 80/20 of structured job information that engineers need and b) what recruiters will complete.

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In our tests, 90% of recruiters happily completed the form, and the 10% who didn't did not have a targeted job opportunity.

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This is Reverse Apply. Now:
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• Recruiters apply to you in a structured format, just like a job application but reversed.

• You get all the information you need to know upfront, including the interview process and if there's a whiteboard interview.

• You can quickly see if a job opportunity is worth your time before scheduling a call.

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5. How does it look to recruiters?

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• Take a live demo here.

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6. How do I support this project?

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We would love you to join the community of software engineers who see that it's time to flip the traditional recruiter-candidate paradigm.

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• To link to this page, please use the permalink: https://blog.laskie.com/blog/reverse-apply

• If you want to post about #ReverseApply, please follow and tag @ChrisJBakke (on Twitter) and Laskie, Chris Bakke, Daniel O'Shea, and Eric Sanders (on LinkedIn)

• Please use hashtag #ReverseApply and #Laskie so we can find your post!

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I wrote a little manifesto about the thinking behind Reverse Apply in my Substack newsletter, if you want dig deeper. Here's the LinkedIn launch post, and a LinkedIn video I made to frame this project. I also highly recommend subscribing to our CTO Daniel's Substack, which is focused on software engineers.

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7. How do I share feedback?

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We'd love your feedback, as well as examples of how you're using/forking Reverse Apply! You can share it with us publicly via the social links above, or DM us on Twitter/LinkedIn. We are excited to take inspiration from your feedback to design the future of our product.

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In the next year, we will build the engine to eliminate inefficient recruiter messages. Instead, you will review all your recruiter job applications from within your single Laskie dashboard.

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We can't wait to work with you.