From click to application
A strong campaign is worthless if the application itself is an obstacle course. We build funnels that candidates complete in a few minutes, on their phone, without hassle.
What is an application funnel?
An application funnel is the route a candidate travels from first click to application: ad, landing page, form and follow-up. Every unnecessary step costs candidates. At SocialFind the funnel is a fixed part of the RPO approach and we measure at each step where people drop out.
See the complete processWhat a good funnel looks like
THE CANDIDATE'S ROUTEFour steps, each measured and each optimized for the target audience.
Ad
Content and targeting that make the right audience click, on the channel where that audience is.
Landing page
One clear page per vacancy: what the work is, what it offers and why here. Mobile first.
Form
Only ask what's needed for first contact. No mandatory CV, no account, done in a few minutes.
Follow-up
Fast personal contact after the application, because every day of waiting costs candidates.
A click is not yet a candidate
The funnel is the link between attention and a conversation. We build it short and mobile, with no detour via a careers site, and connect it to follow-up within one working day. What happens next, all the way to the hire, we run as well.
Application funnels are one of the tools within our RPO approach. We build them when the vacancy and target audience call for it, and always in combination with the campaigns that bring traffic to them.
Why do you lose candidates in the funnel?
Your target audience applies on the couch, during their break, on their phone. Demand a CV upload, a login account or a twenty-field form, and you lose exactly the people who are scarce. Operational audiences in particular only apply when it's easy, and latent candidates drop out at the first hurdle.
Short where possible, depth where needed
A short funnel doesn't mean letting everyone through. With us, the depth is in the screening and follow-up after the application: by phone, personal and fast. That's how you keep the inflow high and the quality up.
The very last step, checking references and where needed asking for a certificate of conduct (VOG), is yours to take just before the offer. How to do that without breaking Dutch privacy rules and without losing the candidate in the waiting time is set out in How do you check a candidate's references, and what are you allowed to ask?
We count an application in the form itself rather than through a measurement code on the page, so it also counts in forms that do not carry that code; between 10 August 2023 and 31 August 2026 that added up to 24,316 completed applications. See our measurement methodology.
From our own application forms (10 August 2023 to 31 August 2026): 95% of submissions arrive on a mobile, the median time to complete is 32 seconds, 31.2% arrive after 6 pm and 26.2% at the weekend. These are submissions through our own application forms, and we advertise almost only on Facebook and Instagram; that audience is on a phone. So read these figures as behaviour within this channel and not as how everyone applies.
A short funnel is only half the job. In our own data (campaigns from August 2024, measured on 10 September 2026), applicants using forms with 7 to 9 questions reached the first phone conversation more often (43%) than those using forms with 6 questions or fewer (30%). A few questions about the hard requirements help, as long as the form can still be completed on a phone in half a minute. The figures and how we measure them are on our figures page.
What gets promised in that first conversation counts again later on. Someone hired on a picture the job does not live up to usually stays, but after a few months does less. Why that starts in hiring, and what you can do about it in the interview, is set out in What does quiet quitting say about your hiring?.
What ruins a funnel
These are the hurdles we encounter most often with new clients.
- Long forms
- Every extra field costs candidates. Cover letters and mandatory CV uploads are an instant dealbreaker for many audiences.
- Not built for mobile
- Most of your target audience is on a phone. A funnel that isn't built for that leaks on all sides.
- Slow or unclear pages
- Long load times and vague job ads make candidates click away before they've even seen the button.
- Silence after the application
- No confirmation, no fast follow-up. The candidate you kept waiting is already talking to someone else.
Where is your funnel leaking?
Let us assess your current route from click to application. You'll see right away where candidates drop out and what can be done about it.
Frequently asked questions about application funnels
A short funnel increases the inflow, and quality control shifts to the screening that follows. That's a deliberate choice: better a bit more work in the qualification than losing scarce candidates to a form. If quality drops too far, we sharpen the qualification questions.
No, it complements it. Campaign funnels are built for conversion per vacancy and target group; your careers site tells the broader story. Both run under your name and reinforce each other.
Yes. Everything is white-label: your logo, your colors, your tone. The candidate applies to you, not to us. That way the funnel helps build your employer brand too.
We measure every step of the funnel: from click to completed application. If we see many people stopping at a specific point, we adjust that point. That way the funnel gets a little better every week.
In most cases, yes. For each collaboration, we look at how applications can best land in your systems and way of working, so your team can pick them up right away without duplicate work.