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How to track which social post a job applicant came from

Updated 2026-11-10

You write one job post and share it in a few places: your company page on Facebook, a LinkedIn post, maybe a local group. All of them say “Apply here” and all of them use the same link. Three weeks later you have twelve applications. Which post brought them in?

With one shared link, you cannot know. The fix is small: give every post its own link.

The idea

A tracked link sends the visitor to your normal landing page, but it first counts the click and adds labels to the web address saying where the click came from. Those labels are called UTM codes. If you want the background, read what UTM codes are.

The point is that the label travels with the visitor. It can show up in your reports, in your website analytics and, with a little setup, next to the application itself.

Step 1: one landing page, many links

Keep a single landing page for the job, such as example.com/careers/rn. Do not build a separate page for each post. You only need a separate link for each post.

Step 2: name the campaign and the places

Pick a campaign name that describes the job, like “Night-shift RN hiring”. Then list every place you will post it. In Quill Tracker you tick them: Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, X, TikTok, Indeed, email, text message, QR or print, or a name of your own, such as a local group. You get one short link for each one.

Step 3: use each link once

Put each link in the matching post and nowhere else. If you paste the Facebook link into a LinkedIn post, your numbers will be wrong. A habit that works is to copy the link immediately before you write the post.

If you post twice on the same platform, say a Monday post and a Friday reminder, give them different links. Name them so you can tell them apart later.

Step 4: read the clicks

Each link reports clicks and unique visitors. Quill Tracker leaves out link-preview fetchers and bots, so the number is closer to real people tapping. Compare the links. A post with many clicks and few applications might mean the landing page needs work. A post with few clicks may need a better opening line or a better time of day.

Step 5: connect clicks to applications

Clicks are useful. Applications are what you want. To connect them, add the one-line site snippet to your website. It does three things:

• It remembers the source for 30 days, so it still counts if the visitor looks at other pages first.
• It fills hidden form fields named utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, utm_content and qlid, if your form has them.
• It counts the application against the link when the form is submitted.

The counts then appear in Quill Tracker. If your applicant system stores hidden fields, the source also appears next to each applicant there. Check your system for a setting such as “custom fields” or “hidden fields”, or ask its support team.

What to do with the answer

Repeat what works. If a particular Facebook group brings applicants and a general post does not, spend your time there. If LinkedIn brings few clicks but better applicants, you will only see that if your applicant system keeps the source.

Limits to know about

• If a visitor opens your site later in a different browser or on a different device, the saved source is not there.
• If someone copies your landing page address instead of the short link, there is no label.
• Browsers with the Global Privacy Control signal turned on are not recorded by the snippet.

None of this makes the numbers useless. It means they are a reliable comparison between posts, not an exact headcount.

Quick answers

Do I need to change my applicant system?

Not to see clicks per post. To see the source next to each applicant, your form needs hidden fields for the labels, and your applicant system has to store them. Many systems can; some cannot.

What if people apply days later?

The site snippet keeps the source in the visitor's browser for 30 days, so an application a week later is still tied to the post, as long as they use the same browser.

What about applicants who call or walk in?

A link cannot see those. Ask every applicant "how did you hear about us?" as a second check, and compare it with what the links show.