How long does a remote job application take?
Usually short. 37% are quick.
4,250 of 11,433 remote job applications ask for no cover letter or essay and 5 required questions or fewer. 19% are long. Only 1.3% require a cover letter.
- Quick37%
- Standard43%
- Long19%
Share of application forms read, by how much they ask. The quick-to-apply filter on /jobs shows the quick ones.
Do remote jobs still ask for a cover letter?
1.3%of remote job applications require one.
That is 152 roles. 41% leave an optional slot for one. 33% ask at least one required written answer, which does much the same job.
- Cover letter required1.3%
- Cover letter optional41%
- Written answer required33%
Do jobs with longer applications pay more?
5% lessposted pay on long applications than quick ones, same team and level.
Long forms paid less in 7 of 11 team-and-level pairs with enough roles to compare. A longer application is not a sign of a better-paid job.
Long applicationQuick application
- Sales, mid level+36%
- Engineering, senior-5%
- Engineering, mid level-8%
- Engineering, staff and principal-14%
- Product, manager0%
- Clinical, mid level+61%
- Sales, manager-7%
- Marketing, manager+3%
- Customer, manager-8%
- Customer, mid level-5%
- Operations, mid level+50%
$60K$240K
Which remote teams have the quickest applications?
43%of marketing applications are quick.
Operations 42%, Sales 42%. Clinical is slowest: 18% quick and 39% long.
Are entry-level remote applications easier?
41%of entry-level applications are long, more than at any other level.
Across every other level it is 19%. Entry-level roles are also the rarest: 88 of the 11,433 forms we read.
- Entry level41%
- Mid level22%
- Senior19%
- Staff and principal16%
- Manager17%
- Director and up17%
Which companies are quickest to apply to?
Constructorhas 41 open remote roles, every one quick to apply.
Companies with 10 or more forms read, by the share that are quick.
- Constructor41 of 41
- Zeely25 of 25
- Harbor24 of 24
- Drivetrain23 of 23
- vCluster Labs23 of 23
- Attain Partners22 of 22
- Partyhat21 of 21
- Saluda Medical21 of 21
- Second Front Systems21 of 21
- Vetster21 of 21
Which companies have the longest applications?
TRM Labsasks for a long application on every one of its 95 open remote roles.
Companies with 10 or more forms read, by the share that are long: a required cover letter, two or more written answers, or 15 or more required questions.
- TRM Labs95 of 95
- Tailscale34 of 34
- Tdgc33 of 33
- Toptal31 of 31
- Stedi22 of 22
- Businessolver20 of 20
- Oscilar20 of 20
- Marrinadecisions18 of 18
- CodePath16 of 16
- Protege15 of 15
Does the job board software make a difference?
59%of forms on BambooHR are quick, the most of the job boards we read.
Lever 38%, Ashby 37%, Greenhouse 31%. The employer writes the questions; the software only sets how easy it is to add them.
- BambooHR59%
- Lever38%
- Ashby37%
- Greenhouse31%
How we know. We open each open role's public application form on the employer's own job board (Greenhouse, Ashby, Lever and BambooHR; we have read the form for 83% of open remote roles) and count what it asks for. Only required items count; optional ones cost you nothing. Quick: no required cover letter, written answer or extra upload, and 5 required questions or fewer. Long: a required cover letter, two or more required written answers, or 15 or more required questions. Standard: everything else. Name, email, phone and resume are not counted, and neither are voluntary demographic questions. Pay compares the midpoints of posted ranges in US dollars, quick against long, inside the same team and level with 20 or more roles on each side. Roles are counted the way /jobs counts them: one per company and title, open and seen in the last day.