Is this the employer or someone authorized to represent them?
The company, recruiter, job board, or other party presenting the opportunity should be clearly identifiable, and you should be able to understand their role.
Job seeker advocacy and market transparency
You applied.The employer should know it.
The Job Application Integrity Project works to make online job applications transparent, traceable and accountable so job seekers know where their applications go and employers know whether candidates actually reach them.
Why Application Integrity Matters
Who Is Really Behind the Job?
Who Will Receive Your Information?
Is This Application Path Legitimate?
You clicked Apply. But who actually got your information?
A job seeker may believe they are applying to a company when the application is actually being handled by a third-party site, recruiter, data collector, or, in the worst cases, a scammer impersonating the employer. Before you submit a resume, contact information, work history, or other personal data, you should be able to understand who is behind the opportunity and where your information is going.
Know who gets your resume before you send it.
You should be able to tell whether your information is going to the employer, its ATS, an authorized recruiter, or another third party before you submit it.
Make sure you are applying where you think you are applying.
The job should be real, current, and connected to an application destination authorized by the employer.
A job seeker should never have to guess whether they applied to the employer, an unknown third party, or a scammer.
JAIP exists to make the identity, authorization, destination, and custody of applicant information easier to understand before someone clicks Submit.
Our principle
Open distribution. Verified application paths.
JAIP works to strengthen trust across the employment ecosystem by supporting responsible employers and platforms, identifying gaps in job application integrity, and developing standards that make legitimate employment opportunities easier to verify.
JAIP is not opposed to third-party job distribution. We support authorized third-party distribution that is accurate, transparent and accountable. Our concern is what happens between job discovery and actual application delivery.
For Job Seekers
Know who is hiring, who operates the site you are using, who will receive your resume, and whether you are applying to the job or simply registering with an intermediary.
For Employers
Know where your jobs appear, what happens when candidates click Apply, whether attribution survives, and whether applications generated in your name actually reach you.
Draft standard v1.0
Verified Application Path Standard
A public standard for job authenticity, transparent application paths, verified delivery and responsible distribution.
Authentic Employer
Accurately identify the organization that is hiring.
Authentic Opportunity
Represent a genuine job that is currently accepting applicants.
Source Transparency
Distinguish the employer, recruiting representative and third-party publisher.
Application Recipient Disclosure
Tell candidates who will receive their information before submission.
Verified Delivery
Deliver the application to the employer or an authorized representative.
Application Confirmation
Tell candidates accurately what happened after they submitted.
Efficient Application Path
Avoid unnecessary intermediary steps that obscure the route to the employer.
Attribution Without Interception
Give distributors credit without blocking the legitimate application path.
Current Job Status
Stop presenting closed or expired jobs as actively accepting applicants.
Employer Control
Give employers a practical way to correct inaccurate listings and establish authoritative destinations.
Research
We intend to test the system.
The Application Path Audit traces real online jobs from the employer through search engines and third parties to determine what actually happens when someone clicks Apply.
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Discover where the job appears.
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Trace every redirect and application destination.
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Verify who receives candidate information.
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Measure whether the employer receives the application and attribution survives.
Method over accusation
Our goal is evidence.
We will distinguish verified facts from unresolved questions and give organizations a reasonable opportunity to correct inaccurate information.
Something did not seem right?
Job seekers, employers and recruiting professionals can help document confusing, outdated, broken or potentially unauthorized application paths.
Report an Application Problem