---
title: "Create a Candidate Source Link"
url: "https://knowledge-base.discovered.ai/en/article/how-to-create-a-candidate-source-link-in-discovered"
language: "en"
last_updated: "2025-11-27T19:04:47.754Z"
---

# Create a Candidate Source Link

Easily track where applicants are coming from using custom source-tagged application links.

### **Overview**

Understanding where your candidates originate is essential for optimizing your recruiting strategy and maximizing ROI across job boards, social platforms, and outreach campaigns. Discovered makes this simple with **Candidate Source Links** — customizable URLs that automatically attribute each applicant to the correct source.

Whether you’re sharing your job on Facebook, LinkedIn, a newsletter, or an outside job board, you can append a source tag to your application link. Once candidates apply, Discovered tracks their source automatically within the candidate profile and reporting dashboards. This ensures clean, accurate data that helps you make smarter recruiting decisions.

## **How to Create a Candidate Source Link:**

[Embedded content](https://www.loom.com/embed/bdc0a6c1bdbb4fa9ae22af0f61272258)

**1\. Access Your Job Posting:**

Navigate to the job you want to track:

-   Go to **Find & Evaluate Talent**.

![](https://cdn-assets.productfruits.com/f8264be8-9f99-4260-80f7-216990ad4dd4)

-   Select the job posting you want to generate a custom source link for.

**2\. Copy the Application Link**

Every job posting includes a direct application URL.

-   Locate the **application link** within the job.
-   Click to copy it.

![](https://cdn-assets.productfruits.com/8867b35e-7d8d-446d-bf05-bd5ea3b8feec)

**Example**:  
`https://apply.mycompany.com/job/apply/12345`

**3\. Add the Source Parameter**

To tag the link for tracking:

-   Add `?source=YourSource` to the end of the URL.

**Examples:**  
For Facebook:  
`https://apply.mycompany.com/job/apply/12345?source=Facebook`

For LinkedIn:  
`https://apply.mycompany.com/job/apply/12345?source=LinkedIn`

For custom sources:  
`https://apply.mycompany.com/job/apply/12345?source=Newsletter`  
`https://apply.mycompany.com/job/apply/12345?source=JobFair2025`

You may use any naming convention that fits your tracking and reporting needs.

**4\. Share Your Custom Link**

Paste your tagged link wherever you’re promoting the job — such as:

-   Social media posts
-   External job boards
-   Email outreach
-   SMS campaigns
-   Paid ads
-   Community groups or newsletters

Each link will automatically log the source when a candidate applies.

## **Why This Matters**

Candidate Source Links give you accurate insights into which channels are performing best. This allows you to:

-   Allocate budget to the most effective platforms
-   Improve recruiting ROI
-   Identify which sources attract the highest-quality candidates
-   Reduce time spent manually tracking applicant origins
-   Make data-driven decisions about job advertising strategy

Having clean source data strengthens your entire hiring workflow.

## **Use Cases**

-   **Recruiters:** Track job board performance and identify the best-performing outreach channels.
-   **Marketing or Talent Teams:** Measure campaign success across newsletters, ads, and social platforms.
-   **Agencies:** Attribute candidates to specific client campaigns.
-   **High-volume hiring:** Quickly see which platforms consistently deliver strong applicants.

## **Best Practices**

-   Use **consistent naming** (e.g., “Facebook”, not “FB”, “FacebookAd1”, etc.).
-   Create different source tags for different campaigns on the same platform.
-   Save frequently used source links in a template or notes doc for quick reuse.
-   Test each link once before sharing it publicly.

## **What Happens Next**

Once candidates apply through a tagged link:

-   Discovered automatically logs the source in the candidate profile.
-   Source data becomes available in your **reporting dashboards**.
-   You can track performance across platforms over time.
-   No extra setup is needed — the system continues tracking indefinitely.

With Candidate Source Links, you gain powerful visibility into where your best applicants come from, helping you continuously refine and optimize your hiring strategy.