How to review and reject job applicants on LinkedIn

Screening questions are set while you post the job. LinkedIn doesn't stop unqualified people applying, so these are how you filter:

1. Start posting a job on LinkedIn.
2. On the Job settings page, click the icon next to each question type you want.
3. Fill in the details for each question.
4. Tick Must-have qualification for anything essential.
5. Choose whether to archive applicants who don't pass and send them an automatic rejection email.
6. Post the job.

• Question types include background check, education, location, language, certifications, work experience, work authorisation, visa status, expertise with a skill, hybrid work, industry experience, urgent hiring need and a custom question.
• A job posted from a personal account includes one free screening question. More need a promoted job.
• LinkedIn's Talent Solutions page recommends at least four questions for best results.

Sources: LinkedIn Help: Add screening questions to your job post, checked 15 October 2026; LinkedIn Talent Solutions: Get the most out of LinkedIn Jobs features, checked 15 October 2026

If you chose to collect applicants through LinkedIn:

1. Click the Jobs icon at the top of your LinkedIn homepage.
2. Click Manage job posts.
3. Find the job and click the More icon to the right of its title.
4. Click Manage job.
5. Click View applicants.

• Sort by relevance, location, years of experience or fit rating.
• Applicants rated Not a fit are filtered out. To see everyone, tick Not a fit in the Ratings filter.
• Each applicant's card shows whether they meet all your screening requirements. Click their name to read their answers, which also appear in the application email.
• In the app: tap the Jobs icon, the More icon by the search bar, Manage job posts, then Manage job and View applicants.
• For jobs posted from a personal account, you can't bulk download or export applicant profiles.

Sources: LinkedIn Help: Review job applicants, checked 15 October 2026; LinkedIn Help: Manage your posted jobs on LinkedIn, checked 15 October 2026; LinkedIn Help: View applicant answers to screening questions, checked 15 October 2026

From the applicant list:

1. Open View applicants for the job, as above.
2. Click Rate as next to an applicant.
3. Choose Good fit, or Not a fit to reject them.

• LinkedIn says each Good fit and Not a fit rating shapes who the job is shown to, so rating more applicants improves your matches.
• With the Not a fit automation on, rejected applicants get an email from LinkedIn three days after they applied. Change the rating before then if you change your mind.
• You can use LinkedIn's rejection email as it is or edit it in the job's settings.
• Rejecting applicants this way isn't available in Recruiter Lite.

Sources: LinkedIn Help: Reject applicants on your LinkedIn job post, checked 15 October 2026; LinkedIn Help: Automate sending rejection messages to job applicants, checked 15 October 2026; LinkedIn Talent Solutions: Get the most out of LinkedIn Jobs features, checked 15 October 2026

By default, applicants outside the country you chose are tagged Not a fit, and for jobs that aren't promoted they're told automatically unless you switch it off. To change the settings:

1. Click the Jobs icon, then Manage job posts.
2. Click the More icon next to the job title and select Manage job.
3. Click Settings under the job title.
4. Switch each automation on or off.

• For a promoted job, open the job, go to the Hiring plan page, click Edit job post in the Post job section, click Continue and adjust the Rejection settings.
• LinkedIn's help page says auto-rejection on a promoted job needs at least one Must-have screening question.
• LinkedIn's Talent Solutions page also lists an option to rate applicants you message as Good fit automatically.

Sources: LinkedIn Help: Automate sending rejection messages to job applicants, checked 15 October 2026; LinkedIn Talent Solutions: Get the most out of LinkedIn Jobs features, checked 15 October 2026

For a job posted from your personal account, only you can see the applicants. To bring in a colleague:

1. Open View applicants for the job and click the applicant's name.
2. Click Forward in the top right of their application card.
3. Enter the name of a first-degree connection at your company and click Send.

• Colleagues can reply with their view in the message, but they can't rate applicants or add notes.
• A free job stays open until you close it from Manage job posts, or for six months.
• A promoted job runs until its total budget is spent, you close it, or six months pass. There's no pause, so closing is the only way to stop spending.
• After closing, you still have the job's applicants, resumes and conversations.
• Reposting a job with the same title and company within seven days means promoting it.

Sources: LinkedIn Help: Share job applicants with coworkers, checked 15 October 2026; LinkedIn Help: Post a job on LinkedIn, checked 15 October 2026; LinkedIn Help: Manage your promoted job post FAQ, checked 15 October 2026; LinkedIn Talent Solutions: Get the most out of LinkedIn Jobs features, checked 15 October 2026

Common problems:

Sources: LinkedIn Help: Reject applicants on your LinkedIn job post, checked 15 October 2026; LinkedIn Help: Automate sending rejection messages to job applicants, checked 15 October 2026; LinkedIn Help: Add screening questions to your job post, checked 15 October 2026; LinkedIn Help: Share job applicants with coworkers, checked 15 October 2026; LinkedIn Help: Manage your promoted job post FAQ, checked 15 October 2026

Zolyp, which publishes this guide, is our own product, so weigh this section with that in mind. Screening and rejections happen in LinkedIn. Zolyp can write and schedule the hiring post that points people to the job, on your profile or company Page, alongside your other LinkedIn posts. LinkedIn is one of the 9 platforms it publishes to (Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Business, X, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, and Threads), and you approve the week before anything goes live. Plans that create the posts start at $29 a month, with a 3-day free trial.