Lever is the hiring system behind many start-up and technology careers pages. You are on one when the address starts with jobs.lever.co. The application is a single page, there is no account to create, and you press Submit application once at the end.
Before you start
- Your CV as a PDF. Lever reads it to fill in your details, and a cleanly laid-out PDF reads best.
- Your links: LinkedIn, and GitHub or a portfolio if they show your work.
- Answers to the eligibility questions: work authorisation, visa sponsorship, where you are based.
- Three or four sentences for the final box, covered below. This is where an application stands out.
Step 1: attach your CV first
The form opens with Attach resume/CV. Start there. Lever reads the file and fills in your name, email, phone and current company, which saves typing, and shows “Couldn’t auto-read resume” when it cannot. If that happens, fill the fields in yourself, and see why job sites read CVs wrong for what usually causes it.
Either way, check what it filled: your name spelled the way you want it, your email exactly right, your phone number with its country code, and the right current employer. For Current location, type the first letters of your city and pick it from the suggestions.
Step 2: your links
Most Lever forms have a Links section with separate boxes for LinkedIn, GitHub, a portfolio and sometimes another website. Paste the full address, including https://. For LinkedIn, use your public profile address, the one that looks like linkedin.com/in/your-name, and open it once in a private window to make sure it shows what you expect.
Step 3: the employer’s questions
Next come the employer’s own questions, each in its own block. Typical ones:
- Are you legally authorised to work in the country you are applying for?
- Will you now or in the future need visa sponsorship? (How to answer that one honestly.)
- Are you located in a particular city, and if not, are you willing to relocate?
- Which languages do you speak, or which office are you applying for?
- What name would you like us to use, and how do you pronounce it?
Required questions are marked with a star. Some forms also ask whether the company may contact you about future roles. That box is optional and is your choice to make.
Step 4: Additional information
Most Lever forms end with a box called Additional information, with the prompt “Add a cover letter or anything else you want to share.” It is optional, and plenty of people leave it empty, which is exactly why a few good sentences there are noticed.
Keep it short, three or four sentences:
- Why this company, in one specific sentence about what they do.
- Your most relevant result, with a number if you have one.
- Anything practical they should know: when you can start, or that you are happy to work their hours from another time zone.
Don’t paste your CV again; they already have it. Our guide to answering “Why do you want to work here?” works well for the first sentence.
Step 5: the voluntary survey
Some US postings end with an optional equal-opportunity survey about gender, race and veteran status. It is voluntary, and you can decline any question.
Submit, and what happens next
Press Submit application. Many Lever forms run a quick check that you are a person first, so you may be asked to complete a CAPTCHA. You will then see a confirmation, and usually an email. Lever has no candidate portal, so there is nowhere to log in and check your status. Keep your own record, and watch your inbox, including the spam folder.
How Draftloop helps on Lever
- It fills the form as soon as the page loads: your details, location, and each link in its own box, because your profile keeps LinkedIn, GitHub and portfolio separately.
- It reads Lever’s question blocks, which have no ordinary labels, so the employer’s own questions get answered too, not just the standard ones.
- It answers location questions sensibly. If a dropdown only offers regions, such as “Asia” or “Europe”, it picks the region your country is in. “Are you located in Barcelona? If not, are you willing to relocate?” is answered from where your profile says you live.
- It attaches your CV as the original file and checks that the page shows it.
- It writes the open boxes, including Additional information, from your CV and the job posting. Those are marked purple, so you read them before you send.
- It leaves your choices to you. “Contact me about future roles” boxes stay unticked, the survey is answered only if you chose to in your profile, and the CAPTCHA and Submit button are always yours.