Common job application questions: what 1,352 tech forms ask
We read 1,352 live internship and new grad application forms. Here is what they ask, how long they are, and which answers to prepare once.
By Kevin Tang · Updated October 2026
The short answer
A typical tech job application asks about 18 questions, 12 of them required. We read 1,352 Greenhouse, Ashby, and Lever application forms on October 26, 2026, for the internships and new grad roles open on the tracker behind Arial's job board. Almost every form wants your resume, and most want a phone number (89 percent) and a LinkedIn link (79 percent). After contact details, the most common questions are about eligibility: 63 percent asked whether you will need visa sponsorship, and 59 percent whether you are authorized to work in the country. 44 percent had a place for a cover letter, but only 3 percent required one. 45 percent had at least one open text box, such as why you want the job. Most of these questions repeat from form to form, so write your answers once and reuse them.
Every application starts with the same upload and then goes its own way. To see what tech employers actually ask, we read the application forms behind every open internship and new grad posting we could reach on the tracker that feeds Arial's job board.
What we measured
On October 26, 2026, we took every posting marked open on the SimplifyJobs internship and new grad trackers that applies through Greenhouse, Ashby, or Lever, three systems whose forms can be read without an account, and read each form's questions: 1,352 forms at 551 companies (785 internships and 567 new grad roles), after skipping postings whose form had already been taken down. We grouped questions by what they ask, using their wording, and counted a form once per topic however many times it asked. Workday and other systems that need an account are not included, so treat these shares as typical of startups and mid-size tech companies more than of the largest employers. (SimplifyJobs internship tracker, October 26, 2026 file, and the Greenhouse, Ashby, and Lever application forms of its open postings, read that day; SimplifyJobs new grad tracker, October 26, 2026 file, and the Greenhouse, Ashby, and Lever application forms of its open postings, read that day; Greenhouse Job Board API documentation (job questions))
The questions tech applications ask most
| Question | Share of forms |
|---|---|
| Resume | 100% |
| Phone number | 89% |
| LinkedIn profile | 79% |
| Visa sponsorship | 63% |
| Authorization to work in the country | 59% |
| Where you live or will work | 56% |
| Website or portfolio | 50% |
| Cover letter | 44% |
| How you heard about the job | 36% |
| Working in the office or on site | 30% |
| Degree or major | 25% |
| GitHub | 24% |
| School | 23% |
| Graduation date | 22% |
| Willingness to relocate | 17% |
| Salary expectations | 15% |
| Citizenship | 15% |
| Security clearance or export control | 15% |
| GPA | 14% |
| Start date | 14% |
| Whether you worked there before | 11% |
Contact details and links are close to universal, so keep one current version of each. The resume upload was required on 87 percent of forms, and LinkedIn on only 21 percent, even though 79 percent asked for it. Internship and new grad forms differed on several rows. New grad forms asked more about work authorization (66 percent against 54), sponsorship (66 against 61), salary (25 against 9), and clearance (20 against 11); internship forms asked more about your school (28 against 16) and graduation date (28 against 14). (SimplifyJobs internship tracker, October 26, 2026 file, and the Greenhouse, Ashby, and Lever application forms of its open postings, read that day; SimplifyJobs new grad tracker, October 26, 2026 file, and the Greenhouse, Ashby, and Lever application forms of its open postings, read that day)
How long application forms are
Scroll sideways to see every column
| Application system | Forms read | Average questions |
|---|---|---|
| Greenhouse | 827 | 19.0 |
| Lever | 226 | 20.6 |
| Ashby | 299 | 11.9 |
| All three | 1,352 | 17.7 |
Forms averaged 17.7 questions, about 12 of them required. New grad forms ran a little longer than internship forms, 18.4 questions against 17.2. Ashby forms were the shortest, and none of the Ashby form data we read included voluntary demographic questions, which employers there can ask separately. On Greenhouse, those questions appeared on 524 of 827 forms. (SimplifyJobs internship tracker, October 26, 2026 file, and the Greenhouse, Ashby, and Lever application forms of its open postings, read that day; SimplifyJobs new grad tracker, October 26, 2026 file, and the Greenhouse, Ashby, and Lever application forms of its open postings, read that day)
Eligibility questions decide whether you move on
After your contact details, the questions employers ask most are about whether you can take the job at all: sponsorship (63 percent), work authorization (59 percent), and, mostly at defense and aerospace employers, citizenship or security clearance (15 percent each). These are usually required yes or no questions, and an employer can filter on them before anyone reads your resume. Answer them exactly, by the employer's own definition. (SimplifyJobs internship tracker, October 26, 2026 file, and the Greenhouse, Ashby, and Lever application forms of its open postings, read that day; SimplifyJobs new grad tracker, October 26, 2026 file, and the Greenhouse, Ashby, and Lever application forms of its open postings, read that day)
Read nextHow to answer the sponsorship question, by visa status
Cover letters: often offered, rarely required
44 percent of forms had a cover letter field, and 42 of 1,352 required one. An optional field is not a test, so a missing letter costs little. If you do write one, make it a few specific sentences about this team and this role rather than a page of general enthusiasm. (SimplifyJobs internship tracker, October 26, 2026 file, and the Greenhouse, Ashby, and Lever application forms of its open postings, read that day; SimplifyJobs new grad tracker, October 26, 2026 file, and the Greenhouse, Ashby, and Lever application forms of its open postings, read that day)
The open-ended questions
45 percent of forms had at least one open text box, and 18 percent asked a question with "why" in it, such as "Why are you interested in this opportunity?" or "Why do you want to join Figma?" Some are specific to the company: Palantir asks which of its two software engineering roles fits your search, and why. These are the questions a reader actually reads, so they deserve your own words, written for that company. (SimplifyJobs internship tracker, October 26, 2026 file, and the Greenhouse, Ashby, and Lever application forms of its open postings, read that day; SimplifyJobs new grad tracker, October 26, 2026 file, and the Greenhouse, Ashby, and Lever application forms of its open postings, read that day)
Logistics: office, relocation, salary, and start date
About a third of forms asked how you heard about the job (36 percent) or whether you can work in the office or on site (30 percent). Fewer asked about relocation (17 percent), salary (15 percent), or your start date (14 percent). Several forms, most of them for new grad roles, ask for an expected hourly rate rather than a salary. Decide your answers to these before you start applying, so you are not making them up under a form's time pressure. (SimplifyJobs internship tracker, October 26, 2026 file, and the Greenhouse, Ashby, and Lever application forms of its open postings, read that day; SimplifyJobs new grad tracker, October 26, 2026 file, and the Greenhouse, Ashby, and Lever application forms of its open postings, read that day)
How to get through applications faster
- Keep an answer file. Your contact details, links, work authorization, sponsorship answer, school, graduation date, GPA, start date, and relocation preferences cover most of every form.
- Write two or three short answers to "why this company" and "tell us about a project", and adapt them for each employer instead of starting from nothing.
- Read every eligibility question in full. The wording changes from employer to employer, and so does the right answer.
- Skip optional fields you have nothing good for. An empty optional box hurts less than a generic one.
Most of an application is the same questions in a different order. Once your answers are written down, each new form is mostly copying, and your time goes into the few questions that are specific to the company.
Sources
- SimplifyJobs internship tracker, October 26, 2026 file, and the Greenhouse, Ashby, and Lever application forms of its open postings, read that day
- SimplifyJobs new grad tracker, October 26, 2026 file, and the Greenhouse, Ashby, and Lever application forms of its open postings, read that day
- Greenhouse Job Board API documentation (job questions)