Tracking Links and Source Tokens Overview
Greenhouse tracks the source of your candidates using tracking links. A tracking link is a link made up of your job board or job post URL (e.g. www.example.com/jobs), and an appended Source Token that identifies the source of the candidate. The Source Token will be a combination of numbers and letters that Greenhouse will generate when a new source is added to your account. When a tracking link is generated, Greenhouse automatically appends the Source Token to your job board or job post URL in a parameter that follows the format “gh_src={TOKEN}”.
For example, if you made a Tracking Link for your job board URL: https://example.com/jobs, Greenhouse would append the Source Token on the URL to create a link that looks like this: https://example.com/jobs?gh_src=abc123. In this link, the source parameter is "gh_src" and the Source Token is “abc123.”
Below is an example of how to generate a tracking link, and how the tracking link works to identify the source of your candidate in your browser.
How do Tracking Links and Source Tokens work?
To generate a Tracking Link, go to Configure > Job Board, and click "Tracking Link" next to the job post you’d like to track.
Choose the source you’d like to track (for example, “Customer Newsletter”) and then click “Create Link”:
Greenhouse will then generate a shortened version of the tracking link. In the example above you can see the Source Token, “6u5pwh1” at the end of the shortened link. When you click on this link and open it in your browser, the tracking link will expand to the full job post URL, with the Source Token included. You can see the Source Token in the full URL in the example below. Candidates can be directed to the shortened tracking link URL or the full URL - it will work the same as long as the Source Token is present!
Any time a candidate clicks on your tracking link, the Source Token will map the candidates back to the Source ( “Customer Newsletter” in our example).
For source tracking to work properly, you’ll need to make sure the Source Token is included in the URL of the application page when the candidate applies. The Source Token will always appear in the format “gh_src={TOKEN}”, where the token is a combination of numbers and letters.
Learn more about how to create tracking links for third-party job posts and other sources here in our “How do I create a Tracking Link” FAQ: https://greenhouse.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/200767105-How-do-I-create-a-tracking-link-for-a-source-
If you experience any issues, check out our “What should I do if my candidates’ sources aren’t being tracked in Greenhouse?” FAQ: https://greenhouse.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/216902526
Please reach out to support@greenhouse.io with any questions!