PRODUCT UPDATES
The 20 updates to Applystead that went live for every member on .
Applystead now answers more of the extra questions employers ask on their application forms, such as work-history, availability and multiple-choice questions, using the details you have already given us. Applications that were waiting on those questions are picked up again automatically, so more of them go out without you doing anything.
Our new guide to Microsoft's 2026 voluntary exit offer covers who is eligible, what the package includes, how to get a rough U.S. estimate with our severance pay calculator, the early-December deadline and whether Washington's unemployment rule for layoff volunteers would cover people who accept. Our Microsoft company page and layoff guides link to it.
We went back over the emails you received in the past two months, and more of them now show the job they're about. That includes confirmation emails that don't name the job: they now sit under the application we had just sent for you. Jobs you picked for an email yourself were left as they were, and no application status changed.
Your queue now leans toward jobs that fit your titles and experience more closely.
The level option in Queue options now adds only roles one level below yours. It no longer adds roles a level above yours.
Your answers now gathers the questions employers asked that only you can answer, shows how many of your applications each one is waiting on, and lets you answer each once. A notice lets you know when there is one to answer, and your answer is used on every application that asked it.
Application receipts now land in Confirmations instead of Next steps, Alerts or Other, so the next steps that need you stand out. Emails telling you an employer decided not to move forward now appear under Rejections, and surveys about your application are kept apart from your next steps. Earlier emails have been re-sorted too.
We changed how we refresh the full list of open jobs so it stays complete and up to date twice a day. Job listings also now carry more detail we use for matching, such as the kind of role, the language it is in and the education it asks for.
When an employer takes a job off their own career site, we now know when it happened to within a few hours, instead of within about a week, for many of the career sites we check. This gives us a clearer picture of how long roles stay open.
If you cancel because of the price, the next step now shows the cheaper plans you can switch to instead, and you can switch right there without leaving.
Full auto replies, which answer employers, handle scheduling and book interview times for you, are now part of Standard as well as Premium. Turn it on in your Mailbox.
Applications now shows your Applystead applying address, the email employers and their career sites have for you, with a Copy button.
When we find a job on a company's own career site, we now follow it to the employer's own application form, so each role gets one application with the same answers, even when it is listed in several places.
We now read the full listing for jobs from many more job boards and employers' own career sites, so the experience, skills and work setup those jobs ask for count when we match jobs to you.
We now add capacity for preparing and sending applications automatically as more work comes in, so busy hours do not slow your queue. The jobs where you are most likely to hear back from a person are prepared and sent first, and we keep a clearer record of which applications get replies so we can keep improving which jobs go first.
If your plan includes Auto apply and you approve each application yourself, Otto may now suggest turning Auto apply on so your applications go out without waiting for you. Nothing changes unless you tap to turn it on. Otto won't suggest it if you turned Auto apply off yourself, and stops once you dismiss the suggestion.
Auto apply now sends at most 2 applications to the same employer in any 30 days, so your applications reach more companies and no single employer sees your name over and over. You can still apply to other roles at that employer yourself whenever you like.
Some employers ask applicants to sign in to their own careers site before applying. More of those applications are now completed for you, and applications that were waiting are picked up again automatically.
We now check more of the job boards we list for postings that have closed, including several international boards. When a job is confirmed closed it leaves your search and queue sooner, so we spend less of your time on roles that are no longer hiring.
We went back over emails from the past two months that were matched to a job by the company they came from. Where an email was really about a different application of yours, we took it off the wrong job; the email itself stays in your Mailbox. Jobs you picked for an email yourself were left as they were.