Direct applicants are best described as which of the following?

• A. Candidates who apply directly to the employer rather than through an agency
• B. Candidates recruited only from outside the country
• C. Internal staff applying for their own jobs
• D. A formal training program

Answer: (A)

Direct applicants are those who apply directly to the employer rather than going through a recruitment agency. This means the candidate sends their CV or completes an application on the company’s own hiring channel (like the company website or an unsolicited email) and the employer handles screening and interviewing without a middleman. This route often saves on agency fees and can speed up communication since there’s no intermediary, giving the employer more control over the process and the candidate pool. It also shows the applicant’s initiative in targeting a specific company.

Internal staff applying for roles are a different concept often called internal candidates; they’re still direct in a sense, but the key idea here is applying from outside the organization directly to the employer, not via an agency.