Oct 4, 2026 · 4 min read
Hiring with Google Forms and WhatsApp: what works, what breaks
A Google Form and a WhatsApp number are the most common recruitment stack in the world. They are free and everyone knows how to use them. They also stop working at a predictable point.
Why this setup is so common
It costs nothing, needs no training and can be live in ten minutes. For a company hiring twice a year it is a perfectly reasonable choice.
How to get the most out of a form
- Ask for the three or four facts you will filter on: city, years of experience, expected salary, notice period.
- Make the CV upload required and limit it to PDF.
- Add one short question that shows whether the candidate read the job post.
- Keep WhatsApp for conversations, not for collecting CVs. Files get lost in chat.
The five signs you have outgrown it
- You receive more applications than you can read before the deadline.
- Candidates message to ask whether you received their CV.
- Two people on your team have contacted the same candidate.
- You cannot say how many people applied, were interviewed or were hired last quarter.
- Scheduling first interviews takes longer than the interviews.
What to move to
The fix is not a bigger spreadsheet. It is a system that does the reading: one that scores every application against the role, ranks candidates, and handles the first interview.
Filips was built for teams making this move. You can keep the CVs you already collected by uploading them in bulk, and new candidates apply through a job link or QR code.