What happens after you hit "apply"?

You’ve found an exciting engineering role at TOPIC. You click “apply,” upload your resume… and then? What happens behind the scenes once your application reaches us?

At TOPIC, we believe in a process that’s transparent, personal, and focused on you. To give you an inside look, we asked Ralph van Weert, our Corporate Recruiter, to share how our candidate journey unfolds in practice.

Step 1: We’ve got mail!

“The moment your resume arrives in our inbox, we always read everything,” Ralph says. “When a new application comes in, we look at your experience, your projects, and try to understand the bigger picture: Why might this be a great fit?”

This is where the first decision happens: Do we invite you for an interview, or is it not quite the right match? “If we decline, it’s never an automated decision,” Ralph emphasizes. “There’s always a human review behind it. And if we invite you? That’s when the real process begins.”

Step 2: The first conversation

“If your resume matches what we’re looking for, you’ll hear from me with an invitation for a first conversation,” Ralph explains. “This interview is about you: who you are, what you’re looking for, what energizes you. And on our side, we check if the role, our culture, and technical direction align with your ambitions.”

Flexibility is key: “Depending on where you’re located, this conversation can happen by phone, online, or at our office,” Ralph adds. “If both sides feel the spark, we move forward.

Step 3: The technical assessment

“After a good first interview, we send you a Codility test,” Ralph says. “Not to stress you out, but to understand how you think, how you solve problems, and your technical foundation. The results don’t decide everything, they just help us ask the right questions in the next step.”

Step 4: The second interview

“This is where we go deeper,” Ralph says. The goal? To see if there’s a strong match: technically and culturally. You’ll meet the Hiring Manager and a technical colleague. We’ll look at your test results together, discuss your approach, and explore solutions together. But it’s not just us asking questions, there’s plenty of room for your goals and vision for the future.

Step 5: The offer

“The last step is my favorite,” Ralph smiles. “We talk about your salary, start date, contract details, growth opportunities, and practical matters. You’ll have every chance to ask questions and share what matters most to you.”

And then… it’s your call. If everything feels right for you we’re hoping for one thing: a big, confident ‘yes.’

What Does It Feel Like?

Every month, new TOPIC’ers join the family. We asked Koen, who recently joined us as a Software Engineer, how he experienced the application process:

Koen: “After some hesitation, I decided to send an open application to TOPIC, and it turned out to be perfect timing! Soon after my application, I was warmly invited for a coffee chat, and the rest is history as I joined the team last December.”

Curious to experience it yourself? Check out our current vacancies or, just like Koen, send in an open application. See all the vacancies here: https://jobsattopic.com/jobs.

To learn more, feel free to contact Ralph directly.

Curious to discover more TOPIC’ers at work? Read our latest blog where Stijn Kamp, Software Designer at TOPIC and one of the first participants of our Talent Development Program, shares his his experience: Learn, reflect, grow: Talent Development at TOPIC