Managing Candidate Applications

When reviewing a candidate application in SmartRecruiters, you'll find a wealth of information organized into several key sections. Managing candidate applications in SmartRecruiters is centered on a unified application review interface designed to present all necessary candidate information and efficient processing of actions. The system transforms the application into an actionable hub for the hiring team.

When reviewing an application, the top section immediately provides essential candidate identification and contact information, including their name and current job title. A critical function here is managing data privacy compliance.

​​​​For candidates who were manually added to the system (not applied through a job posting), the system requires explicit consent status verification. Recruiters ​must ​send the candidate an email prompting them to agree to the company’s privacy policy. Recruiters can easily monitor all applicants who have not accepted consent directly in the People Tab. Additionally, a report is available in Report Builder that helps recruiters monitor applicants who have not accepted consent.

​Once consent is received, a checkmark confirms compliance and ensures the organization meets data privacy regulations.​ ​​

On the right side of the interface, the application context is clearly displayed, showing the job title the candidate applied for and their current hiring stage within that specific job's workflow. This is where recruiters drive the process forward.

• Advancing Candidates: Recruiters move candidates through the predefined hiring stages, reflecting the status of the process (for example, from Screening to Interview). The platform flags required stages with a blue asterisk to ensure steps of the hiring process's mandatory steps are followed.

• Actionable Outcomes: Beyond advancing, the interface provides comprehensive options for handling the candidate's outcome:

  • Reject the candidate.

  • Withdraw the application (often used when the candidate withdraws).

  • Defer the candidate for later consideration.

  • Add the candidate to other jobs or talent communities within the SmartRecruiters CRM, immediately leveraging the assessed talent for future needs.

This functionality ensures that the hiring process is structured, compliant, and integrated, allowing recruiters to efficiently manage pipeline progression and talent activation all from a single screen.

• Rejecting a Candidate: If you decide to reject a candidate, you'll need to select a rejection reason and can choose to send a rejection email using a preconfigured template​ (sending this email contributes to the candidate experience even during rejection)​. You can also schedule the email to be sent immediately or later.

• Withdrawing a Candidate: Similar to rejection, withdrawing a candidate requires selecting a withdraw reason and confirming the action.

• Reactivating a Rejected Candidate: You have the option to reactivate a rejected candidate's application. However, doing so will move the application back to the "New" stage.

SmartRecruiters parses information from the candidate's resume to populate the Experience and Education sections. You can view the resume in its original format or in a profile view. You also can add, edit, or delete information in these sections.

All attachments associated with the application, including the candidate's resume, are accessible here. You can download the original resume in its uploaded format (e.g., Word document) or a converted PDF version. If attachment visibility is enabled, you can also see the candidate's latest resume across all their applications in your system.

You will also be able to access the following application-related data:

• Assessments: If assessments have been ordered for the candidate, the results will be displayed in this section. This provides valuable insights into the candidate's skills and qualifications.

• ​​Linked Jobs and Communities: This section shows any other jobs or communities the candidate is linked to within your SmartRecruiters system. This helps you understand the candidate's overall engagement with your company​ and ensures that recruiters don’t get in each other’s way if the candidate is being considered for multiple opportunities​​.​​​​​ For exa​mple, a single recruiter could potentially provide reviews on two jobs for a candidate they have spoken to.​​​

• Application Fields: These are custom candidate fields that you can configure to capture specific information relevant to your hiring process. You can edit these fields as needed.

• Tags: Tags are useful for searching and categorizing candidates. You can add tags to the application to easily find and filter candidates based on specific criteria.

Watch this video for more information on reviewing a candidate application.

This video is for demonstration purposes. Any references made in this video to previous or later videos in this course (including titles, numbers, links, or sequence) may differ from the current course structure. Additionally, some functionalities shown may have evolved over time due to ongoing enhancements or business decisions.

Effectively managing candidates in SmartRecruiters involves utilizing the various tabs available in each candidate's application. These tabs provide a centralized location for all communication, reviews, interview scheduling, internal notes, activity tracking, and more. Understanding each tab's function is crucial for efficient candidate management.

​​​Communication​​​​ ​​Tab

The ​Communication ​​tab is your Communication Hub. Here, you can view all messages exchanged between the hiring team and the candidate. This includes initial application confirmations, follow-up emails, and any replies from the candidate. You can also compose ​(or use a template) ​and send new emails directly from this tab.

This tab also allows you to send forms to candidates to collect additional information. For example, you might need to gather further details before scheduling an interview. You can add a form directly to the email, customize the email text, and send it to the candidate.

Sending an email from this tab automatically updates the candidate's stage in the recruitment process. For instance, if a candidate is initially in the New stage, sending them an email will move them to the In Review stage, indicating that a recruiter has taken action on their application.

Reviews Tab

The Reviews tab is where you can provide feedback and ratings for candidates. While typically used post-interview, you can leave a review at any stage of the application process.

You can assign a star rating to the candidate and provide written feedback. Star ratings are important for tracking the quality of candidates and evaluating the effectiveness of different sourcing channels. Adding a review, even in the New stage, will also move the candidate to the In Review stage.​ ​

Note

Best Practice - to​​ ensure that users understand exactly the value represented by each of the numbers of stars (1, 2, 3, 4, or 5) so that all your interviewers and recruiters are evaluating using the same criteria.

​​​Depending on your hiring team role configuration, ​​​​a user​ can edit your reviews and​/or​ add multiple reviews over time. The system will retain all reviews, providing a comprehensive history of feedback for each candidate. ​Depending on the hiring team role configuration, you may​ also view reviews from other members of the hiring team.

If interview scorecards are attached to the job, the scorecard criteria will be displayed here, allowing you to rate the candidate on specific aspects of the interview.

Interviews Tab

The Interviews tab is dedicated to scheduling and managing interviews. Here, you can view any scheduled interviews or create new interview events. The system provides options for both traditional scheduling and self-scheduling, where candidates can select their preferred interview times​ from the interviewers’ availability options​.

Notes Tab

The Notes tab facilitates internal communication about the candidate. You can add notes to share insights, feedback, or questions with other members of the hiring team. The system allows you to @-mention specific team members to ensure they receive the notification.

There are two types of notes:

• Open notes, which are visible to anyone with access to the candidate's application.

• Direct messages, which are only visible to you and the mentioned team member.

The system automatically adds a hashtag that links the note to the specific candidate, keeping notes organized.

Activity Tab

The Activity tab provides a comprehensive audit trail of all actions taken on the candidate's application. This includes when the candidate was added to the job, when emails were sent, when notes were added, when reviews were given, and when forms were sent or completed.

• Describe the Key Sections of a Candidate Application: Identify and navigate the essential sections within a SmartRecruiters candidate application, including contact details, consent status, experience, education, attachments, assessments, linked jobs/communities, application fields, and tags.

• Explain Candidate Actions and Status Updates: Execute actions such as rejecting, withdrawing, or reactivating a candidate, and understand how to update a candidate's status within the SmartRecruiters hiring process.

• Utilize Application Tabs for Candidate Management: Use the Emails, Reviews, Interviews, Notes, Activity, Forms, and More tabs to manage communication, feedback, scheduling, internal notes, and other relevant information for each candidate.

• Explain the Communication Process: Describe how to send emails and forms to candidates, and explain how these actions automatically update the candidate's stage in the recruitment process.

• Explain Internal Communication: Describe how to add open notes and direct messages to facilitate internal communication about the candidate with other members of the hiring team.