Client Services

Do you often have multiple interview steps for many different positions? If so, there is a feature available in ExactHire's applicant tracking software that may pique your interest--the ability to create a customized interview form to record as many sets of interview notes for as many different interviews (and/or interviewers) for as many different positions as you want...and date stamp them. Whew.

If you are currently documenting interview notes in either the "Applicant Notes" area or the "HR Data" section of an applicant's record, this add-on feature might be worth a look if you are a high volume interviewer. Currently, using the "Applicant Notes" section you are able to enter as many different sets of notes (with date & name stamp) as you would like (see image 1), and with "Interview Notes" in the "HR Data" section (see image 2) you are allotted one text box in which to enter interview notes for an applicant. These notes areas are not specific to a position, but rather, to an applicant in general.




In contrast, check out the details for the customizable interview form (an example of one is shown):

• Note the red arrow…this indicates a completed version of this form that has already been saved and attached to a Service Associate position.
• However, as the green arrow indicates, you may save multiple versions of this form to accommodate an applicant's different interview steps within various positions. Each saved form may be edited or viewed later.
• While the form shown at right shows only 9 data fields being used, you have access to as many as 50 fields that can be labeled however you like. These fields can be coded to be any of the following response types: Small/Medium/Large Text Box, Yes/No, Check Box, or Multiple Choice.
• Because this feature is completely customizable to your preferences, it is an add-on to the “HR Data” section that ExactHire can turn on in your ATS site for a small annual charge.
• NOTE: This can be made into a form to serve your other needs, as well--it doesn't have to be an "interview" form, specifically.

If you are interested in more information about this feature and other applicant management techniques, please contact ExactHire.

Have you truly taken advantage of the ability to build email templates in the ExactHire applicant tracking software yet? As you probably know, they do come in handy when it comes to quickly and efficiently emailing large groups of applicants with similar and/or repetitive types of messages such as: no thank you notices; selection process updates; and offer of employment details.

However, did you know that you can use HTML code in your email templates to add text formatting and URL hyperlinks? Consider your potential uses for a hyperlink:

• Link to the map/directions page of your company website when sending an interview invite to an applicant.
• Link to a document that sets forth an applicant's agenda for an upcoming series of in-house interviews.
• Link to an external site where an applicant may complete paperwork such as a background check waiver.
• Link to a new job posting on your Search Jobs Page when emailing past "A Player" applicants, and invite them to reapply to more recent job listings.

The best news is that you don't have to know HTML code, yourself. ExactHire is happy to assist you with building such an email template for your site as a part of our ongoing and personal customer service. Just let us know what your ideas are for an email template and we'll get started!

When using applicant tracking software (ATS), have you ever wished that you could drill down to view only the applicants to which you need to send a mass email? For example, you fill a position and then would like to send a "no thank you" email to the remaining applicants. Theoretically, you could access all the applicants for a position, but would then have to select the appropriate individuals in the entire list by manually locating applicants with a specific applicant status code. Or, you could take advantage of the applicant status code sorting criterion within the ExactHire ATS so that it is faster and easier to locate the applicants you want.

Here's how:
Access the "Send Email to Applicants" link from the gray navigation bar and then select the appropriate job, date range, applicant status code (ta dah!), and archive status (including the ability to choose archived-only applicants, if desirable).

Then, hit "Go" and make your applicant selections using the check boxes, or the "Select All/Deselect All" buttons. Hit "Create Email."

You'll then be taken to the screen on which you can craft your email message, or use an existing email template. Once you complete your email and hit "Send Email," your site will save an archive of the date and email template used (if applicable) to email the applicant.

For a quick way to improve your applicant management efficiency, check out this time-saving report...

In the "Reports" section of the gray navigation bar within the ExactHire ATS, there is a link for "Admin Reports." To access the "Mass Archive and Applicant Status Update Tool," click on this link.

This report is a great means by which you can increase your efficiency as you do things like archive candidates and update applicant status codes for applicants on a mass scale—without ever having to look at the applicants’ individual records in the initial stages of screening.




Please contact us if you wish to learn more about the “Mass Archive and Application Status Update Tool."

For those of you who find your organization subject to Affirmative Action Plan (AAP) reporting, we have just unveiled a new reporting tool that will probably make your lives much easier! This new "EEO/AAP - Job Status" report link allows you to export a great deal of pertinent data from your applicant tracking software (ATS) to a CSV file. Relevant column headers in this tool include job status codes, employee hire date, jobs applied (including dates), and applicant-volunteered ethnicity and disability info...just to name a few.

In order to take advantage of this tool, there are a few behaviors that your team should consistently exercise while using the HR software to manage your applicants (see images below to follow along with numbered items):

1. Job status codes are your friend - Always utilize "job status codes" (not just applicant status codes) to assign a unique disposition to each candidate for each job to which he/she applies.
2. Hired? Yes or no - Use the "Hired" yes/no toggle radio button and drop-down date field within the "HR Data" section of an applicant's record. This data feeds into the reporting tool to indicate whether or not an applicant was hired, as well as on what date. Incidentally, these buttons also tell the ATS to display hired applicants in the "Hired Applicants" link under "Applicants" on the gray vertical navigation bar within the site.
3. Clean slate job listings - When featuring open job listings within your site, always use the "Add New Job Listing" link to upload a job listing rather than the "Modify Job Listing" link in the situations where it is a position for which you post often. This ensures that each time period's batch of candidates stays associated only with the job listing that was open for a definite, finite period of time. That is, when you reuse job listings, you start to see applicants that applied months/years ago tied to current job listings...and that can make accurate AAP reporting more difficult.

For those of you that are subject to AAP reporting, please let us know if you'd like more details about how to use this new report within your human resources software effectively.