The application dialogue is the one stop place to screen applications, manage interviews and process your offers, all the while giving you complete access to all candidate, vacancy and placement information.
Accessing the Application Dialogue
The application dialogue is available where ever you need to manage applications, whether it be in the application pipeline, from any of the application grids or when using the talent pool.
Hint - You can even access the application dialogue when managing placements, by clicking the blue Application button.
Screening Applications
When you first open the application dialogue, you will have access to all the information associated with the application, including any candidate details, vacancy info and completed forms. Starting at the top left of the dialogue, the candidate Avatar is displayed along with any suitability rating, the placed / availability statuses and any consent preferences.
You can also find tools for searching social media, sending emails / SMS, route planning or editing candidate info within the header.
Hint - Depending on the configuration of your system, some of these features maybe deactivated and not visible to you. Please contact Success@eploy.co.uk if there are any features you would like to add.
Just below the top panel, you then have the following 5 sections which will allow you review the candidate & application data, download or print any relevant files and audit the progress of the application. Use a combination of the below to make decisions on the application before deciding on how to proceed.
The Overview
The overview is the main information panel of the application dialogue & will draw through any details from the candidate record. As this section is editable, you can use this to highlight the key information you need access too, whether it be contact info, right to work details or salary expectations. This also allows you to include any skills the candidate has, comparing those to the skills required by the vacancy.
Hint - You can manage this layout within the three dot menu in the top panel.
The Application Form
This tab is the full candidate journey as they have applied for the role, displaying all candidate fields completed in their profile & any application questions, all in one place. This is ideal for screening candidates for specific vacancies, due to the uniform layout, as well as giving you the option to download or print the information if you need to work offline.
The CV
As well as reviewing the application form, the CV tab will allow you to see the original candidate CV, including any formatting and layout. This gives a great insight into the candidate, not only their background and history but also how they have chosen to present themselves.
Hint - If the CV is provided in a non compatible format, such as PDF, then it may be converted into a text only version automatically. You can still download the original CV and formatting using the download / print options.
Files
This section is where you can review any files provided by the candidate during their application or upload any documents to support. You can use this section to attach interview notes to the record as a document or even create documents, such as offer letters further in the process.
Activity
The final section is your audit for the application, including any notes, correspondence or forms completed. You can track the progress of the application here, as well as review the stages or actions which have already taken place. This becomes more valuable when working collaboratively with interviewers or hiring managers, as well as when the candidate progresses through the workflow stages.
Hint - Use the My Activity / Current Application toggles to bring activity from other users and other applications into view. This allows you to see a more complete audit of activity, as well as then focus on different applications. The Type filter will also allow you pick out specific activity, whether it be correspondence, notes, forms or files.
Forms, References & Vacancy Info
As well using the dialogue to review candidate data, the middle section will allow you quick access to any other associated application details, including any completed forms for that stage of the process, any references or referee details and vacancy info.
This section becomes even more important when the candidate progresses through the pipeline, as it will include details of any upcoming interviews or offers & onboarding progress. You can even use these sections to manage received references & trigger new reference requests.
Decision Making & Next Steps
Once you have used the overview, application form and CV to review the applicant data, you can then use the right hand Process Bar to either either proceed or reject the application. The options available here will be dependant on what stage the candidate is at & the settings of your Recruitment Workflow, but generally will allow you to use statuses to manage your pipeline, including red terminating statuses for rejects, active statuses in yellow & green or next steps (which will move the candidate through the pipeline) in white / blue.
In this example, I can flag the application as needs contacting or on hold using the yellow statuses at the top, whilst the red statuses will terminate the application. As there can be multiple reasons for rejecting or terminating an application (candidate withdrawn, rejected by HM, rejected by screening form etc), you can use the most appropriate option in red to do this, all of which will close down the application.
The next steps at the bottom of the list are all about progression through your recruitment workflow, allowing you to either go to the next stage or bypass to any of the available stages.
Hints & Tips
Now that you have mastered how to review candidate details, make a decision and progress applications, here are some hints & tips to help ensure you are working as efficiently as possible:
- Adding Notes - You can add notes within the dialogue at any time, allowing you to quickly share feedback with Hiring Managers when creating shortlists.
- Completing Forms - Switch to the Forms tab to review completed application forms or fill in a feedback questionnaire. This can be ideal for standardising interview feedback and scoring / ranking / grading applications for comparison.
- Email / SMS - Use the email / SMS tools to send comms to the candidate or the contact on the vacancy. You can also use this function to forward details, flag as CV sent or even mark as contacted, which will prevent any automatic emails from being sent out - ideal if you have already rejected a candidate but don't want them to receive the standard auto email!
- Navigate Next Record - If you are screening multiple candidates, you can quickly jump from to the next after making your decision, by using the navigation tools above the candidate name. When using the next or previous, the tab your were viewing (overview, app form, cv etc) will remain so you can quickly work through and compare candidates.