WFM UK: ATS: Candidate Review Process and Inviting Candidates to Interview

Overview

Within the Applicant Tracking System (ATS), a candidate’s profile can be reviewed, and a Manager can conduct actions such as leaving a comment, regretting a candidate and viewing a CV. This article describes the process of reviewing a candidate’s profile and inviting them to an Interview.

Accessing a Candidate’s Profile

A candidate’s profile can be reviewed at every stage within the application process, i.e. phone interview, acceptance, final interview and position accepted.  

• To access the recruitment process for a particular vacancy, select Vacancies from the ATS drop-down menu

Fig.1 – Vacancies in ATS Drop-Down Menu

A screen with all current vacancies will display.  

• To mark a vacancy as a favourite, select the star symbol next to the vacancy

Fig.2 – Marking a Vacancy as Favourite

In the centre of the vacancy box, the display of the total amount of applicants for that particular vacancy is shown as Active Applicants, see Fig.3. 

The numbers in the example format ‘0 / 1’, ‘0 / 2’ shows spaces available for that vacancy.  

• Select the Create New button to create a new Vacancy – for more information, please see WFM - Creating a Vacancy within the Applicant Tracking System (ATS)
• Select the Calendar icon to create an ‘Event’, e.g. first Interview time slot

Fig.3 – Number of Applicants for a Vacancy

• Select the Advanced Filter option to search/filter the vacancy list by various criteria

Fig.4 – Filter Options

The main menu bar is always displayed on top of any page to make navigation easy and quick.
 

Fig.5 – Main Menu Bar

The Vacancies page displays further information on each vacancy, including the employment type (e.g. Full time) and the location of the vacancy (e.g. Aberdeen). The status of the vacancy (i.e. Closed) and the amount of days left before the vacancy expires is also displayed to the right of the vacancy.

The number highlighted in orange displays the number of applicants within the particular recruitment process stage.
 

Fig.6 – Vacancies Page

• Select any of the listed vacancies to open the application process for each vacancy

Fig.7 – Application Process

• Select any of the recruitment process stages - e.g. phone interview – to display the sub-stages

 
Fig.8 – Sub-Stages

All available Candidate profile ‘cards’ will display.

Fig.9 – Candidate Profile Cards

The Candidate profile card provides the following options: 

• CV Symbol – If selected, the candidate’s CV will display
• Document Item – If selected, the candidate’s application form will display, see Fig.10

Fig.10 – Candidate Application Form

• Handset Icon – If selected, a pop-up box displays including the candidate’s phone number, a Comment field to document the conversation, and an SMS notification button to trigger an automated SMS if the candidate was not available

Please Note: Calls cannot be made through ATS itself. 

Fig.11 – Call Candidate Display

• Speech Bubble Icon – If selected, the Comment section appears. Comments can be added, or existing comments can be viewed

Fig.12 – Comments Section

Fig.13 – Further Options

• 0% Display – Indicates the score from the application form. If a business has scoring set up, then a % will show here 
• Forward Chevron icon – If selected, the Candidate Summary page appears from which the candidate can be processed through to the next stage of the recruitment process
• Square Icon – If selected, this enables bulk actions for this candidate, e.g. reject, reject without email, add to talent pool, change location or role

Fig.14 – Bulk Action Options

Candidate Summary Page Overview

The Candidate Summary page contains the following information: 

• The unique applicant reference number, e.g. #711
• Application Progress – All stages of the application process are displayed here
  • The tick symbol appears next to the process stages which have been successfully completed
  • The . . . symbol appears next to the stages which are still outstanding
• Source – If the business has applicant sources configured, the source of the applicant is displayed here
• Current Stage – Displays the ‘Comments’ section and a selection of options on how to proceed with the candidate

Fig.15 – Candidate Summary Page

The options to proceed the candidate are as follows: 

Fig.16 – Proceed Options

• Ad Hoc Communication – Redirects to the ‘Comments’ section
• Cancel Application – Opens a sub-menu to allow for the following displayed in Fig.17

Fig.17 – Cancel Application Options

• Proceed with Application – Opens a sub-menu to allow for the applicant to be processed to the next stage within the application process, e.g. Invite to the first interview

Fig.18 – Proceed with Application Options

The following options are also available: 

Fig.19 – Candidate Summary Options

• Application – Displays the candidate’s application form
• Call History – Summary of communication
• Correspondence – Lists title, date and a summary of communications
• Application History – Additional icons will display against a Candidate’s Application History (see Fig.20 for the additional icons)
  • Green Tick – Candidate has been offered a job
  • Red Cross – Candidate has been rejected
  • Grey Dot – Candidate is in a stage of the application process
• Event History - If the candidate has been invited to an event and either accepted or declined the event. Event History also contains details of all interview slots offered to a candidate, and their status

Fig.20 – Additional Icons for a Candidate’s Application History

Fig.21 –Event History tab - interview details

• Documents – Allows for documents to be uploaded by selecting the + icon and contains all previously uploaded and candidate-related documents
  • Either View, Download or Delete can be selected against a document

Fig.22 – Documents Options

Inviting a Candidate to an Interview

When a candidate is invited to an interview, a screen will appear displaying the following: 

• Associated events with free slots
• To create a new event/interview, select the + New Event button
• Email to the candidate (auto-populated)
• Cancel button to cancel the invitation
• Progress Application button to proceed with the invitation

Fig.23 – Progress Application Screen

If the invitation is progressed, an automated email is sent to the candidate to inform them about the available interview slots/events. Once a candidate has confirmed the interview/event slot, a tick box and Interview Details are displayed within the Application Summary Page.  

Fig.24 – Candidate Invited to First Interview

If the candidate is unable to attend any of the interviews, the hiring manager can move the candidate back and send a new invitation.

• To move the candidate back, open the Candidate Application and select send new invitation from the Move candidate back drop-down

Fig 25. Move Candidate Back

• A pop-up box window will then prompt the hiring manager for confirmation that they have spoken to the candidate and wish to proceed with moving their record back

Fig.26 - 'Move candidate back' confirmation pop-up

The candidate record will then be moved back to the previous application progress step so that a new interview slot can be offered.

• Follow the same steps as used when offering the original interview