Managing candidate sources

Set up the list of places your candidates come from, and see how each one is recorded and reported.

Every candidate in Recruit has a source, such as a job board, a referral or an agency. The list of sources belongs to your organisation and is managed under Settings > Candidate Sources. The same list feeds the Source field when you add a candidate, the "How did you hear about us?" question on your application forms, and the Sourcing report.

Who can manage sources

System Admins and HR users can open the screen. Both can add, rename, switch on or off and reorder sources. Only System Admins can delete a source: if an HR user tries, the deletion is refused and an Admin needs to do it. Members and other roles cannot open the screen. If your organisation is a group parent, a company picker at the top of the page lets you choose whose sources you are working on.

The default sources

Every organisation starts with six sources: Direct, Referral, Job Board, Careers Page, Agency and Social Media. Direct and Referral carry a System badge. They cannot be renamed, switched off or deleted, and they have no switch or bin icon. Recruit assigns them automatically (see below). The other four can be changed like any source you add yourself.

Add a source

1. Go to Settings > Candidate Sources.
2. Select Add Source under the list.
3. In Source name, type the name, for example Graduate Fair, NHS Jobs or Indeed. The limit is 100 characters and the name must contain at least one letter or number.
4. Select Create.

The new source goes to the bottom of the list and is active straight away. Names must be unique. If a source with the same name, or one that differs only in capitals or punctuation, already exists, you will see "A source with a similar name already exists".

Edit, switch off, reorder and delete

• Rename: select the pencil icon on the row, change Source name and select Save. A new name that matches another live source is refused with the same "similar name" message.
• Switch off or on: use the switch on the row. A switched-off source shows a Deactivated badge and its name is struck through. It disappears from every picker (Add candidate, CV import and your application forms) but stays on the candidates already recorded against it. Switch it back on to offer it again.
• Reorder: drag a row by its handle. The order you set is the order people see in the pickers, and it saves as soon as you drop the row.
• Delete: select the bin icon, then Delete to confirm. A source that nobody uses is removed from the list and can no longer be chosen. A source that candidates still use is not removed. It is switched off instead, and you see "Source kept as inactive, candidates still use it". Only System Admins can do this.

What happens to existing candidates

Renaming a source updates its name everywhere, including for candidates already recorded against it and in the Sourcing report. Nobody is left behind under the old name.

If you delete a source that candidates still use, Recruit keeps it and switches it off, so those candidates keep their source. It stays in the list as Deactivated and no longer appears in pickers. A source nobody uses is removed completely. To retire a source you can also switch it off yourself.

How a source is assigned to a candidate

Automatically

• Referral link: an application that comes through a referral link is recorded as Referral, whatever else is on the form.
• Job board apply link: when the applicant arrives from a job board advert, Recruit records that board by name, for example Indeed, LinkedIn or Reed. If the source does not exist yet it is created for you. If Recruit cannot tell which board it was, it uses Job Board. A board source that you have switched off is skipped, so your choice to switch it off is respected. The applicant is not asked the question in these cases.
• Agency submissions: a new candidate submitted by an agency is recorded as Agency, with the agency name in the source details. Keep the Agency source switched on if you use agencies. While it is off, an agency cannot submit a new candidate.
• Nothing else known: if the applicant does not answer the question and did not arrive by a link above, the candidate is recorded as Direct.

By the applicant, on your application form

When none of the links above applies and you have at least one active source other than Direct and Referral, the form asks How did you hear about us? and the applicant must pick one. If you have only Direct and Referral, the question is not shown.

If your list includes a source named Other, Others, or something starting "Other, please" (for example "Other - please specify"), choosing it makes a mandatory Please specify box appear, up to 200 characters. The answer is stored as the source details. A source like "Other Job Board" does not trigger the box.

Manually, by your team

Both routes below require a source, and only active sources are listed. If you leave it empty you will see "Source is required" on the Add candidate form, or "Please select a source before importing." on the CV import.

1. Go to the Add candidate form (or CV import) and find Source Information.
2. Choose a value in Source.
3. On the Add candidate form you can also fill in Source Details, for example the name of the person who referred them. It is optional.

In a group, the Add candidate form lists the sources of the company you have selected. Changing the company clears the source, because a source belongs to one company.

Where sources show

The candidate list has a Source column you can sort by. A candidate's profile shows the source under Details, with any source details in brackets. If the candidate has applied, the profile shows what they said on the application you are looking at.

Reports > Sourcing shows candidates by source: total sources, top volume source, best hire rate, a breakdown of in pipeline, hired and rejected, a source by department table and a pipeline stage breakdown. The overview page shows the number of sources tracked and the top source.

The report is only as useful as the names in your list. Agree a short list with your team, keep names distinct, and ask everyone to choose from it consistently.