Getting Started Guide - Account Admins

In this article:

• Login to your CareerPlug account
• Configure your careers page
• Post your first job
• Attract applicants
• Review and contact your applicants

Login to your CareerPlug account

Visit app.careerplug.com in your web browser and enter your email username and password. If you do not remember your password, click the Forgot your password? link and follow the guided steps to set a new password.

Configure your careers page

Your careers page is the first point of contact applicants will have with your company. It is a landing page where you can direct applicants to apply for your open positions. The most successful CareerPlug users configure their careers page to make their company stand out and show applicants how passionate they are about what they do.

Here's CareerPlug's own careers page as an example:

You can find the link to your page by clicking the Careers Page button in the top right-hand corner of your CareerPlug dashboard. All of your job posts can be accessed from this link, so if you ever need to refer an interested candidate to apply for a job, you can tell them to apply directly via your careers page link.

This link may be placed on your email signature line, on a business card, and even on your company's website. You can also post this link to outside sources such as Facebook or local university career centers to drive applicant traffic from those sources to your CareerPlug system.

It's best to configure your careers page before posting your first job. Click here for an in-depth guide detailing how to configure your careers page.

Post your first job

Watch this video on how to post a job or follow along below:

On the Jobs page, click the plus icon (+) in the top left corner of your screen.

Choose to either:

• Use a job template: Use a prebuilt template configured by CareerPlug. You can click the Preview link to see how these prebuilt templates look when posted on a careers page.
• Create a blank job: Use a blank template with no job title or job description that you can configure from scratch.

Use a job template

If you decide to post a job from a template, you'll notice an option to Express Post. This is an advanced option that you can use to quickly post a job using a template without reviewing the job description or settings.

Create a blank job

Job Posting section

• Location: Select the location for which the job will be posted.
  • If you are posting a fully remote job, enter "US" in the City field.
• Job title: Select a job title that best fits what you are seeking from the drop-down menu.
  • This should be whatever a new hire would put on a LinkedIn profile or business card. The simpler, the better. Use the tips on the right side of the page to ensure that your job title follows Indeed Best Practices for maximum job visibility.
  • Because job titles longer than 70 characters can impact visibility on job boards, CareerPlug has a 70-character limit for job titles.
• Job description: Write a dynamic and inviting job description. Include responsibilities, benefits, information about your company's culture.
  • Use the editing toolbar to format the text.
  • Here’s some guidance: Tips for Writing Better Job Descriptions.
• Employment type: Choose whether a job is full-time, part-time, contract, etc.
• Desired experience: Select the number of years of experience you would like candidates to have.
• Remote job: Choose whether the job will be listed as a remote job.
  • Be sure to follow these guidelines to ensure maximum visibility on job boards.
• Salary information: Set the pay type, an amount (or range), and pay interval.

Applicant Evaluation section

On the Applicant Evaluation tab, select any prescreen questions you would like to ask your applicants either by choosing a question from our pre-written library (click Select from library) or by clicking Create a prescreen question. Both options are accessible from the Add Questions drop-down menu.

Applicants must answer prescreen questions when applying to your job. You can use the applicant's answers and the assigned prescreen score to determine their level of fit for the position. To edit the type of question, add possible responses, and assign scores to possible answers, click the settings icon next to the question.

Each prescreen question response is assigned a score from 0% to 100%, and the results are averaged for an applicant's total score on prescreen questions. When you edit a prescreen question, you'll need to choose which percentile to use. Most people choose either 10 or 4.

If you choose 10, the answers will be in 10% increments. If you choose 4, the answers will be in 25% increments. If you want to see scores of 60%, 70%, or 80% for certain responses, chose 10. If you would like to see scores of 25%, 50%, or 75%, choose 4.

Decide whether each of the responses will be scored as Auto Fast Track, Fast Track, Normal or Disqualify.

Fast Track

You can identify and contact your top applicants faster using Fast Track. Based on responses to initial prescreen questions, applicants can be sorted as Fast Track or even Disqualified. When editing a prescreen question, you can choose the Fast Track type from a drop-down list:

• Normal (default): This means that no matter how the applicant responds, the response is scored normally and will not be considered for Fast Track.
• Auto Fast Track: This means that no matter how the applicant responds to other prescreen questions, if they select an Auto Fast Track response, they will automatically be considered Fast Track. This is useful if you have one key response or requirement you know you will want to move forward within the hiring process.
• Fast Track: This means that if the applicant chooses a Fast Track response, that person has the potential to be considered Fast Track. These applicants must correctly select all other Fast Track responses you have set up in order to be considered Fast Track.
• Disqualify: This means that an applicant should not be considered in the hiring process if they select a Disqualify response.

Assessments

Turning on the toggle to select the Math/Verbal and/or Personality Assessments does not mean that an applicant will be required to take them. It simply gives you the option to send these assessments to applicants who apply to this job.

Use the assessments to measure candidates on the characteristics most important to the position:

• Math/Verbal Assessment: A cognitive ability test that focuses on applicant problem-solving skills, numerical skills, verbal skills, and reasoning, which are aspects of cognitive ability. The purpose of the assessment is to gauge the applicant’s potential to acquire new job information and solve problems on the job. It is a 12-minute timed test. Here's a description of the assessment and sample items.
• Personality Assessment: The scales included below measure 16 different personality traits that are important predictors of successful job performance across a variety of occupations. You have the option to pick and choose the personality traits that apply to the particular position for which you are posting. Here's a list of the categories and sample items.

Hiring Settings section

In the Hiring Settings section, confirm the hiring manager and configure notifications.

In the Additional Users section, you can remove a hiring manager’s access to a job by clicking the "X" to the right of their name. To give another user access, start typing their name and select it from the drop-down list.

Click the Configure Notifications button to specify what kinds of notifications each user should receive about this job. By default, each person will receive a daily email alerting them about new applicants (the “Daily Digest”). Turn the toggle on to add any additional notifications.

Onboarding Settings section (only some accounts)

If your job has this section, you will turn the toggle on for any onboarding checklists you would like new hires for this job to complete, as well as any checklists the employee’s manager should complete. Choose the signer/approver of the forms from the drop-down menu next to any selected checklist.

Select your job's status

A pop-up will appear asking you to set your job’s status and enable optional settings.

These are the statuses you can choose:

• Pending - Choose this status if you’re not ready for the job to be posted anywhere yet, or if you want to post the job at a later date. This job will be saved in the Drafts tab on your Jobs page.
• Active - Your job will be immediately posted on your careers page and sent to the external job boards.
• Accepting for Future Openings - Your job will be created and posted on your careers page, but not on any additional job boards. On your account, the job will be located under the 'Passive' tab. Passive recruiting is important. For example, imagine one of your A-players quits and you are unexpectedly left shorthanded. You're scrambling to write a job description and get into hiring mode while your team is feeling the absence. On the other hand, if you’re constantly searching for A-players, building your talent pipeline, and fostering relationships, you’ll already know where to find the best candidates when your A-player quits with two weeks’ notice.

Attract applicants

Sponsor your job on Indeed to reach more job seekers

Rather than needing to communicate with an Indeed rep and manage all of your sponsored jobs on Indeed, you now have the ability to sponsor a job directly through the CareerPlug.

Find the job on the Jobs page that you wish to sponsor on Indeed. Click the three-dots icon, then click the Sponsor link.

This link opens a pop-up that allows you to set a budget for the job posting and enter your Indeed account information.

This will set the job as sponsored in CareerPlug's standard Indeed feed and set the budget for the job based on the option selected in the popup. The next time the feed updates, Indeed will process the sponsorship request. This means that sponsoring your job through CareerPlug will not be instant and may take up to 12 hours to update in the feed. If Indeed has questions, needs to collect payment information, or otherwise contact the user about their sponsored posting they will do so outside of CareerPlug. More information here.

Post your job to outside sources

The most successful hiring managers don't wait for qualified applicants to filter in. Instead, they take an active recruiting approach and post their jobs on as many outside sources as possible.

While the job boards CareerPlug automatically sends your jobs to often produce a high volume of applicants, posting on local job boards, getting the word out on social media, and posting to industry-specific job boards can bring in many more strong applicants.

To post your job to local job boards and other sources, go to your Jobs tab and find the job that you would like to post to additional sources and click the Share button.

To post to Craigslist, Google+, or use an employee referral: Click the Manual Sources tab, then click on the drop-down to the right of the sources, click Copy Link, or Copy Link with description and the link and description will be ready for you to paste.

To post to a social site, like Twitter, LinkedIn, or Facebook, click the associated icons at the top right and follow the instructions.

To post to a source that is not listed (for example, a local university or Chamber of Commerce), click the Add Custom Source button. Type the name of the source into the box labeled “Enter a title for custom source” and then click Save. This creates a unique URL that you will use when posting to external sources. In order to drive applicants back to your careers page, you must include this unique URL in whatever external job posting you create.

You can always find this link again by following the same steps above.

Post your job at the optimal day/time

Setting a job to post at a later date lets you set a job to post on the best days for applicant flow — Monday through Wednesday — without having to log into your account on those days. Job seekers are most active on the job boards Monday through Wednesday. We recommend posting your jobs to be available to job seekers for these days to give you the highest visibility for your jobs and the highest potential applicant flow.

When you click the Post a Job button from your Dashboard or Jobs tab, the last step will be selecting the job posting status in a pop-up that appears. If you choose Pending or Accepting for Future Openings as your job status, an option to Post this job at a later date appears. Turn the toggle on, then use the calendar icon to select any date in the future you'd like your job to be posted. When you click the button to Post Job, the job will be saved on your Draft tab.

Due to the volume of job postings submitted to job boards, new jobs may take up to 24 business hours to appear in their organic job feed. If it’s taking longer for your job to show up, it could be a result of the job board performing a thorough quality review in order to protect the applicant experience.

As a result, we suggest posting your jobs on Friday or Saturday to ensure they are live by the following Monday.

Review and contact your applicants

Reviewing new applicants

You can view all of your applicants on your Applicants page. Click the Start Review button to get started.

This brings you to a page where you will quickly view applicant resumes, one after the other. Other important information is available here, including the job that the candidate applied for and any answers to prescreen questions.

After reviewing the candidate's resume and prescreen information, it's time to decide whether to reject or advance them.

Click the thumbs-up icon to move an applicant forward in your hiring process. Click the thumbs-down icon to send a courteous rejection email.

To learn how to move your applicants through the rest of your hiring process, watch this video or follow the steps below:

Using your hiring process

Your hiring process is the set of steps that each applicant goes through before they are hired. Using a hiring process keeps you organized and helps to remove bias from the hiring process.

In CareerPlug, each applicant’s full hiring process is visible on the applicant's profile page. To view an applicant’s profile page, click their name. Here, you will see the full hiring process laid out for you.

On the Applicants page, the buttons in the Actions column will tell you the next step in the hiring process for an applicant. If you wish to view the full hiring process, click the applicant's name.

Review step

Before taking any action on an applicant, make sure to review their prescreen question responses and resume.

The applicant’s prescreen score — an average grade based on their answers to any prescreen questions that you chose when you created this job — is visible in the box to the left of their name. Hover over the score to view the answers to the prescreen questions.

Click the Quick Look link under an applicant’s name to view their resume.

Some candidates might be marked as "Fast Track" (the green double arrows pictured below). Fast Track candidates marked a preferred answer to a prescreen question.

Fast Track helps you identify and contact your top applicants faster. Applicants will be indicated as Fast Track based on responses to initial screening questions set on the job posting. As soon as a Fast Track applicant applies, the job's hiring manager will receive a notification email. You will also be able to see the Fast Track icon next to their prescreen score (the green double arrows pictured below).

An example of how Fast Track works: If one of your prescreen questions asks "Are you bilingual in Spanish?" and the job requires Spanish fluency, "Yes - Fluent" might be marked as a Fast-Tracked answer by the person who set up the job posting.

If an applicant is deemed acceptable, click the thumbs-up icon.

If you don’t want to move forward with the applicant, click the thumbs-down icon and send the applicant a pre-written, courteous rejection letter.

Assessment step

If you've assigned any of CareerPlug's assessments to your jobs, you'll have the ability to send assessments to applicants after you finish the review step. These can help you measure applicants on the characteristics most important to the position.

Click the Send Invitation button to load a pre-written email that you can send straight from the CareerPlug.

The email won't be sent until you click Send Email.

Phone Screen/Interview step

In many hiring processes, the next steps are the Phone Screen (a basic phone interview with your applicant) and the Interview (an in-person interview with your applicant).

Click Send Invitation to open up a pre-written message template that asks the applicant for some days and times they would be available for the interview.

You will correspond with the applicant from your own email inbox.

Once you and your applicant have agreed upon a time, you can click the Schedule Interview or Confirm Interview button to send a confirmation email and calendar invite to the applicant. You have the option to sync it to your calendar as well.

Interview Scorecards

Scorecards are interview guides filled with suggested questions for you to use while you are interviewing your applicant. You can rate your candidate’s responses, make comments on the scorecard, and save their scorecard for other managers to access.

In hiring steps with interviews, you have the option to complete a scorecard.

View all scorecards on the Scorecards tab.

Deactivate & Reject

During any part of the hiring process, if you do not wish to move forward with an applicant, click the thumbs-down icon to the far right. This will not completely remove the applicant from CareerPlug, it will simply remove them from your active applicant view. It will also give you the option to send them a pre-written rejection email (we highly recommend doing so!)

Other hiring steps

References step

Click the Invite button to load a pre-written email requesting professional references. You can also use a scorecard to evaluate those references once you've contacted and interviewed them.

Offer step

You have the option to send applicants digital offer letters if an administrator on your account has set up an offer letter template. Click here to learn how to send offer letters through CareerPlug.

Background step

CareerPlug does not conduct background checks. However, we do work with a couple of partners that many of our clients use for their background check needs. Working with one of our partners will allow you to fully integrate your background checks with your hiring process. Learn more.

Hire step

Marking hires is extremely important in order to keep your reporting accurate. When your business makes its first hire, we'll plant a tree in your honor through our partnership with WeForest!

Hiring will move the applicant and all of their information to your Team page. If you use CareerPlug's Onboarding, the applicant will also be moved there and accessible on the Employees page once they log in for the first time. They'll be emailed with instructions for logging in to complete their new hire paperwork.

More Options

Clicking the three-dots icon on the far right side of an applicant's record will open a drop-down menu with these options:

• View Profile
• Move to Pipeline
• Add Comment
• Share
• Transfer to another job

Move to Pipeline

During any part of the hiring process, if you find a strong applicant that is not exactly right for the position for which they applied, click Move to Pipeline option. This will enable you to save an applicant for future openings for which they may be a better fit.

Share

If you wish to share an applicant with another member of your team to review, click Share. A box will pop up allowing you to enter email addresses and an optional message before sending to your recipients.

Transfer to another job

Selecting Transfer allows you to move the applicant to a different job for which they might be a better fit. Simply select the CareerPlug job you want to transfer them to in the drop-down, then click Submit Transfer.