In this article:
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.
Tip: You can use CareerPlug on the go. CareerPlug is mobile-optimized, meaning that anything you can do on your desktop, you can also do on a phone or tablet.
Attract applicants
CareerPlug sends your jobs to a number of job boards automatically. However, hiring managers who have the most success take a proactive approach to hiring. They actively promote their job postings to their network, including sharing them on social media and to their personal networks.
Share the link to your careers page with your network
Your careers page is your custom recruiting site for your company. You can find this link 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 this 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 jobs. Here's CareerPlug's own careers page as an example:
An administrator on your account can customize your careers page.
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.
You'll be able to review and edit a pre-written message template before you send it to the applicant.
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.
Note: You must manually click the thumbs-up icon once a hiring step has been completed in order to move each applicant to the next step.
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.
We recommend always sending rejection emails. It's better for a candidate to hear bad news from you than no news at all.
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.
Tip: Sending emails through CareerPlug allows you to track the day you sent the email. Your entire communication thread will appear in the All Activity tab on the applicant’s profile page.
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.
You'll be able to review and edit the pre-written message template before you send it to the applicant.
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.