Bullhorn Search & Match Best Practices

Bullhorn Search & Match helps recruiters identify the best-fit candidates for open roles by using AI to surface relevant matches from the database. The more structured, enriched, and current your data, the more effective Search & Match becomes. This guide provides best practices to optimize Search & Match's performance.

Preparing for Success: Search & Match Readiness Checklist

To get meaningful results from Bullhorn Search & Match, it’s important to establish a strong data foundation before enabling AI-driven matching. The following steps will help ensure the tool performs effectively from day one.

Data Alignment

Cleaner data ensures matches are more accurate and reduces irrelevant recommendations. Matching performance improves significantly when your candidate and job data is standardized and up to date.

  • Ensure candidate and job records are complete, current, and consistently formatted.

  • Use tools like the AI Assistant and Enrich Step to populate and improve key fields such as summaries and job titles.

  • Use Bullhorn Automation to keep data clean and standardized, for example:

    • Title and skill normalization

    • Standardizing employment history

    • Cleaning inconsistent data

For ideas on ways to automate data cleanup and standardization, check out our Automation Data Hygiene Use Cases.

Structured Fields

  • Create custom fields to store AI-generated summaries or other structured insights.

  • Make sure those fields are easily accessible and consistently maintained across records.

Readiness Questions

Ask these questions before rolling out Search & Match:

  • Is candidate data up to date?

  • Are candidates reachable and recently engaged?

  • Is our submission workflow fast and consistent enough to capitalize on good matches?

Best Practices for Reliable Matching

  • Keep Candidate Statuses Current: Automate status changes based on activity (e.g., submissions, notes) to reflect true availability.

  • Enrich Key Fields with Structured Content: Use AI tools to add consistent summaries, job titles, and skills to make profiles easier to match.

  • Archive or Flag Low-Value Records: Regularly clean up old or incomplete profiles to reduce clutter and improve result quality.

  • Monitor Match Quality: Track success metrics and adjust enrichment or filtering logic to keep matches sharp.

  • Focus on High-Impact Roles First: Apply Search & Match where it drives the most revenue: high-margin or high-volume roles.

  • Refresh Candidate Engagement Regularly: Re-engage inactive candidates with screeners, emails, or update requests to keep them match-ready.