Return placed candidates to available

When a placement ends, automatically reset the candidate's status, update their available date, and clear their current company.

PlacementDate-basedIntermediate

How it runs

Trigger firesPlacement end date arrives
→
Criteria checksEnd date reached
→
Actions runCandidate status set to Available
→
RepeatsFor every qualifying placement

What you'll need

  • Available Date in your Bullhorn field integrations (an admin can check this in Admin settings)
  • Confirmation of which candidate fields to update: Candidate Status, Available Date, and Company Name
  • A candidate status value that means "available to place" at your firm

Build it

  1. 1

    Create a placement-based date automation

    In the Automations tab, click + Add Automation and select Blank Automation. Choose Placement as the entity type and select Center on date field. Give the automation a name and save.

  2. 2

    Set the anchor date

    Select Placement End Date as your anchor date.

  3. 3

    Build an Always Updated list

    Set the list to Always Updated. Add one condition: End Date is after the date you plan to activate this automation. Do not add a Placement Status condition. If the placement status changes later in the automation, the placement stops matching the list.

  4. 4

    Set the offset to zero or one day

    Configure the automation to trigger on the placement end date itself, or one day after, so the candidate's record is updated as soon as the placement concludes. Available Date shows the placement end date, even if the automation runs one day later.

  5. 5

    Add a Wait step

    Add a Wait step of about 15 minutes so the candidate updates run after the placement has ended.

  6. 6

    Update the candidate status

    Add an Update Candidate step and select Set a field value. Set Candidate Status to your available status.

  7. 7

    Update the available date

    Add an Update Candidate step and select Copy a field value. Set Field to Update to Available Date and Copy Values From to Placement End Date. If Available Date does not appear in the Field to Update picker, ask an admin to add the field to your Bullhorn field integrations in Admin settings.

  8. 8

    Clear the current company

    Add an Update Candidate step and select Clear a field value. Select Company Name as the field to clear, so the candidate's profile no longer shows the company from the ended placement.

  9. 9

    Optional: copy the job title to the candidate

    Add an Update Candidate step and select Copy a field value. Set Field to Update to Position and Copy Values From to Placement Job Title. If you already copy the job title when a placement starts, skip this step.

  10. 10

    Optional: add an Update step for the placement

    Add an Update Placement step and set Placement Status to Completed or Ended to keep your placement records accurate.

  11. 11

    Optional: send a recruiter notification

    Alert the record owner that the candidate is now available and ready to place again.

  12. 12

    Set re-entry for candidates

    In Automation Settings, under Re-entry Settings, allow candidates to re-enter at any time with no waiting period, so the same candidate is processed again after each future placement ends. Placements do not need to re-enter, because each placement ends once.

Important

This recipe must use a placement-based automation. A candidate-based automation evaluates conditions against all placements on the candidate record, not just the one that ended, which means it will not behave the way you expect. Always use Placement as the entity type for this workflow.

Candidates with more than one placement

This recipe sets a candidate to Available when any one of the candidate's placements ends. The recipe does not check for other active placements. If a candidate works two placements at the same time and one ends, the candidate is set to Available while the other placement is still active. If your firm places candidates in concurrent roles, review candidates with more than one active placement before relying on this recipe.

How to measure it

Track these metrics to confirm the automation is maintaining an accurate, redeployable candidate pool:

  • Redeployment rate: the percentage of ended placements that result in a second placement. This is your headline number. If it goes up, the automation is working.
  • Time to redeploy: average days from placement end date to next placement start. A decreasing trend means candidates are getting back to work faster.
  • Available candidate pool size: number of candidates in your available status at any point in time. Should reflect real availability, not stale data.
  • Placement record accuracy: percentage of ended placements with a Completed or Ended status, rather than still showing as Approved or Active.