Proactive Candidate Search with Plooral: A Comprehensive Guide

Plooral's platform offers a natural reach to a multitude of candidates through its job boards and integrations. But what about the talents you discover through other channels like networking, referrals, or direct applications? This guide will walk you through the process of integrating these prospects into Plooral's ecosystem.

In this article, we will cover:

• Understanding Prospects
• Why You Should Register Prospects
• How to Register Prospects
• Key settings
• Creating prospects
• Using the LinkedIn Extension
• Assigning Prospects to Job Positions
• Converting Prospects to Candidates

UNDERSTENDING PROSPECTS

Before we dive in, it's essential to clarify a term that will frequently appear in this article: Prospect.

A "prospect" is a profile manually added by a recruiter. They become a "candidate" only when they accept an invitation to participate in a job selection process.

WHY YOU SHOULD REGISTER PROSPECTS

The benefits for the recruiter/company with this action are substantial:

• Centralized Information: All talent data in one place for easy access and analysis.
• Efficient Selection: Quickly identify potential matches for new job openings.
• Interaction History: Maintain records of past interactions for informed decision-making.
• Relationship Building: Keep talents engaged for future opportunities.
• Data-Driven Decisions: Utilize Plooral's analytical tools for strategic hiring.
• Standardized Processes: Ensure fair and consistent treatment of all talents.

In conclusion, registering prospects not only makes the recruitment process more efficient but also aids companies in making more informed decisions and building stronger relationships with their talent pool.

In this article, we'll show you how to do this!

HOW TO REGISTER PROSPECTS

Recruiters can manually create talent profiles in three ways:

1. Manually filling out a form.
2. Uploading a PDF CV for automatic data extraction.
3. Using Plooral's LinkedIn extension for direct profile import.

KEY SETTINGS

1. Additional Prospect Information

Customize fields for prospect data. This step is not mandatory. However, if you want customized fields, this is where you'll do it: Settings --> Additional Prospect Data:

In this section, you can create customized fields that will be displayed during the prospect's creation, as shown in the example below:

IMPORTANT 1: At this point, you can already access the Talent tab and create your prospects, but we'll look at some other key settings before we get to that part!

IMPORTANT 2: These fields can be edited and supplemented at any time.

2. Prospecting Funnel

The prospecting funnel will only be used when the recruiter scouts the talent for a specific job position.

Create stages for profile prospecting specific to job positions. For instance, let's say when I scout a profile for a job position, I want it to go through the following stages:

1. Prospect (the stage where I just moved the profile to the job position's kanban board).
2. Skill Validation (the stage where I will scrutinize more closely if the profile matches).
3. Conversion to Candidate (the moment I invite the prospect to become a candidate).

To set this up, I go to the prospecting funnel settings, click on "Add Funnel", and then fill in the fields:

As per the example above, we've created a funnel for job positions in the technology sector, as it's possible to have multiple funnels and choose the desired one when creating/editing the job position. However, this is optional; there's nothing preventing you from having just one general funnel for all job positions.

3. Adding a Funnel to a Job Position

After creating the funnels (or funnel), when setting up a new job position, a field will already appear in the "Job Position Details" section for you to select the desired funnel:

NOTE: It's possible to insert the funnel into already published job positions. Simply click on "Edit Job Position" and select the desired flow.

CREATING PROSPECTS

Now, let's move on to creating prospects, meaning the creation of the profile for the talent you discovered through hunting or via a resume received by email, for instance.

All prospect management is done in the Talent tab (or candidate pool), and there are two places where they can be created: in the Talent tab or directly within a job position with an active prospecting funnel. We'll showcase both methods.

First, we'll demonstrate how to manually create a profile, and then how to use the Plooral extension for LinkedIn.

Manual Creation of the Prospect

Use the "Add Prospect" button in the Talent tab:

Upon clicking the "Add" button, these two options will appear: import the PDF resume or manually register the details.

PDF Upload: Automatically extract data from uploaded CVs.

In this example, I clicked on "Edit" to complete the customized fields I had created earlier.

IMPORTANT: In some cases, there might be errors in reading the PDF, and some information may not be extracted. This is due to the fact that each candidate creates their CV differently, and the input of information is not standardized.

For manual registration, as the name suggests, you will need to enter all the information manually into each field.

In the last registration field, you will have the option to add tags.

These tags facilitate the process when you need to apply filters to search for registered prospects.

Within a job position (with an active prospect funnel), the prospect creation occurs in a similar manner. At the top of the screen, there will be a button for creating the prospect, and upon clicking it, the process is identical to the one shown above. The only difference is that the created candidate will already be allocated to the job position.

Regardless of where the prospect is created, all will be visible in the talent pool.

When you click on all prospects, you will see the complete list of added profiles.

From there, you can:

• Apply filters
• Prospect profiles for job positions
• Add to collections
• Edit the profiles to add information, make internal notes

USING THE LINKEDIN EXTENSION

Directly import LinkedIn profiles into Plooral.

If you are prospecting candidates via LinkedIn, the process is even simpler!

First, you need to download the Plooral extension from your app store. For convenience, you can pin the extension to your browser:

Next, while on LinkedIn, when you find the ideal profile for your job position (or for your candidate pool), you'll notice that the extension icon becomes colored.

At this point, you can click on it, and the following screen will open, where you can choose where to send the prospect, either to your Prospect Pool or directly to a specific job position:

LinkedIn Extension: Directly import LinkedIn profiles into Plooral.

In this case, I chose to send the candidate to the talent pool, and after clicking on Save, the prospect was created:

ASSIGNING PROSPECTS TO JOB POSITIONS

Navigate to the Talent Pool and select the "Prospect in position" option to assign prospects to specific job roles.

Upon clicking that button, your list of job positions will appear so that you can select the position to which you wish to send the prospect:

Note that a yellow alert appears, reminding you that only job positions with the prospecting funnel set up will appear on this list. In other words, if a job position is not appearing, simply go to the menu, edit it, and add the desired funnel.

Upon clicking the desired job position (where you wish to allocate the prospect), the following message will appear:

It's important to note that when allocating a prospect to a job position, the requirements and steps of the online application will be ignored.

After being allocated, the candidates will appear inside the job posting in this column labeled "Prospected":

Up to this point, prospected candidates haven't received any type of notification.

Remember the stages of the Prospecting Funnel that we created earlier? They will appear on the top right corner of the screen, inside the prospect that's already allocated to the job, so the recruiter can guide themselves and know at which stage this prospect is.

CONVERTING PROSPECTS TO CANDIDATES

Click the "Convert Prospect to Candidate" button to invite the prospect to become an official candidate for a job position.

When clicking on this button, the following message will appear:

This message is similar to the one that appears when you allocate the prospect to the position. However, now you will have an additional field where you can notify the user (or not) that the company has saved information about them.

After sending the invitation, the message that the prospects will receive will be as follows:

Once the prospect accepts the invitation and creates their account, they will be automatically moved to the "Top Matches" column. At this point, they will be considered a candidate and no longer a prospect.

And when the candidate declines the invitation?

The "Invitation Declined" indicator will appear, and the card border will turn red:

VERY PRACTICAL, RIGHT?

Registering prospects enhances your recruitment process, aids in data-driven decision-making, and fosters stronger relationships with talents.

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