Recruit update - May 2020

This release incorporates our latest security updates and addresses a number of support issues and minor product suggestions raised recently by clients. The update will be rolled-out to all clients starting from the week commencing 11 May 2020.

User portal/Backoffice

Improvements to emails and SMS related to interviews
A change has been made to ensure that any messages about interviews will merge in the data for the slot that was selected or removed at the time. Previously, as the slot-related data was merged into the message at a later point, this could result in misleading messages being sent in some circumstances. For example, where a candidate picked one slot and then picked a different slot before the data for the original slot selection was merged into the first message.

Similarly, it is also now possible to merge in details of the slot a candidate has just been removed from in messages, as the message will now be generated and merged prior to the candidate being removed from the slot. This will allow interviewers to be better informed when a candidate is removed from one of their slots.

"Invite to vacancy" Views are now customisable
The columns on the "Invite to vacancy" pop-up page (a function available on the Person list page) were previously fixed. The columns may now be customised as required via self-service, with both personal (view only visible to the currently logged in user) and global (view visible to all users) views supported.

Access to this feature will need to be enabled for particular security groups to allow users to do this.

Enhancement to comms to users about candidates
Previously, where a message was sent to a user about multiple candidates, the use of {{REPEATERSTART}} and {{REPEATEREND}} merge fields was required around any Candidate or Vacancy merge fields to support merging in data for each selected candidate into the same message. If these fields were not included, then only the data for the first candidate would be merged in.

In the event that these "Repeater" merge fields are not used, the system will now send multiple messages if multiple candidates are selected. Where these fields are used, a single message will be sent as before.

New 72 hours time delay option on emails and SMS
The maximum delay for messages has now been increased to 72 hours.

New printable version for Positive/Negative indicator fields
Previously, when printing a page with a Positive/Negative indicator field on, the actual selections for each indicator were not visible and they now are.

Custom column headings for Views
An issue has been resolved where a previously entered custom column heading could end up as a default suggestion for the next newly added View column when editing views and adding multiple columns in a row with custom labels.

Vacancy feeds fixed to UTF-8 format, in both header files and data
A number of common RSS and XML readers and validators don't reliably support UTF-16 encoding of the content. This was causing issues for some clients consuming XML feeds to display vacancies on their websites using off-the-shelf plug-ins, e.g. for WordPress. The feed and data format has therefore been changed to UTF-8 encoding to provide wider support.

Security enhancement related to the Forgotten password function
A minor loop-hole has been closed, where it was previously possible for a user with User portal access only (e.g. a Hiring Manager), could login to the Backoffice by following the Forgotten password route.

Note that, users who did this historically would still not have access to any functionality within the Backoffice, unless the security group they were assigned to permitted this.

Disable data retention-related messages for systems pending deletion
Messages will no longer be sent to users about data retention-related activity once a system is marked for deletion.

Candidate portal

Vacancy sorting improvements
In some circumstances, distance-based sorting in Candidate portal vacancy lists was found to be conflicting with other default sort behaviour, even when the Distance column was not displayed. An update has been made to ensure that both a sort order which isn't based on the Distance column and Distance sorting may both work together, based on whether the Distance column is displayed or not.

Improved behaviour for question bank fields triggering additional fields to be displayed
Many clients incorporate a question bank which includes questions, requiring a Yes/No + Details response where an additional field is displayed when "Yes" is selected to request further details. In certain configurations, the "Details" field was not triggering immediately, so a change has been made to ensure that is now does.

Prevent multiple clicks on buttons which register a candidate to a third party system
In some third party integrations, it was found that a candidate could inadvertently be registered or register themselves twice by clicking multiple times on the button which triggers the registration with the third party system. The button will now be automatically disabled in the following circumstances:

• Registration has been requested (even if not yet completed)
• Candidate is not currently at a valid status for the registration to be permitted

Analytics

Vacancy and Requisition Guid fields now available
The above standard system fields are now available as fields to select within Analytics. These fields may be used when combined with your appropriate Backoffice URL to display direct links to Vacancy or Requisition timelines from within a report.

Performance enhancements for date filtering
A performance enhancement has been made to the way data filtering works within Analytics on certain fields, which means some reports will with date filters configured will run a lot faster; or for larger data sets, will no longer time out.