Why are there duplicate Candidate records

Problem

There are a few different reasons why duplicate Candidate records occur in FastTrack. The most common are:

• Details entered by the Candidate in a Questionnaire or Registration page are different to the existing record

• Candidate has applied to a job via Seek and fields other than First Name, Surname & Check Email are being checked for duplicates

• An Agency user uses Outlook Extensions > Add Candidate to update a Candidate’s Resume but details differ to the existing record

• An Agency user has created the record

 Below are some guidelines to determine why a duplicate record was created.

Solution

There 2 parts to the guidelines, these are:

• Identify how the Candidate was created

• Determine why a duplicate was created

Part 1 - Identify how the Candidate was created

Before being able to determine why a duplicate record was created, you first need to identify how it was created. 

How to do this will depend on whether the Candidate was created:

• After upgrading to 11.37 or

• Prior to upgrading to 11.37

Candidates created after upgrading to 11.37

The Creation Source identifies how a record was created:

• Agency User - record has been created by a user

• Job Board Application – a Candidate completed an application for a job advertised via Broadbean

• Registration – a Candidate completed a Registration page

• Outlook Extensions – an Agency user has used the Add Candidate option in Outlook Extensions

To find the creation source either:

• Do a Candidate search and select an option in the Creation Source field – for further information refer to Search Candidate - Search by Creation Source

• Add Creation Source to the Candidates List layout, then do a Candidate search with Any selected in the Creation Source field – for details on how to modify the layout refer to KA to be done

Candidates created prior to upgrading to 11.37

Data in the Candidate record needs to be reviewed and a process of elimination used to identify how the record was created. Below are guidelines on what to review.

Form Responses

Go to the Form Responses section. If there is

• An entry, the creation source is Registration – form response can only be added from a Registration page

• No entry, the record was created from another source

Resume

Go to the Resume section. If there is

• An entry, check for a Form Response or Referral. If there are None, creation source could be Agency User or Outlook Extensions.

• No entry, the creation source is Agency User – Resume is usually required for all other sources.

Referrals

The Referral section, lists Referrals that have come from a Job Board Application as well as Referrals added by an Agency User.  To identify if a Referral has come from a job application:

• Check for a Referral that has the same Refer Date Time as the Creation Date - if there are none, the Candidate was created from another source
  

  

• Click on Job No – this will open the job order the referral is for

• Go to the Referral Workflow > find the Candidate and right click > select View Response - if there are none, the Referral was added by an Agency user

If there is a response, the creation source is most likely Job Board Application. Additional checks may be needed to determine if the record was created from a Job Board Application.

 Additional Checks

1. Check if the Created By user of the Candidate (in Record Properties) is the same as the Job Owner in the job the referral was for - the Created By defaults to the Job Owner if the record is created from a job application

2. Check the Stage Name of the referral matches the Job Board Application – New stage configured in the Referral Workflow. To do this:

   1. In the Referral Workflow right click on Candidate > click Edit Referral

   2. In Referral Stage History check the Stage Name of the first entry

   3. Go to Maintenance > Referral Workflow > open the workflow selected on the job

   4. Click Channel Mapping > check the stage selected for Job Board Application – New & Job Board Application – Existing

      1. If they are different, compare the Job Board Application – New stage to the Stage Name in Referral Stage History  – if they match creation source is Job Board Application

      2. If they are the same, it’s possible the record was created by another source.

Part 2 Determine why a duplicate was created

If the Creation Source of the duplicate is Job Board Application, Registration or Outlook Extensions, there are 2 reasons why a duplicate record is created, these are:

1. Duplicate Settings are set to Create New Always

2. Candidate Duplicate Check options haven’t identified a duplicate

Duplicate Settings

Duplicate Settings determine what happens when a duplicate is identified. To check these settings, go to:

• Maintenance > Questionnaire > Maintenance

• Click General Settings

• If Create New Always is selected, a new record will always be created - for further information refer to How to Configure the Duplicate Settings

Candidate Duplicate Check

Before creating a record, the system performs a check against existing records to determine if the Candidate already exists. The check is done by comparing certain information being imported against existing records.  What information is checked is determined by the Candidate Duplicate Check options. 

To check what options are selected, go to:

• Maintenance > Questionnaire > Maintenance

• Click Candidate Duplicate Check - for further information refer to Candidate Duplicate Check Maintenance

Example

If the below options are selected and there is an existing Candidate called Steve Smith

If one of the following occurs, a duplicate record will be created as all letters of the First Name don’t match the existing record (Surname and email address is the same as the existing record):

• Candidate applies for a job and in their response they enter Steven as their first name - to see what details were entered, refer to Referrals

• Candidate completes a Registration form and they enter Steven as their first name - to see what details were entered, refer to Form Responses

• An Agency User uses Outlook Extensions > Add Candidate to add an updated Resume which has Steven as their first name

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