Review and score an applicant

What this achieves

The review panel is where you read an application in full and record what you made of it. Several reviewers can score the same applicant, and the status you set here is what moves the application forward.

Required role: Administrator or Manager.

Steps

Go to Opportunities → Browse and open the opportunity.
Select the Applicants tab, then Review on the applicant.
Read the Cover letter, the Resume, and their gaps against the role.
Select Add review.
Set the Rating (1-5).
Choose the Recommendation.
Enter the Strengths and the Concerns, and any Notes.
Select Save review.
Under Update status, choose the Status, add Review notes, and select Save.

Recommendation

Option	Description
Strong yes	Take them.
Yes	Would take them.
Maybe	Not against, not convinced.
No	Would not take them.
Strong no	Should not go forward.

The rating and the recommendation answer different questions. A rating says how strong the applicant was; a recommendation says what you think should happen. They can honestly disagree — a good applicant for a role that needs someone else is a high rating and a No.

Example: an applicant for an engineering opportunity at HC Corp UK Ltd interviews well but has not done the specific work the role needs now. Rating 4, recommendation Maybe, with the reason written in Concerns.

Strengths and concerns are the useful part

The rating is a number somebody will read in two seconds. What makes a review usable to the next reviewer is what you write in Strengths and Concerns.

Write what you observed, not what you concluded. “Walked through a migration they led, with the trade-offs” is evidence. “Strong candidate” is not.

Several reviewers, one review each

Reviews are listed on the application with their reviewer, rating, and recommendation, so a panel can see each other’s assessments. You get one review per applicant: submitting again overwrites your previous one, which the panel tells you before you save.

That means a review is a current position rather than a log. Update yours after an interview instead of adding a second.

The match score is not a review

The application shows the match percentage calculated against the opportunity’s requirements. It reflects what has been recorded about the person — their skills, competencies, experience, and education — and nothing about how they work or what they have delivered.

It is one input among several for a human decision. The decision is the reviewers’, and the score neither makes it nor should be quoted as if it had.

Updating the status

Update status is what moves the application. Set it to where the application has actually got to, and use Review notes for anything the applicant should be told.

Option	Description
Submitted	Received, not yet looked at.
Under Review	Being considered.
Shortlisted	Taken forward. The applicant becomes identifiable if they applied anonymously.
Interviewed	The interview has taken place.
Offered	Offered the opportunity.
Accepted	Taken for it.
Rejected	Not taken forward.
Withdrawn	Withdrawn by the applicant.

What accepting does

Setting an application to Accepted does different things depending on the opportunity’s type, and this is the point where the four types diverge.

Option	Description
Gig	A gig assignment is created with its dates, hours, and progress. The employee’s position does not change.
Project	A project assignment is created with its dates and progress. The employee’s position does not change.
Secondment	A secondment placement is created. The employee moves to the host department and reverts to their original position when it ends.
Full Role	The application is marked accepted. No assignment or placement is created, and the employee is not moved.

For a full role, accepting records your decision and nothing more. The move itself is made through a mobility request, which routes through the applicant’s current manager, the target manager, and HR, and carries the effective date.

Example: an applicant accepted for a permanent role at HC Corp UK Ltd still shows their previous position and reporting line. Until a mobility request for them is raised, approved, and completed, they have not moved.

What happens next

A gig, project, or secondment appears on its own tab on the opportunity and under the employee’s own My Gigs, My Projects, or Secondments. A full role needs a mobility request raising before anything changes on the person’s record. Rejected applicants are identifiable on the applicant list whether or not they applied anonymously, so handle the conversation yourself rather than leaving them to read a status.