Working With Applicant Notes

This topic discusses applicant notes.

Page Name	Definition Name	Usage
Manage Applicant Page: Notes Tab	HRS_MANAGE_APP	Review and create notes for applicants.
Applicant Notes Page	HRS_APP_NOTES	View or modify details and attachments for an applicant-related note.

This section provides an overview creating, viewing, and editing applicant notes.

Creating Notes

Users can manually create applicant notes and optionally add attachments to the notes.

Additionally, the system automatically creates applicant notes during recruiting process such as:

Forwarding an applicant.
Sending correspondence.
Generating a letter.
Users can generate interview letters, offer letters, and generic applicant letters. When letter generation creates a note, the letter itself becomes an attachment to the note.
Linking an applicant to a job opening with a questionnaire.
The note is created only if the system sends the applicant an invitation to apply. The invitation is sent if the applicant has an email address and the job opening with the questionnaire is currently posted to Candidate Gateway.
Scheduling an interview.

The note is created only if the Notify Applicant option is selected when the user submits the interview schedule.
Posting an offer to Candidate Gateway.
Using Candidate Gateway to accept or reject an offer (this action is performed by the applicant).
Using Candidate Gateway to send documents to a recruiter (this action is performed by the applicant).
Documents that the applicant sends become attachments to the note.

Viewing Notes

Note visibility depends on whether the note is marked as public or private. Additionally, for users who are subject to enhanced applicant security, visibility also depends on whether the user has access to any job openings that are associated with the note.

See Understanding Enhanced Applicant Security

The following table summarizes note visibility based on the user’s security type. Keep in mind that enhanced applicant security is activated for specific recruiting role types; it is not a system-wide setting.

User’s Security Type	Visible Notes	Hidden Notes
Standard	Private notes where the user is the author. All public notes. The note’s job openings do not affect note visibility.	Private notes authored by other users.
Enhanced	Private notes where the user is the author. Public notes that are not associated with any job openings. Public notes that are associated with the user’s own job openings. Under enhanced applicant security, the user’s own job openings are those where the user is the creator or a member of the hiring team.	Private notes authored by other users. Public notes where the user does not have access to any of the associated job openings.

The following table summarizes how job openings and public/private settings are supplied depending on how the note was created.

Note Source	Job Openings	Public/Private Status
Note is manually created on the Applicant Notes page.	The user manually selects job openings.	The user manually selects a public/private status. The default is public.
Note is automatically created by the Forward Applicant or Send Correspondence action.	If the action is invoked from the context of a job opening, the job opening is carried into the transaction and then into the resulting note. If the action is invoked without the context of a job opening, users can manually add job openings to the transaction.	The user manually selects a public/private status. The default is public.
Note is automatically created by any other process.	The note is associated with the job opening that provided context for the action. For example, the note for an interview letter is associated with a job opening if the interview is associated with a job opening. If the interview is for an application without a job opening, then the note is not associated with any job openings.	Public. The note author (the person who performed the original action) can modify the note to make it private.

Note Source

Job Openings

Public/Private Status

Note is manually created on the Applicant Notes page.

The user manually selects job openings.

The user manually selects a public/private status. The default is public.

Note is automatically created by the Forward Applicant or Send Correspondence action.

If the action is invoked from the context of a job opening, the job opening is carried into the transaction and then into the resulting note.

If the action is invoked without the context of a job opening, users can manually add job openings to the transaction.

The user manually selects a public/private status. The default is public.

Note is automatically created by any other process.

The note is associated with the job opening that provided context for the action.

For example, the note for an interview letter is associated with a job opening if the interview is associated with a job opening.

If the interview is for an application without a job opening, then the note is not associated with any job openings.

Public.

The note author (the person who performed the original action) can modify the note to make it private.

Note: When enhanced applicant security is enabled for at least one recruiting role type, the Applicant Notes page includes instructional text to explain how the job openings and the public/private setting affect note visibility. This instructional text is displayed to all users.

Modifying Note Details

The Manage Applicant Page: Notes tab displays read-only details of selected notes. To modify a note, the note author clicks the Edit Note button to open the Applicant Notes detail page. Authors can modify both manual and system-generated notes.

When a non-author opens clicks the Edit Note button, the Applicant Notes page is read-only.

Notes created by the Forward Applicant and Send Correspondence actions are different. For these notes:

Authors can resend the original message or a modified version of it, but they cannot modify the original note.
The Edit Note button for these notes does not open the usual Applicant Notes detail page. Instead, the Edit Note button displays the original transaction page (either the Forward Applicant page or the Send Correspondence page). In this mode, those pages have a Resend button, and the author can resend with the original text or with modified text.
For notes created by the Send Correspondence action, non-authors can also resend the correspondence.
For notes created by the Forward Applicant action, the behavior depends on the user’s security type:
- Non-authors with standard security can resend the message.
- Non-authors with enhanced applicant security cannot view the message portion of the note, nor can they resend the message. For these users, the Edit Note button is not available, and the detail area of the Notes tab replaces the original message with the text Applicant <name> is forwarded to <recipients>. To and cc recipients are listed, but bcc recipients are not listed.

Use the Manage Applicant page: Notes tab (HRS_MANAGE_APP) to review and create notes for applicants.

Navigation:

Access the Manage Applicant Page, then click the Notes tab.

Notes Summary

This grid lists both manually-created and system-generated notes to which the user has access.

Field or Control	Description
Select	Select a note to display the note in its entirety in the Note Details group box below the summary grid.
Subject	Displays the subject of the note. The author provides the subject for manually created notes, for Forward Applicant notes, and for Send Correspondence notes. The system provides the subject for other automatically-generated notes. Examples of system-generated subjects are Interview Letter, Interview Request, Offer Letter, and Online Job Offer Posted.
Attachment	The Attachments icon appears if the note has attachments. This column is hidden if none of the notes have attachments. The icon is just a visual indicator that an attachment exists; it is not clickable.
Note Date and Author	These fields show when the note was created and who created it. For automatically generated notes, the author is the user (or applicant) who performed the action that generated the note.
Edit	Click to access the detail page for the note. For most notes, the Applicant Notes page opens. The note author can edit the note, but the page is read-only for non-authors. For notes based on email that is generated by the Forward Applicant or Send Correspondence action, clicking the Edit button opens the original transaction page. Users can resend the forwarding or the correspondence from this page, but they cannot modify the original note. (Send Correspondence actions that send letters rather than email behave like other notes and open the Applicant Notes page). Users who are subject to enhanced applicant security cannot access the detail page for notes that were created when a different user forwarded an applicant. In this scenario, the Edit icon is disabled.
Delete	Click the Delete icon to remove a note. Only the author of a note can delete it.

Note Details

This group box displays read-only information about the note that is selected in the summary grid. The fields correspond to the same-named fields on the Applicant Notes detail page.

Field or Control	Description
Edit Note	This link is the same as the Edit Note icon in the summary grid.
Message	Typically this field shows the body of the note. However, there is one exception. Non-authors with enhanced applicant security are not allowed to view the full message for notes that were created when a different user forwarded an applicant. In this scenario, the message field displays the text Applicant <name> is forwarded to <recipient email address>.

Add Applicant Note

Field or Control	Description
Add Applicant Note	Click to open the Applicant Notes page and enter a new note.

Use the Applicant Notes page (HRS_APP_NOTES) to enter applicant-related notes and attachments.

Navigation:

On the Manage Applicant page, click the Add Note icon in the toolbar at the top of the page.
On the Manage Applicant page: Notes tab, click the Edit Note icon for an existing note, or click the Add Applicant Note button.

Field or Control	Description
<Instructional Text>	If enhanced applicant security is enabled for at least one recruiting role type, instructional text at the top of the page explains how the combination of the note’s job openings and the note’s public/private setting affect which users can see the note. See Understanding Enhanced Applicant Security
Author	Displays the name of the person who created the note. If the note is system-generated, the author is the person who performed the action that generated the note.
Contact Method	Select a contact method, choosing from the methods that are defined on the Contact Methods Page.
Date	Displays the note creation date. Although this field is editable, the system populates it with the actual note creation date, and you typically should not change this.
Audience	Select Public or Private to control who can see the note. Private notes are only visible to the author. The visibility of public notes depends on the user’s security type. Users with standard security can see all public notes. Users with enhanced applicant security can see notes that have no job openings and notes that are associated with the user’s own job openings. For more information, see Understanding Applicant Notes and Understanding Enhanced Applicant Security.
Job Openings	Use this grid to associate the note to one or more job openings. You can only select job openings to which you have access. All users have access to job openings that they created and where they are on the hiring team. Users with standard applicant security can additionally access job openings if they the department security tree gives the user access to the job opening’s department. Users with enhanced applicant security do not gain access to job openings through the department security tree. If a note is associated with job openings, users with enhanced applicant security can view the note only if they have access to at least one of the job openings. Job openings do not affect note visibility for users with standard security. This grid is editable only when you first create the applicant note. After you save the note, you can still access this page and edit most note information, but the Job Openings grid becomes read-only. When the system generates a note from the context of a job opening, that job opening is automatically associated with the note.
Add Job Opening	Click this button to add additional rows to the Job Openings grid. This button is visible only when you are creating anew note. When you access an existing note, this button is hidden because the Job Openings grid is read-only.
Subject and Details	Use these fields to enter the note content.
Attachments	Use this group box for attachments that pertain to the note. Click the Add Attachment button to upload a file attachment.
Save	This button is visible only when you create a new note. Click the button to save the note and return to the Manage Applicant page: Notes tab. After you save a new note, the Job Openings grid is no longer editable. If enhanced applicant security is active for at least one recruiting role type, the note has no job openings, and the audience is Public, saving triggers a warning message that the note will be visible to all users. This gives the author an opportunity to protect sensitive information by editing the note or by associating the note with the relevant job opening(s).
Update Note	This button replaces the Save button when you view an existing note. If you are the author of the note, you can make changes and then click this button to save the changes.
Cancel	Click to close the Applicant Notes page without saving the note.

Working With Applicant Notes

Pages Used to Work With Applicant Notes

Understanding Applicant Notes