1. Using Recruiting
  2. Unsuccessful Job Offers: How They're Handled

Unsuccessful Job Offers: How They're Handled

There may be situations where an internal or external candidate's job application doesn't successfully complete the job application lifecycle even after the candidate accepted the offer and was moved to the HR phase.

Error During Processing

The HR - Error During Processing status indicates that a problem must be fixed before the job offer can be processed successfully. If the recruiter moved the candidate manually into the HR phase, they may have been warned about an error. However, it's your responsibility as an HR specialist to understand and resolve the error. On the offer details page, the Errors section contains details of the situation. For example, the offer's promised work location may have been recently inactivated, or the offer's associated position may have recently become frozen or filled. Or a potential duplicate person record may have been identified for the candidate (see Check and Merge Duplicates After Job Offer).

After you have resolved the situation causing the error, you can try again to progress the candidate forward through the lifecycle. If the action encounters additional errors, an error message will appear and the status will remain Error During Processing.

If the action is successful for an external candidate, then a pending worker will be created and the status will become Processing in Progress until the new pending worker is converted. If the action is successful for an internal worker, the status will become Processing in Progress until the new flow is submitted and approved.

After either of those events happen, the status will soon change to the final status HR - Processed based on the Complete the Recruiting Process scheduled process (or manually updated for the situations that require complex processing.

Approver Rejects a Job Application

If an approval cycle is configured for the HR action related to a job offer, an approver may decide to reject the new assignment which was created based upon the offer assignment. In this scenario, the candidate has accepted a job but doesn't yet have a new assignment. The recruiting requisition believes that the hire has been made; and the job application remains indefinitely in the inaccurate status HR - Processing in Progress.

You can select the Return To Manual Processing action to change the job application status to HR - Pending Manual Processing. In this status, you must decide whether to start processing the HR action again in consultation with the approver or manually select the Reject action. You can do this for internal and external candidates, including complex job offer situations. But note that any internal job offers waiting in Pending Manual won't be affected by the auto-processing feature even if enabled.

Decision to Withdraw or Reject a Job Application

A candidate may decide later to reject the previously accepted job offer, or may be a no-show, or the employer may decide to not hire for a job offer. As an HR specialist, you must handle these decisions appropriately depending on the current status of the job application.

  • If the decision is made before you begin work on the job application in the HR phase, you must change the status of the job application. In this case, you can change the status directly from HR - Pending Manual Processing or HR - Pending Automated Processing to Withdrawn by Candidate or Rejected.

  • If the decision is made while you're processing the job application, you must change the status of the job application. In this case, you can change the status directly from HR - Processing in Progress back to HR - Pending Manual Processing and then to Withdrawn by Candidate or Rejected. You also need to ensure that no HR record exists for this unwanted job offer, or cancel any associated HR record that was created.

  • If the decision is made after you successfully processed the job application, you must cancel the associated HR assignment. For most job offers, this automatically updates the job application status to Withdrawn by Candidate, based on the Complete the Recruiting Process scheduled process. For complex job offers, you must first cancel the associated HR assignment, and then manually update the status on your Job Offers page to Withdrawn by Candidate or Rejected.

Reverse the Rejection or Withdrawal of Job Application

As an HR specialist, you may incorrectly withdraw or reject a job application. To reverse this incorrect decision, you need to find the job application in the status Withdrawn by Candidate or Rejected on the Job Offers page, under the Manage Job Offers quick action. Select the action Return to Manual Processing for the job application so that the status changes to HR - Pending Manual Processing. From this status, you can now start processing the job application again by performing the preselected HR action. You can do this for internal and external candidates, including complex job offer situations.

Offer Mistakenly Moved to Processing in Progress

Occasionally, as an HR specialist, you perform an action to move a candidate into the Processing In Progress status but you then must cancel the flow. This may occur due to some mismatch with the data, or simply due to lack of time to finish reviewing all the fields. When that occurs, the job application will remain incorrectly in the status Processing In Progress, even though nobody is processing it anymore. To fully complete the hiring process, this candidate's offer must be processed and submitted without interruption.

So in this case, you must select the Return to Manual Processing action, which moves the job application from the Processing in Progress status to the Pending Manual Processing status. From there, when you're ready you can perform the action again which brings the candidate back into Processing in Progress once again. You will see all the offer values prefilled as before (unless this is a complex offer situation), and you can finish the guided process and submit it.

Offer Must Be Redrafted

All values agreed upon in the offer assignment will be transferred into the worker's new assignment. However sometimes the business situation changes unexpectedly. If this requires a different start date or work location, for instance, then the adjustment can be made directly on the HR pages by updating those values as the pending worker is being converted or as the new assignment is being created. If a new signed offer letter is required to track these significant changes, then the offer itself must be redrafted.

To allow a candidate's offer to be redrafted, you must inactivate it first. This means moving it into the status HR - Withdrawn by Candidate or HR - Rejected, which can usually be achieved automatically by canceling any Pending Worker or Worker that has already been created for this candidate. From here recruiters on the Offer Team can access this job application in the Hiring work area, to perform the Redraft Offer action. This brings the candidate back into the status Offer - Draft where they can make the necessary changes.