It is now possible within the latest version of Troy Vision to configure the system to automatically send job alerts to candidates about new jobs entered onto the system. Each job alert is targeted to a specific candidate using a set of user fields or some free text.
Configuration
The configuration of the job alerts is done via the Settings window within the Troy Message Centre as shown in figure 1 below.
Figure 1 – Candidate job alert configuration
The configuration window allows you to set up an email and SMS template that is used to alert candidates about the job. You can set up multiple templates in order to target candidates differently if required.
Each template uses merge fields to personalise the alert, and for emails to give information about the job. The panel entitled ‘Job details merge field format’ enables you to do just that. In this section you can format how job details are displayed within the body of an email. The example above shows that each job will have its description displayed in bold (with a link to the website) then location, salary and the internal reference number in italics. When the Job details merge field is used within an email template, this formatting will be used for each job that the candidate is being alerted about.
Click the Add button to create a new template, choosing whether an email or a SMS template is to be added. The window shown in figure 2 will now be displayed.
Enter a unique template code followed by the description. This is how you will identify the template when setting up an alert for a candidate. The next four boxes (From & Reply to) deal with how the email recipient sees who the email is from, and where any replies go to. The example shown in figure 2 will show the candidate that the email has come from ‘No Reply’ followed by darrenh@troysoft.co.uk, and when they click the reply button the email address replied to will be noreply@troysoft.co.uk and the name of the reply will be No Reply. Typically the use of ‘No Reply’ within an email indicates that the email is not to be replied to.
The subject relates to the email subject and the body is where merge fields (including the job.Details field) can be used to make up the email body. Finally, you can wrap the whole email body within a style / signature if required.
Once you have finished entering the body and subject, click the Preview button to show what the email looks like. The preview email will be shown using Microsoft Outlook and if it does not show immediately, click upon the Outlook icon (which may be flashing orange) on the task bar.
Figure 2 – Candidate Alert Email Template
The SMS template configuration is simpler, see figure 3. Due to the restriction of SMS messages what we are able to say in a message is a lot less. So, to this end, only the candidate name and title can be merged within it. You cannot merge details of any jobs.
Figure 3 – SMS Template
Now that the templates are configured, all we need to do is to set what time to send the emails (they are sent once a day) and determine the status and list type within the job that the candidate is added to. If you do not want the candidates added to the job list then select ‘Do not add to job list’ from the drop box as shown in figure 4.
The tick box at the bottom of the window when ticked will only alert candidates of new jobs entered onto Troy that have been published to the website.
Figure 4 – Setting job alert time and job list
The configuration of the job alerts is now complete. Please note that for alerts to be sent out, at least one person must be logged in to Troy at the time chosen above; it does not need to be person selected.
You may have noticed that within the Troy Message Centre there is a Candidate Job Alert tab. This enables you to see which candidates have been sent an alert for a given period. We will come back to this section later in the document, as this window will currently be empty, as no candidate alerts have been created.
Creating an alert for a candidate
To create an alert for a candidate simply search for the candidate in question, switch the ribbon menu to ‘Item’, and then click on the new Job Alert icon shown in figure 5.
Figure 5 – New Job Alert Icon within the candidate item toolbar
The candidate job alert consists of a selection of user fields and / or a job description. If any new jobs entered onto Troy match the user fields selected or contain the job description, then the candidate will be alerted. The example shown in figure 6, will alert the candidate when a new job is created containing the description ‘Financial Director’ or has the user fields ‘Credit Controller’, ‘Credit Manager’ or ‘Finance Director’ attributed to it.
Once you have selected the user fields, simply choose how the candidate is to be alerted, choosing the template (that we configured earlier in this document) and tick the box enabling the alert. If the box is not ticked, then an alert will not be sent to the candidate.
If the candidate no longer wishes to receive an alert, click the Remove button to delete the alert.
Figure 6 – Setting up the candidate alert
Sending the Job Alerts
As the job alerts are to be sent each day at a specific time, a background process is needed to the do this.
Go to Settings / System Settings / System / General and enter the credentials for the SMTP server that you will use. Please liaise with your IT department to obtain these values.
These settings also allow you to send other emails (such a speculative CV Sendouts) via a background process so that they don’t appear in your Outlook Sent Items.
Figure 7 – Configuring the SMTP email credentials
Viewing candidates who have received an alert
This was referred to earlier in the document and can be found within the Troy Message Centre, see figure 8.
You have the option to view all candidates that have an alert configured or to see candidates alerted for a specific date range. You can also send the job alert emails by clicking upon the Send Alert icon within the toolbar. This will send job alerts to the candidates listed, for any new jobs that match their alert criteria.
Figure 8 – Viewing who had candidate alerts configured
Please note that a candidate will not be alerted if they are already on the job list of a job they are about to be informed about, not contactable by email or SMS or if they have already been alerted that day.
