When you are in a list of people, or the Candidate List in a job, you can use the Proximity function to find out how far they all are from a given postcode (typically a job’s location).
In the UK, this function uses just the first half of the postcode. This is publicly available information and is therefore free and so you don’t need to subscribe to a full postcode file, which could be expensive.
The calculation is ‘as the crow files’, and is only from the centre of one postcode area to the centre of the other, but it is accurate enough to determine whether a candidate is too far away from a job to be considered. Obviously, the more senior the position, the further people will be prepared to commute or possibly relocate.
Again, by being simply a straight line calculation, it doesn’t take geographical features like mountains, lakes or estuaries into account. However, once you narrow down the potential candidates, it is possible to get driving directions from Google Maps, so that kind of detail can be considered.
Once you have the list of people loaded, ensure that the Proximity column is shown. If not, right click on the list of people and select ‘Arrange View’, select ‘Job List Details’ from the drop-box at the top and then highlight ‘Proximity’ from the left column and use the right arrow to move it across. You can then highlight it and use the up and down arrows to adjust its position in the list.
Next, click on the Proximity Check icon. You can enter the postcode, but if you are in a job, this will done automatically.
You have the option to remove people who are more than a certain distance away and those who don’t have a valid postcode.
Once the Proximity search has been done, you can click on the pushpin icon at the right of the screen when in a job, or click on the Proximity icon and then ‘Pin Drops’ when in a list of people.
This will open Google Maps and show where the job is with a green pushpin and each candidate’s location with red ones.
On the Proximity icon you can also click on ‘Directions’ to get driving directions for the selected person.
