What candidates see

One conversation, from your agency

Candidates chased by email see every message in a single thread, sent in your agency’s name from your own reply address, [email protected]. The first message sets the subject, and everything after it, Amy’s replies and the reminders included, arrives as a reply in that same conversation.

Below is each message they can receive, using an example agency, Acme Staffing, and an example candidate, Jennifer, who owes three documents. Your candidates see your agency’s name and their own documents.

The first request

Sent the moment a campaign starts, or the moment a chase rule picks the candidate up. It names every document they owe, as a list, and tells them they can reply with photos.

With only one document the wording follows: “needs the following document”, the name stands on its own rather than as a one-item list, and the subject names it, for example Action required: BLS card.

Reminders

On your chase schedule, to anyone who still owes something, and only for what they still owe. What they have already sent drops off the list.

The opening line changes so it is always true:

• Nothing sent yet: “We have not yet received the following documents, which are still outstanding:”
• Some sent back for a new copy: “We are still waiting on the following, including one we asked you to send again:”, with (new copy needed) beside that one.
• Only new copies left: “We are still waiting on new copies of the following documents:”

When they send a document

Every document they send gets a reply. Amy thanks them for it by name, then the email lists exactly what is left.

When that was the last one, the list goes and the reply says they are done:

When they reply without a document

“I’ll send it tonight”, “Which form is the I-9?”, “Is a photo OK?”: Amy answers in the thread, then repeats what is still outstanding so the answer never leaves them unsure what to do next. Here Jennifer has written “I’m getting my TB test on Thursday, is it OK to send it then?”

When a document can’t be used

When Amy’s check, or someone on your team, sends a document back, the candidate is told which one, and why, in the same message. The reason sits right under the document so they know what to do differently.

The reason is one of these, word for word:

• Unreadable: the copy we have is too blurry or dark to read.
• Wrong document: it is not the document we need. Please check you are sending the right one.
• Incomplete: part of it is missing or cut off, so we cannot use it as it stands.
• Expired: it is out of date, so we need a current one.
• Locked: the file is password protected and we are not able to open it. Please send a copy without a password.
• Other: whatever your team writes, or, if they leave it blank, “we are unable to use the copy we have.”

A note your team adds to any of the others is put after it, so “Expired” with a note can read “it is out of date, so we need a current one. We need one valid past your start date.” If the document came from their ATS record rather than from them, the opening line says “We have checked the BLS card we hold for you” instead of thanking them for sending it.

When a file can’t be opened

Some files are turned away before anyone reads them: a zipped folder, a password-protected PDF, something that isn’t a document at all. Every one is answered, and the reply says what to send instead.

After “We couldn’t accept [the file] because”, it says one of:

• it arrived as a compressed (zipped) folder, which we cannot open. Please send the document itself.
• the file is password protected and we are not able to open it. Please send a copy without a password.
• it is a program or installer file. Please send your document as a PDF or a photo.
• the file arrived empty. Please try sending it again.
• the file is larger than 25 MB, which is more than we can accept. Please send a smaller copy, such as a photo of the document or a PDF of just the pages we need.
• our security check flagged it. Please send a fresh copy, for example a photo of the document or a PDF saved straight from the original.

If they send the same file again, the reason begins “it is the same file as before, and”, so it doesn’t read as a machine repeating itself. When an email has a good document and a refused one, both are covered in the one thank-you.

When a rejection is taken back

If your team decides a document they sent back was fine after all, the candidate is told to stop, straight away, so nobody redoes work that isn’t needed.