Merging Candidate Records

How to merge duplicate candidate records in Firefish.

Firefish lets you quickly and easily merge duplicate candidate records into a single candidate record.

Quick jump to:

• How to merge candidate records

• What happens when candidates are merged?

• Subscriptions

• Are there any candidates which cannot be merged?

When viewing a candidate record, click on Tasks > Merge to open up the Merge Candidates window:

The Merge Candidates window will display with the candidate record you're viewing already populated - this is the candidate that you're merging into (wanting to keep):

Next, you can enter the candidate that you want to merge into the candidate that's already populated - this is the candidate record that will not be kept.

You can enter the name or reference number for the candidate:

Once you select a candidate, you have the option to 'Reverse' the order and decide which candidate you want to keep.

Please ensure you decide to keep the correct candidate as once a merge has taken place, this cannot be undone.

Once you're ready to merge the candidates, the final step is to simply click Confirm. Once clicked, the candidates will be merged and you'll be returned to the candidate record that you've chosen to keep.

Note that you can't close the window until the merge has been completed however this should only take a few seconds.

The merge action will be logged within Recent Activity on the record for the kept Candidate so there is an audit trail:

What happens when candidates are merged?

Generally, any data in the candidate record you choose to keep will not be overwritten, only fields which are not populated will be populated with data from the merging candidate. However there are some exceptions which are detailed below:

Summary

Data from the Summary of the candidate being merged from will be merged to the candidate being merged into, only if a particular field is empty.

Profile

Data from the Profile of the candidate being merged from will be merged to the candidate being merged into, only if a particular field is empty.

For Employment, Education, Certifications and Professional Memberships; if there are any duplicate entries, the data from the candidate being merged from will not be merged across. Entries which are not duplicates will be added as additional entries on the candidate being merged into.

Details

Data from the Details of the candidate being merged from will be merged to the candidate being merged into, only if a particular field is empty.

Preferences

Data from the Details of the candidate being merged from will be merged to the candidate being merged into, only if a particular field is empty.

Disciplines, Locations and Specialisation preferences from the candidate being merged from will be merged to the candidate being merged into as 'also interested in' if the primary preference fields are already populated.

References

Data from the References of the candidate being merged from will be merged to the candidate being merged into, only if the 'Name' field is empty.

Portal

If the candidate being merged into has a candidate portal login, then this will not change.

If the candidate being merged into does not have a candidate portal login, and the candidate being merged from does, then this portal login will be merged across to the candidate being kept.

Pay

A candidate's pay details will only be merged if the Pay Type is not populated on the candidate being merged into.

For example, if the candidate being merged into has "Self Employed" populated as the Pay Type, then no details will taken across from the candidate being merged from. This is to prevent existing bank details/LTD company details from being combined.

Subscriptions

Email Marketing - The most recently updated email marketing subscription from either candidate will be kept in the candidate merged into.

SMS Marketing - The most recently updated SMS marketing subscription from either candidate will be kept in the candidate merged into.

Offers - If either candidate has unsubscribed from Offers, then the candidate being merged into will be unsubscribed from Offers.

Postal - If either candidate has unsubscribed from Postal, then the candidate being merged into will be unsubscribed from Postal.

Documents

Documents from the candidate being merged from, will be merged across to the candidate being merged into.

The candidate's header section displays the most recent CV / Formatted CV.

All of the documents are available the candidate's Document Library. They are displayed in date order, (most recent first).

Not included

The following fields are not included in the merge process:

• Candidate/Contact Work Status (Actively Looking, Immediately Available, etc)

• Candidate Status (Placed by Us, Free to Contact, etc)

• Candidate/Contact Portal Information (Logins, Dates, etc)

• Candidate Star Rating

Are there any candidates which cannot be merged?

Placed Candidates

Candidates who have previously been placed can only be merged into, they cannot be merged into another candidate. If a candidate cannot be merged for this reason, you'll be notified before attempting the merge:

The merging candidate's record will be completely removed once the merge has taken place. The only exception to this is; if a candidate also has a contact record, the record being merged from will not be fully removed but will be marked for deletion.

Duplicate records in the same workflow

If candidates have applied to the same job using multiple accounts, they cannot be merged until they are removed from the same workflow. You can withdraw the duplicate applications from the workflow, leaving only one for the main record you intend to keep.

For more information on merging a contact record. Click here