We know your Bullhorn data is a little messy, and that’s okay because we understand that it happens! But, it’s 2020 and it is time for that major clean-up.

We all know what poor data looks like (or should I say what it doesn’t look like because it’s so bad). More so, we know when we’ve been lazy in inputting proper data into our systems or when we’ve told ourselves “we’ll get to it later.” 

No more! Think of it as your New Year’s resolution if it helps. No bad data. 

Even if you have other plans for the New Year (as I hope you do), it’s time to eliminate this problem. 

This article goes through ways to clean up your data, why you should clean your database, and how this will increase efficiency within your team. Doesn’t that sound like fun? 

First things first. Admit that this is a problem. You have candidates in your pipeline that you never rejected or open jobs that have been closed since the last decade. Once you know that this a problem here’s how you can go about resolving it.

1. Process, process, process

When we say process, we mean process. Come up with a workflow for each “role.” Your recruiters are using Bullhorn differently from your salespeople so you need to make sure that an outline, a process, steps, guidelines, or whatever you would like to call it are created especially for them so they have a workflow to follow. That way, if they forget or make a mistake, the process is there for them to lean on and so they can correct course. You need a process to make sure everyone is inputting data the same way so that when you create reports, you can rely on it. This is important for managers and CEOs because it will allow them to know what’s going on with their employees’ activities. It will also keep salespeople and recruiters aware of their activities and hold them accountable. You need a workflow and a process to how things are done in Bullhorn, otherwise, you’ll have chaos, and it’s too early in the year for that. 

2. What do you care about measuring/tracking?

Do you care about finding out the average days it takes for you to submit a candidate for a job to placing the candidate at the job? Do you care about finding out the return on investment (ROI) of your job board tools such as Dice or LinkedIn Recruiter so that you can know where most of your candidates are coming from? Whatever it is that you would like to track and measure to know the status of your employees, it needs to be written down, documented, and tracked. Otherwise, there is no point in cleaning up your process if you’re not going to utilize key performance indicators to better your business. Find out what matters to your company and to you and come up with a list of KPI’s/metrics for your salespeople and recruiters. 

3. Test your process and workflow

Make reports! With reports, you can see if a mistake has been made with a candidate or if a wrong submission is in your recruiting pipeline. You can correct your mistakes when you see them so make sure you have a reporting system that allows you to visualize all your metrics and KPI’s so you know what you’re tracking and if it’s accurate or not. If you need a reporting solution, visit Chameleon’s data services to find out more. Why is this important? Because if your reports are accurate, you can rely on your numbers, and so can your boss and accountants. They will know how much commission to pay, they will know which jobs are bringing in the most revenue, they will know to give credit where its due, and so on. So much insight can come from reports but the first step is to clean up your data so that it’s the right information.

4. Reward your team and yourself

Once everything is cleaned up and you have a process/guideline in place that lets everyone know how things work, and you can accurately track the status of your organization that has enabled you to make better business decisions, it’s time to give back to your team. Reward them for their efforts and reward yourself! It’s good work you have done and work that will benefit everyone in the company so celebrate it. You may even find new ways to improve the process (because it can always be improved)!

This article is inspired by Bullhorn’s blog post. Please review Bullhorn’s post for specifics on how to archive your data, how to use mass update tools, and more.