How do I merge two candidates in a good way?

In this article, we will show how to merge duplicate candidates.

Normally, duplicates should never occur in RecMan, as you cannot register a candidate profile with an existing profile’s email address unless this is turned on in the system settings. However, this may happen should a candidate be created internally or imported, and in this article, we will explain how to merge them.

By default, candidate merging is turned off in the system settings. We will get back to why a little later.

Activating merging

Go to the System Settings → Co-workers → Select your own or a co-worker’s name and check off the Merge duplicate permission under Candidates.

Merging duplicate candidates

Now that this setting is activated, we can proceed to the merging. The system will check all candidates, and merging will only be available if one of the three dependencies is true. These dependencies are:

• If the candidate has the same email address as another candidate.
• If the candidate has the same phone number AND the first four letters in the first name as another candidate.
• If the candidate has the same LinkedIn link as another candidate.

Once one of these criteria is met, you will see this box when looking at a candidate card:

And a red tag Duplicate will appear in the candidate database view:

If the main candidate card has an empty field, information will be collected from the other card. If a field is filled in on them both, the fields on the main card will be prioritized, and the fields on the other card will be lost. This is only true for fields with a single input, like Nationality or Address.

In fields with more than one input, for instance, work experience, these fields will be merged. However, the system will not scan the content, so if the main candidate card has two work experiences and the other card has the same two, you will get four work experience entries. This may cause duplication of information.