Writing to candidates, retention and erasure

Moving a candidate tells them nothing. A candidate only hears from you when a person writes to them and presses Send, with one exception: the automatic acknowledgement when they apply through your careers page.

Mail goes from your own mailbox

Candidates are written to from a mailbox in your company’s Microsoft 365, not from ActionBridge. They see your company name, and their replies go straight to that mailbox. AB Talent never sees those replies.

An HR admin sets this up once, under People → Setup → Candidate mail:

1. Name your company. Company name, as candidates see it goes in the subject line and the sign-off. If you leave it blank, the workspace name is used, so check that this is your company and not a person.
2. Choose the mailbox. Enter the address in Send from. A shared recruiting mailbox works well. If it is a shared mailbox or an alias, also fill in Mailbox sign-in name (optional).
3. Leave the tenant as it is. Microsoft 365 tenant id identifies your company’s Microsoft 365 account and is filled in for you. Change it only if the mailbox is in a different one.
4. Save, then check. Choose Save, then Check it can send. The check sends no email.

What can be sent

Anyone who works the role can write: an HR admin, a Recruiter, or the Hiring manager on their own role. An Interviewer cannot, because a message from them would read as the company’s decision. Booking an interview does not tell the candidate either, so send them the time and link from here. See Interviews.

Write to a candidate

1. Open the candidate. Roles → open the role → Interviews on their row.
2. Start a message. Under Messages, choose Write to candidate.
3. Pick a draft. Choose a message in Start from. Changing it replaces whatever you have typed.
4. Edit it. Replace anything in square brackets. AB Talent does not stop you sending a bracket.
5. Send it. Press Send.

The draft uses the language the candidate’s browser was set to when they applied: Japanese for Japanese, and English otherwise. A candidate you typed in by hand gets an English draft, so rewrite it if they read another language.

The acknowledgement switch

Acknowledge applications automatically is in the same Candidate mail panel and is on by default. It is the only message sent without someone pressing Send. Change it, then choose Save. Three things are worth knowing:

• It needs the mailbox to be set up. Until then, nothing is sent.
• It goes only to people who applied through the careers page, not to candidates you typed in.
• You cannot send it by hand, because a late copy would tell someone their application has only just arrived.

See what was sent, and what failed

Messages on the candidate page lists everything sent to them: the exact text, when it went, and who sent it, or Sent automatically.

When your own message fails, the composer stays open with your text and you can press Send again once the cause is fixed. See Troubleshooting for what the errors mean.

How long an application is kept

Every application has a date it is kept until, and on that date it is erased automatically. Only an HR admin sees the date.

The period is stored per application, so if the form’s wording changes later, each applicant keeps what they were told.

• On the candidate page, an HR admin sees Kept until and the date.
• On the Roles tab, Erased in the next 30 days lists what is coming up.
• 30 days ahead, every HR admin is told once per date: in the Microsoft Teams chat with AB Talent, or by email if that chat cannot be reached. This message is in English for now.

The automatic erasure checks once a day. It leaves an application alone, and shows it as Held, while the person was hired, has an open offer, or has an interview still scheduled. It tries again the next day.

Keep an application longer

The applicant was told how long you would keep their application, so extend it only when you must, such as for a legal hold or a pending claim.

1. Open the candidate. You need to be an HR admin. From Erased in the next 30 days, a row opens the candidate directly.
2. Choose Keep longer… It sits beside the Kept until date.
3. Set the date and the reason. Keep until must be later than today and later than the current date. Why? is required and is recorded.
4. Save it. Choose Keep until this date.

The application then shows Extended, and HR is told again 30 days before the new date.

Erase an applicant

Use this when an applicant asks for their information to be deleted. Only an HR admin can do it, and it cannot be undone.

1. Open the candidate and choose Erase applicant… at the bottom of the page. For someone no longer active, open them from Erased in the next 30 days or a saved link to their page, because their row on the role has no Interviews button.
2. Read what goes. The panel lists it before you type anything.
3. Give a reason. Fill in Why?. Leave out their name and contact details, because this reason outlasts everything else.
4. Confirm. Choose Erase permanently.

Sometimes the panel says Not yet and explains why instead of offering the button:

Erasing reaches what AB Talent holds. It does not reach your own mailbox: messages you sent stay in its Sent Items, and any replies stay in the inbox. Delete those yourself.

Write to candidates yourself, keep their data only as long as you said you would, and let the date on each application do the rest.