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Bullhorn + RecruitBot

Using Bullhorn as your ATS and want to integrate with RecruitBot?

Arbee avatar
Written by Arbee
Updated over a week ago

Welcome to integrating your ATS with RecruitBot! With the Bullhorn and RecruitBot integration, it's easy to sync your candidates between both systems.

Let's walk through how to get the integration set up.

Important Note: RecruitBot uses specific fields in your Bullhorn ATS to match candidates from Bullhorn to RecruitBot. These fields are primarily a LinkedIn URL or an email address. If your Bullhorn ATS uses a custom field for the LinkedIn URL, you can enter it into the settings page, shown below. If you do NOT use a LinkedIn URL on your candidate profile pages, or you use the LinkedIn RSC (Recruiter System Connect), please contact our support team to determine the level of integration that will work for you.

If you DO use a custom LinkedIn URL field, enter it as shown below under step 2.


First Steps: Create an API user in Bullhorn

In Bullhorn, go to the Menu->Admin->Users->Add User. Add in a generic first and last name, such as ‘RecruitBot API’. You don’t need an email address, just use something basic for the first name and last name.

Under “User Type” Enter ‘API’ then use the autocomplete to choose the REST API user:

Add a password, and save the user. It will generate or show a username. This will be the username and password you'll use to login to Bullhorn from RecruitBot in the next step. Once you've created an API user, proceed to 'Step 1 - Linking your account'.


Step 1: Link your BH account with RecruitBot

Click the Bullhorn button (open this in an incognito window in your browser--to do this, right-click on the Bullhorn button and select 'Open in Incognito Window') and log in to the API user account you just created in the steps above. You will need to login to Bullhorn using an incognito window so any cookies you have saved in your browser don't automatically log you into your personal user account.

Using this separate, API user account ensures you won't have any conflicts with your personal user account and Bullhorn/RecruitBot.

Enter your username and password for the API user account:

After logging into your Bullhorn account, return to RecruitBot (you should be redirected, but if not you can just return there with the link above). You don't need to change the name of the Primary Bullhorn account, you can leave it as the default.


Step 2: Configuring Bullhorn and RecruitBot settings

In this step, you'll want to check on both the Stage Mappings and the Export settings to ensure they are correct. Typically, most customers are using the default mapping settings (these control what candidate states are set between RecruitBot and your ATS), but you can manually adjust the RecruitBot stages if you wish.

Stage Mappings:

-On the left side are your Bullhorn ATS stage mappings, as well as any unique stages you've defined. Here's a link to Bullhorn's help desk where they describe, in detail, how to update stage mappings: https://help.bullhorn.com/bhatsTopics/s/article/ATS-Updating-the-List-of-Submission-Statuses

-On the right side are the corresponding RecruitBot stages.

Important Note, with any new integration, some of the RecruitBot hiring statuses will be None. You need to configure these mappings before proceeding.

Make any needed changes, then confirm the export mapping settings are correct. Most customers leave these settings as the default, but you have the option to change the any mappings to your preferences.

Export Settings:

In export settings, you can choose the default stage for exported candidates, as well as when/if RecruitBot will automatically export candidates to Bullhorn.

Set Job Submission Status - This is the default status for any manually exported candidates from RecruitBot->Bullhorn. In this case, if the 'Export' button is clicked on a candidate's profile, they will be added to the associated job as 'Submitted'.

Automatically export candidates from RecruitBot - The default here is 'Never'. You can change this setting to only export candidates when, say, they are reached out to in RecruitBot, or marked as interested. You can control how and when candidates are migrated to RecruitBot.


Step 3: Link Your Positions with your Bullhorn ATS

Now that you've enabled your Bullhorn/RecruitBot integration, you'll want to choose which positions (if you currently have any created on RecruitBot) you want to link with your jobs over in Bullhorn. This linking will enable syncing of candidates and their states between RecruitBot and your ATS for the specific position.

To link a position, click the 'gear' icon in the upper right of a position. Then, choose the Bullhorn position from the pull-down menu you'd like to link to. You'll notice the position ID's of the positions in your Bullhorn ATS so you can ensure you're linking the correct position.

And, finally, click "Link" to link your position.

During the linking process, you'll be prompted to confirm the linking. Also, you have the option to export any candidates you've reached out to in RecruitBot into your ATS. By default, this is off, but you have the option to enable exporting of reached-out candidates. If you choose this, any candidates in the 'Reached Out' state for the position will be exported to your ATS.

Then, you'll see the position now has the Bullhorn icon next to the position name, indicating it's linked. Note that once linked, a position cannot be 'un-linked'. We suggest closing the position in RecruitBot, creating a new one, and then re-linking.


Step 4: Manually Exporting Candidates Into Bullhorn

The default setting for exporting candidates from RecruitBot into Bullhorn is to never export before an 'Interested' or 'Outreach' stage. So if you happen to be viewing a candidate in the search results, or have a qualified candidate, they won't be in your ATS. If you decide you'd manually like to export that candidate to Bullhorn, you can.

On the candidate profile page, click the 'Export' button to immediately export that selected candidate to the linked position in Bullhorn. Note this button only shows up when viewing candidate profiles inside a linked position.

Once the icon turns to solid grey, you know it's exported, and you can click on the 'Bullhorn' button to view their profile in a new tab.


Step 5: Using filters to Show/Hide Candidates in Bullhorn

When using RecruitBot to search for candidates, you have a few options. You can search for all candidates matching your search criteria, who are BOTH in RecruitBot and your ATS. Or, you can choose to show only net new candidates, or, show candidates who might be in Bullhorn and match your search criteria.

The default setting shown below, is to show all candidates both in RecruitBot and in Bullhorn. To change this, use the filter options to select either:

Show all Candidates - Shows candidates in both RecruitBot and Bullhorn (default)

Hide Bullhorn Candidates - Shows only net new candidates matching your search

Only Bullhorn Candidates - Shows only candidates from Bullhorn matching your search in RecruitBot

We hope this guide to setting up and integrating Bullhorn has been helpful. If you have any additional questions, please reach out to our support team at support@recruitbot.com.

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