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Vacancies overview

A vacancy in RecSphere represents a role you are recruiting for on behalf of a client. It is the central record that ties together the client, the candidates you put forward, and any contracts that follow a successful placement.

What a vacancy represents​

Each vacancy describes a single role with its own title, location, rate and start date. You might have one vacancy for a Senior Nurse at Bristol Royal Infirmary and a separate vacancy for a Theatre Nurse at the same site, even though both sit under the same client.

A vacancy is the unit of work for the placement pipeline. Applications can arrive from configured job-board or website sources, and recruiters can also shortlist candidates directly against the vacancy. Candidates then move through shortlist, interview, acceptance and booking steps before a contract is created.

Vacancies sit at the intersection of three other pages:

  • Clients. Every vacancy must be linked to a client and one of that client's locations at the time of creation. The client drives the rate card, the billing details and which contacts can review shortlists.
  • Candidates. Candidates connect to a vacancy through applications from configured external sources, or through shortlists when a recruiter puts them forward. A candidate can be linked to many vacancies over time.
  • Contracts. Once a candidate is placed, RecSphere creates a contract from the vacancy. The contract carries the rate, the start date and the compliance requirements through to timesheets, invoices and payroll.
Every vacancy needs a client

Link to a client at creation; this drives rate cards and invoicing. You cannot save a vacancy without one.

How vacancies arrive​

There are two ways a vacancy reaches your Vacancies list:

  • Automated job parsing. RecSphere checks your configured job inboxes (the job email accounts set up for your desk, not personal mailboxes) roughly every minute and pulls matching jobs into the list.
  • Adding one manually. You create the record yourself. See Creating a vacancy.

Parsed vacancies depend on the sender being recognised as a client contact. If a vacancy email comes from a new sender, add that person as a contact against the correct client first, then review the parsed vacancy once the inbox has been processed.

A parsed vacancy arrives with one of two statuses, depending on how much RecSphere could extract:

  • New means enough was extracted to make a fully qualified vacancy.
  • Incomplete means RecSphere could not determine the essentials. The essentials are the grade and speciality, the employment type (locum or permanent), and the start date or shift schedule.

For an Incomplete vacancy, an Email button opens the source email side by side, so you can add the missing details yourself or reply to the client contact to ask for them.

During the early rollout of a new parsing workflow, review both Incomplete and New parsed vacancies. New means the mandatory data has been found, but the jobs team should still sense-check the role, schedule, client, location and rates before the vacancy is used downstream.

Vacancies list​

The Vacancies page opens as a list table. It uses the standard RecSphere list tools: search, saved views, filters, column management, sorting, selection controls and row opening. Use the list to find vacancies by status, client, recruiter, location, reference or other available columns in your workspace.

Vacancy detail tabs​

Open a vacancy to review the full record. The detail view can include these tabs:

  • Details - core vacancy information, client, site, contact, role and consultant split.
  • Schedule - the expected shift or placement schedule for the role.
  • Matched & Shortlist - matched candidates and shortlisted candidates for the vacancy.
  • Financials - rate, charge, margin and rule information used to model the vacancy.
  • Expenses - expected or agreed vacancy expenses.
  • Job Posting - job-board posting information where configured.
  • Applications - applications received from configured external sources.
  • Documents - files held against the vacancy.

Common actions can include View Email, Edit, Open in Scheduler, Duplicate Vacancy, Submit CV / Shortlist, Add Note and Delete, depending on permissions and vacancy status.

Typical lifecycle​

A vacancy can move through statuses such as:

  • New - just added to the system. Where automation is configured, this can become active after the vacancy has aged in the system.
  • Incomplete - parsed from an email but missing key details such as grade, speciality or schedule.
  • Filled - the required shifts or position have been covered by a signed contract.
  • Cancelled or Lost - the requirement did not continue or was lost to another agency.
  • Possible Duplicate - flagged as a likely duplicate, usually during email parsing.
  • Archived - hidden from day-to-day lists but kept for reporting and history.

For the full list used by the CRM, see Vacancy status definitions.