Employers On-Line: Finding Candidates
This guide is to assist employers in finding staff using the Employers On-Line system.
The Home page
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The "Home" link will return you to the Home Page from any page in the system.
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The "Candidate Searches" link will take you to the Candidate Searches for your organisation.
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The "Users" link will take you to the Users Page for your organisation which allows you to change your own details. People with administration access can also change the details of others in their organisation from the "Users" page.
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Click the "Help" link if you get stuck when using the system.
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The "Logout" link will log you out of the system.
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Create a new search by clicking on the "Add Search" link.
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The "View" link in the row labelled 'Searches where no matches have been found after 30 days' takes you to your open, or current, searches that have had no matches after 30 days.
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The "View" link in the row labelled "Open searches with no matches" takes you to your open, or current, searches that have had no matches.
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The "View" link in the row labelled "Searches open for more than 30 days" takes you to your open, or current, searches that have been open for 30 days or more.
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The "Open" link will take you to the searches that are currently running for your organisation.
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The "Cancelled" link will take you to the cancelled, searches for your organisation. Searches can be cancelled by Work and Income only.
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The "Closed" link will take you to the closed searches for your organisation. Searches may be closed after they have been open for more than 6 weeks, when a candidate is hired, or they may be manually closed.
Creating a Search
From the Homepage select the "Add Search" link. The Create a New Search for Candidates page will display:
Complete the details of the candidates you wish to search for. Fields marked with a red dot must be completed.
Internal Reference: A reference code for the job must be entered. This may be a reference that you use for the job in your own records, or any combination of letters and numbers and can be used to search for the job later.
Select Job Title: Enter the title of the job you wish to find candidates for. When you enter text, a list of job titles will appear, choose the appropriate title from the list and select the green tick button to the right of the job title list. If the green tick is not selected, you may receive an error message when you try to save the job.
Select the location the candidate will be working from if you hire them:
- Select Region: Select the region of the country in which the job is located.
- Select City: Select the city in which the job is located.
Only candidates that are available to work in the selected location will appear in the search results.
Select the work type and the career level for the position: Select if the job is full time or part time and whether the position is for a trainee/apprentice, entry level, mid to senior or executive level staff member.
Number of hours candidate is expected to work each week: Enter the number of hours that the candidate is expected to be available to work each week.
Select/Add the tools and/or technologies your ideal candidate should have used: This is an optional question that allows you to enter the name of any tools, software, electronics, or other technologies that your ideal candidate should have experience using, for example, Microsoft Word, jackhammers, fax machines, coffee machines. Select the appropriate item(s) from the list and click on the "Add" button which will cause the selected option to appear in the Tool/Technology box below.
Driver licence required: This is an optional question that allows you to select the drop down list if a driver licence is required for the job. If a driver licence is required, an additional section will display allowing you to select the required licence type, whether learners, restricted or full; and the driver licence class (1-6). Only candidates that have the required drivers licence will appear in the search results.
Select the qualification the candidates should have for this role: This is an optional question that allows you to select the drop down list if there is a minimum level of education that candidates require for the job. Only candidates with a qualification at this level or higher will appear in the search results.
Once the details are complete, select the "Save and Run Search" button to run the search.
Understanding the Search Results
For a candidate to appear in the search results, they have already met the following search criteria:
- Available to work for the hours required
- Available to work in the location of the job
- Achieved the minimum education level requirement
- Driver's Licence requirement
- Has worked in the job or a related job type.
Where a search has been active for more than one day, any candidates who have appeared since the last time that the search results were viewed will have a "New Match" icon next to their profile. 
The overall score is a percentage value shown next to the candidate's profile.
The percentage score shows how well the candidate has matched against the following search criteria:
- Experience in the job (i.e. number of years worked in the job)
- The minimum education level requirement
- Tools and technology required for the job.
All of these criteria are taken into consideration in calculating the match; however, some have a higher influence than others on the overall score e.g. someone who has worked in the actual job will have a higher match than someone who has not, even though they may have all the related skills.
Clicking on the View Resume link, or the Candidate # link, in the search results will provide a more detailed breakdown of how the candidate matched to each category.
Breakdown of matches
The Match Components section shows how closely the candidate was matched against each section. If the bar is blank, that may be because the requirement was not specified e.g. in the above example the education bar is blank and that is because a minimum education requirement was not specified for this job.
In the above example, the candidate has not indicated that they have experience in the tools and technology specified for the job. It may still be worth speaking to this candidate, as it is possible that the candidate has actually used one or more of the tools and/or technologies specified, and that this has simply not been filled out on their profile.
From the search results, you will be able to select to Hold, Discount, or Contact the candidate, or if the candidates are not suitable, you may select the 'Not interested in these candidates, show me more options' link at the bottom of the search results screen.
Advanced search options
From the search results you may select the "Not interested in these candidates, show me more options" link to display the Advanced Options page:
From this page you may:
- Change the geographic area you wish to search to include or exclude the wider region or whole country
- Select to include candidates in the search results that may not have experience in the job, but that do have an interest in working in the job.
- Publish the search on Job Bank for job seekers to view http://job-bank.workandincome.govt.nz/find-a-job/search.aspx
- Select the "Save and Run Search" button
Publish on Job Bank
When "Publish on Job Bank" is selected, the following information can be completed:
- Add an additional job description section to encourage job seekers to contact you.
- Enter the proposed pay details for the position.
- Record the attendance expected for the job (e.g. full-time, 40 hours per week).
- Add any pre-requisites for this position (e.g. "Must have experience supervising other staff" or; "Suitable candidate will have full, clean NZ driver's licence", "Passenger endorsement and Area Knowledge" or "Transport Service Licence an advantage").
View resume
To find out more information about a candidate, you may select the "View Resume" link next to that candidate's profile.
Hold Candidates
If you see a candidate's profile that looks promising, and you would like to view the profiles of other candidates before contacting them, you can move that candidate into a "Hold" folder by selecting the "Hold" link next to that candidate's profile.
You may then find that candidate later by selecting the On Hold folder at the top of the Search Results page.
Contact Candidates
If you have decided that you wish to contact a candidate to discuss the job, you can send a message to them by selecting the "Contact" link next to the candidate's profile in the search results.
If you have clients who are in the On Hold folder, open the On Hold folder and you can select to contact all of those candidates at once by selecting the "Contact all the above candidates myself" link at the bottom of the page.
The system will ask which method you would like candidates to use to contact you - Phone, Email, Both Phone and Email, or Apply Online via URL. The Apply Online via URL option is only valid when the job is also posted to another website where applicants can apply online.
If you are going to select the Apply Online via URL method, then consider using a service to shorten the URL so that it can be easily sent by text message. There are many free services available that will do this for you, such as;
Once you have confirmed your contact method, click on the send button and your message will be sent to the selected candidates. The candidates will receive a message with instructions to contact you.
Hire Candidates
Once you have decided to hire a candidate who you have contacted, you are able to move that candidate's profile to a Hired folder that will notify Work and Income staff. You can only move candidates to the Hired folder from the Contacted folder.
You may find the contacted candidates by selecting the Contacted folder at the top of the search results page.
The following page will display:
Select the "Hire" link next to the profile of the candidate that you have hired.
You will be asked to supply the following information:
- Hours per week
- Start Date
- Employment Duration.
Note: if you have decided to hire a candidate after having handed over the search to Work and Income, then please remember to call Work and Income and let them know who you have hired.
Comment on a candidate's profile
Comments can be added to the profiles of candidates that have been placed in any of the On Hold, Contacted, Considered but Discounted or Hired folders by selecting the "Comment" link next to that candidate's profile.
When you select to add a comment there are 5 different templates to choose from:
- Personal Information (allows you to record the candidate's name and contact details)
- Interview details (allows you to record the time and date of the candidate's interview)
- Interview attendance (allows you to record whether the candidate attended the interview)
- Interview outcome (allows you to record the outcome of the candidate's interview)
- Start details (takes you to another screen when you can record the start details for a candidate you have hired)
Select the appropriate comment template, record the details and select the "Save" button.
Once the comment has been added, you can view it at the bottom of the candidate's resume.
Find an existing candidate search
You may retrieve a candidate search that has already been created and saved. Select Candidate Searches at the top of the screen, the Open Searches page will display:
The Open Searches screen displays all the searches that are currently running. Past Searches can be found by selecting the "Closed" or "Cancelled" folders near the top of the screen.
You can select whether to search only the searches you have created, or all searches created by your company by toggling between the My Searches and All Searches options on the upper right of the screen next to the search box.
Next to the search, the following options are displayed:
- View – allows the search to be viewed
- Edit – allows the search to be edited (Open Searches only)
- Copy – creates a copy of the search (Closed Searches only)
- Close – closes the search (Open Searches only)
- Reassign – allows the search to be reassigned to another user from the same employer (Open Searches only).
Edit a Search
Selecting to edit an existing search will display the search parameters in an editable format so that details can be changed. Once the changes have been made; select "Save and Run Search" again to see the new results.
Copying a Search
You may select to copy a closed or cancelled search when you wish to advertise the same job again, without having to fill out all of the same details. However, you will still be able to change any of the details. When you select to copy a search you will need to add the job title, select the green tick to save it, and then select "Save and Run Search".
Close a Search
Searches may be closed when you have found a suitable candidate for the job, or you no longer wish to list the job. Searches will also close automatically after 6 weeks. Once a search is closed, it will no longer be advertised and candidates will not appear in the search results.
To close a search, select Candidate Searches from the top of the page and select the "Close" link in the line of the search that should be ended.
Hand the search over
If you have short-listed candidates by placing them in the Hold folder, and you want Work and Income to contact the candidates on your behalf, you may select to hand the search over to Work and Income by selecting the "Work and Income to arrange interviews on my behalf" link at the bottom of the page:
You will be prompted to enter your contact details and any other details that will help Work and Income to arrange interview times.
When you select the "Send" button, a message will be sent to Work and Income with your requirements. Please note that Work and Income staff will only be available to view your message during business hours.
