Preparing for data migration can be a large undertaking for any recruitment agency. However, cleansing your recruitment database can make the process much easier.

Discuss how cleansing your recruitment database is a great way to improve the candidate experience, streamline the recruitment process, get accurate reports and forecasts on recruitment activity and make data migration much easier if you plan on switching platforms.

Throughout this article, we’ll discuss best practices for cleansing your recruitment data, the most important data to keep in your recruitment CRM and how a clean database can positively influence the recruitment process.

What data should you remove during a cleanse, and what is important to keep?

Recruitment agencies and staffing agencies likely have heaps of older data in their CRM based on outdated candidate information, inactive candidate profiles and more.

When completing a data cleanse, it’s important that recruiters and recruitment operations managers don’t remove important data that can be used down the line.

Here are a few quick recommendations to get you started:

Removing records that are more than three years old

Search for records based on their creation or last updated dates and identify those that exceed the three-year threshold.

Excluding records that are missing an email address, phone number, and current/previous job title

Filter the database based on the presence or absence of these crucial contact and professional details and remove records that don’t meet these essential requirements.

Eliminating records based on locations not within your recruitment scope

Conduct a search or apply location filters to identify records that are outside your designated recruitment areas and remove them from the database.

Removing records with job titles outside of the job families you recruit for

Filter the records based on job titles and compare them against the predefined job families you typically recruit for. Remove the records that don’t align with your target job families or groups.

Consider removing candidate records that don’t meet other minimum application standards, such as missing a resume, CV or LinkedIn profile

Identify records that lack the required components by applying filters or search criteria based on application standards. Remove these records from your database.

Maintaining a pristine recruitment database ensures reliable information and empowers agencies to make data-driven recruitment choices grounded in reliable candidate profiles, qualifications and experiences.

5 best practices for cleansing and managing recruitment data before a migration

To harness the power of your recruitment data, you must ensure it’s current, relevant and clean. Here are five practices that can make the cleansing process more efficient before a migration to a new CRM:

1. Select a few mandatory fields

Amidst the sea of information flooding your recruitment database software, having a few buoys – or mandatory fields – is essential to keep things in check. 

By designating specific fields as ‘non-negotiable’, recruiters can guarantee that the most integral information for onboarding and recruitment workflows is always captured. 

As a recruiter, you need to prioritise data fields like candidate names, contact details, qualifications and work experience. Ensuring these fields are consistently updated and complete reduces the risk of missing out on crucial candidate information. 

Moreover, these fields often serve as the foundation for advanced analytics, paving the way for more nuanced candidate assessment and matching. Integrating these with AI-driven insights can further aid in fine-tuning the recruitment process.

Whether determining the best candidates for job openings or ensuring smooth onboarding, these fields form the backbone of effective recruitment. 

Streamlining data capture ensures that, no matter where a candidate is in their lifecycle, the most vital data points are always on hand, simplifying data migration and further use.

2. Close outdated job postings

In the fast-paced world of recruitment, outdated job postings can inadvertently become a piece of cumbersome baggage. Not only do they clutter your CRM with obsolete information, but they also continuously gather surplus hiring data that may no longer be relevant. 

Spotting and shutting down expired or dormant job postings ensures a laser-focused approach to active job openings. This, in turn, magnifies the attention on engaging the best candidates, streamlining recruitment solutions and optimising workflows. 

Removing outdated job postings also enhances the candidate experience. When job seekers encounter only the most relevant and current openings, it increases their trust in the recruiting agency. 

This credibility ensures that candidates are likelier to engage, leading to a higher conversion rate. Plus, recruiters can save valuable time by not sorting through irrelevant applications from outdated postings.

3. Figure out what data your team would like to keep

Each recruitment team may work a little differently, in that they find different data points and hiring metrics valuable when identifying the right candidate for a role.

Identify the specific data points within your Applicant Tracking System that are most crucial for assisting the team in identifying and evaluating top talent.

This ensures an all-in-one solution that focuses on the metrics and information needed to attract and retain qualified candidates.

Additionally, understanding what data is most valuable allows you to build and maintain a talent pool that aligns with your team’s requirements.

4. Use data enrichment and automation

Data enrichment is an important part of the cleansing and management of candidate data. 

Not only can data enrichment and automation help streamline workflows, but they also enhance the quality and completeness of candidate data in your applicant tracking software.

Recruiters should implement automation tools within their recruitment database to automatically clean and update candidate data. Automation streamlines the process, saves time and ensures consistent data hygiene practices across your database.

Additionally, selecting an applicant tracking software with built-in data enrichment and automation capabilities can make this process significantly easier.

5. Remove duplicate data entries

Duplicate data entries are the enemy of every recruitment operations professional. 

These duplicates congest the CRM, muddling the evaluation process and clouding clarity. A rigorous combing of candidate data within the recruitment database is a non-negotiable to spotlight and eradicate these duplicate entries. 

Removing these entries ensures unerring data precision and paves a hassle-free path for your impending data migration. 

Plus, when scrubbing these duplicates, you’re creating a single source of truth for candidate information. This eliminates redundancy and improves data consistency.

Just as the foundations of a building determine its stability, the quality of the data in a recruitment database impacts the effectiveness of hiring decisions. 

How quality data helps improve the hiring process

A clean CRM or recruitment database provides recruiters with accurate and up-to-date candidate information, enabling them to make informed decisions quickly and efficiently.

With reliable data at your fingertips, recruiters can assess candidate qualifications, skills and experience more effectively, streamlining the hiring process.

Additionally, recruiters can focus on sourcing and engaging with the best candidates rather than getting bogged down by manual data management tasks, leading to improved productivity and better outcomes.

With a clean data system, recruiters can effectively manage their talent pool, easily identifying and engaging with top candidates, nurturing relationships and tracking candidate interactions, allowing for proactive recruitment and talent pipeline management.

Streamline the hiring process with JobAdder as your recruitment partner

A meticulously maintained database isn’t just a luxury; it’s a necessity for recruitment agencies aiming to stay a cut above the rest. 

A clean and organised database can transform any recruitment agency, revolutionising operations by streamlining data collection, management and filtering. 

Yet, while understanding the significance of data hygiene is crucial, possessing the right tools to implement it is equally vital. Enter JobAdder. 

With our Recruitment CRM and Applicant Tracking Software, recruiters can centralise all recruitment data and communications, using our platform as a single source of truth throughout the recruitment process.