Rejecting a candidate usually takes more than one step. You send an email, add a tag so you can find the candidate later, and leave a note for the next person who contacts them. Automated actions can do this for you. Attach them to a disqualify reason once, and they run when your team selects that reason, in any job, for one candidate or many.
Note: To add or change automated actions, you need the Manage automated actions permission. Anyone can disqualify a candidate with a reason that has actions attached, whether or not they can edit the actions.
How automated actions for disqualify reasons work
An automated action is attached to a disqualify reason, not to a job. Set one up on Not a fit and it runs whenever anyone disqualifies a candidate for Not a fit, anywhere in your account. Each reason can hold more than one automation, and each automation can run several actions in a row. A reason that already has automations shows an Automations bar underneath it in settings, with a count of how many.
Important: Automated actions for disqualify reasons are company-wide. You can’t set them up differently for each job. If you need job-specific behavior, use pipeline automations instead.
Actions you can automate
When you disqualify a candidate, you can:
Send an email — choose who it comes from and who it goes to, write the subject and body, add placeholders, a signature, and attachments. You can send it immediately or schedule it for later.
Add a note — leave a note on the candidate profile, visible to everyone or only to selected people and roles.
Add a task — name the task, set a due date, and assign it to specific team members or to whoever holds a role in the job, like the recruiter or the hiring manager.
Add tags — tag the profile so you can filter on it later in candidate search and reporting.
Add followers — add team members as followers so they’re notified about changes on the profile.
Assign to a job/talent pool — move the candidate into a talent pool or another job, so strong candidates remain available for future roles.
Note: Available actions and automation templates depend on your current Recruitee plan. Conditions for disqualify reason automations are only available on the Optimize plan. Request an also evaluation isn’t available here. It’s an action for pipeline automations, where the candidate is still in the hiring process.
Add an automated action to a disqualify reason
Choose a reason and set up the actions you want to run when you disqualify a candidate.
Go to Settings > Workflow > Disqualify reasons, find the reason you want to automate, and click its lightning icon.
In the New automation window, click Create a custom automation or choose one of the ready-made templates under Or start with a template. The automation builder opens with the trigger already set. Under When this happens, you’ll see Candidate is disqualified with your reason selected.
Under Then do this, click Choose an action to run and select your action. Fill in its details, such as the email content, note text, or tags. If you want to run several actions, click Add an action to include another.
When everything is ready, click Save automation.
Tip: The pencil icon renames or deletes the reason itself. To set up automations, click the lightning icon.
Note: If you don’t see the lightning icon, your hiring role doesn’t have the Manage automated actions permission.
Schedule an email instead of sending it right away
Sending a rejection right after someone clicks Disqualify may feel impersonal. You can schedule the email to send later. The builder shows you a summary, like Email will be sent 2 days after this automation is triggered, at 09:00.
Add conditions to limit when the actions run
An automation doesn’t have to run for every candidate disqualified with that reason. Between the trigger and the actions, click Add a condition to set an Only if rule. To add more rules, click And if. For example, you can send a more personal email only to candidates who passed the first interview stage.
Note: The available conditions depend on the trigger, so you’ll see a different set here than in a pipeline automation.
Edit, duplicate, and delete automations
You manage automations in Settings > Workflow > Disqualify reasons. Click the Automations bar under a reason to expand it and see what’s attached.
Edit an automation
Click the edit icon (pencil) on the automation. Change the actions or conditions, then click Save changes.
Note: You can’t move an existing automation to a different disqualify reason. The trigger is locked once the automation is saved. To move the automation, create it again on the other reason.
Duplicate an automation
Click the ... menu on the automation and choose Duplicate. The copy opens right away so you can edit it. This is useful when you want a second version of a long rejection email.
Delete an automation
Click the ... menu on the automation and choose Delete. You can also click Delete inside the automation builder.
Confirm with Delete automation.
Important: Deleting an automation can’t be undone. Deleting the disqualify reason also deletes all automations attached to it.
What your team sees when a candidate is disqualified
Disqualify one candidate with automated actions
When you select a disqualify reason with automated actions for a single candidate, Recruitee starts the actions and shows a progress bar. For a single candidate, there is no confirmation screen and no preview of the actions before they start. You can pause or cancel the remaining actions from the progress bar.
Disqualify candidates in bulk with automated actions
A Bulk automated actions window lists what will run — There are 3 actions assigned to this disqualify reason — and offers two ways forward: go ahead, or click Disqualify without actions to disqualify quietly.
Before the bulk disqualification starts, Recruitee shows the Bulk automated actions window. It lists the actions that will run; for example There are 3 actions assigned to this disqualify reason, and gives you two options:
Continue with the automated actions.
Select Disqualify without actions to disqualify the candidates without running the attached actions.
After you confirm, a progress bar shows the status while the actions run.
Tip: Use Disqualify without actions when you don’t want to run the attached automations, for example when you clean up test candidates or have already contacted a candidate yourself.
Pause or cancel actions while they run
Once the actions start, a panel shows their progress: Disqualifying candidates..., then Completing 3 actions.... While the actions are running, you can:
Pause the actions, and click Resume when you’re ready.
Cancel the actions. This stops the actions that haven’t run yet.
Click Expand to Preview email or Edit email before the email action is completed.
When it finishes, you’ll see All actions completed, All actions canceled, or a count of what failed, like 1 action could not be completed.
Note: Actions that have already run can’t be undone from this panel. If you want to stop an email, pause the actions as soon as you can.
How teams use disqualify reason automations
Here are three ways teams use disqualify reason automations in Tellent Recruitee to follow up with candidates and keep their hiring process organized.
Notify remaining candidates when a role is filled
A team has made a hire, but 40 candidates are still in the pipeline. It adds a Send an email action to the reason it uses when a role is filled and schedules the message for one day after disqualification at 9 AM. The recruiter disqualifies the remaining candidates in bulk with that reason. Each candidate receives an update without the recruiter writing 40 individual emails.
Keep strong candidates available for future roles
A candidate has the right experience, but their salary expectations are above the role’s budget. The team adds two actions to its salary-related disqualify reason: Add tags with strong-candidate and Assign to a job/talent pool with the Keep warm talent pool selected. When the budget changes or another role opens, the team can find the candidate in the pool.
Keep the hiring team informed
A recruiter wants to share the reason for a rejection with the hiring team. The team adds an Add a note action with visibility limited to selected hiring team members and an Add followers action for the hiring manager. When the recruiter uses that reason, the note records the context and the hiring manager becomes a follower of the candidate profile.
Frequently asked questions
Can I stop an email after it’s been sent?
Can I stop an email after it’s been sent?
No. Once an email has been sent, you can’t take it back. While the actions are still running, you can pause or cancel them from the progress panel to stop emails that haven’t been sent yet.
Can one reason have more than one automation?
Can one reason have more than one automation?
Yes. Each reason can have more than one automation, and each automation can run several actions in a row.
What happens if the person disqualifying doesn't have access to a feature?
What happens if the person disqualifying doesn't have access to a feature?
If someone's hiring role doesn't give them access to a feature — emails, for example — the matching action won't run when they disqualify a candidate.
Do actions re-run when I move a candidate backward in the pipeline?
Do actions re-run when I move a candidate backward in the pipeline?
That's a separate thing — pipeline automations, not disqualify reasons. When you move a candidate back into a stage they've already been in, Recruitee asks Do you want these actions to be done again? so you can choose.
What happens to the automations if I delete the disqualify reason?
What happens to the automations if I delete the disqualify reason?
They're deleted with it, and it can't be undone.
Can I set different automated actions per job?
Can I set different automated actions per job?
No. Disqualify reason automations are company-wide. For job-specific behavior, use pipeline automations on that job's stages.
Will the actions run again if I requalify someone and disqualify them again?
Will the actions run again if I requalify someone and disqualify them again?
Yes. The actions are tied to the reason, so picking it again triggers them again.