Why you shouldn't add yourself as a candidate when using integrated email

We realise that there are some occasions where you might be tempted to add yourself as a candidate to idibu, particularly when you first start using your account.

This might be because you want to test your applicant autoresponder messages, check the application process - or because you're simply curious to see how a record looks once created.

This in itself is not be a problem, until two critical factors become involved:

1. You add your work email to the candidate record.
2. Your company uses our integrated email tool.

Why is this a problem?

Imagine that a colleague asked you for your email password - would you give it to them? 

We're sure you wouldn't! (if you're ever tempted we would strongly suggest you seek an alternative solution!). There are many reasons why you wouldn't do this, but the primary one is because you will have internal emails between yourself and other colleagues which are private and need to remain so. 

Someone else seeing these mails who was not part of the email chain or conversation would clearly create major confidentiality issues - to put it mildly.

Now this is the really important point we need to stress: ADDING YOUR WORK EMAIL TO A CANDIDATE RECORD RESULTS IN EXACTLY THE SAME THING.

Integrated email is designed so that you can record both incoming and outgoing mail to your candidates automatically. This means any mail sent to or from any employee using idibu, to any candidate.  These emails get recorded automatically in the candidate notes, and are accessible on the homepage timeline.

Therefore, if you add your work email address to a candidate record that you've created, you have just created a place in the system to record all your internal email conversations.   

This clearly isn't a good situation for you, especially if you are part of the management team. But it's also equally as bad for any colleague who's email gets exposed as a result. 

So in conclusion, for your own benefit, and for the respect of your colleague's data integrity  do not use your work email if you're creating a fake candidate record.

How can I fix this?

If you have a horrible sinking feeling reading the above and realise you have done this, then there are some easy fixes.  Of course, we can't turn back time and reverse the affect of a colleague already seeing some recorded mail, but we can help you get remove any mail that has been added.

To do this, you simply need to delete the candidate record that you created using your email address. 

1. If you are not sure of the candidate name you used, or just want to double check there isn't a record containing your work email, then just type the email address into the quick search box in the top right of the screen.

2. Open the candidate profile page, and scroll down to the bottom. If you have permission to delete candidate records, then you will see the 'delete candidate' button in the panel on the right.

3. If you only see the 'merge candidate' button, then you do not have permission to delete candidates.

In this scenario, contact your account administrator immediately and explain that you need to urgently delete this record.

4. When the candidate record is deleted, all attached notes and emails will be removed from your idibu account. This also means they will be removed from the timeline on the home page.

Alternative solutions

If you want to see the current autoresponder messages being used on your account, simply ask your administrator for these details. If you are the administrator of the account, then you can simply check the candidate engagement suite.

If you want test the application process then simply use any other email than your work email. For example, you could use your personal email address. If you're a bit worried about colleagues finding that address, then use a different name than your own on the candidate record you create. Having done your testing, simply delete the candidate record - or if you do not have permission - simply remove your email address from that record. 

If you don't wish to use your personal email address then you can simply create a test email account using any number of free email accounts that are available (gmail, yahoo, 1&1 to name a few examples).