What actions deduct search credits?

If you are using our Aggregated Search feature, you will probably already be well aware that in most cases, using this feature will deduct search credits from the boards you are searching on. 

In this article we will cover:

1. What you can see for free
2. Accessing further details and credit usage
3. How to maximise your use of search credits
4. Common questions

What you can see for free

Regardless of the credit model, idibu is able to access and display a certain level of candidate detail for free. All free data available will be displayed directly in the search results page. Where applicable, we'll also highlight any keywords that you have used in your boolean search query.

The data displayed will vary depending on the information the candidate has provided to the board, and therefore the level of detail is not something in our control. While it may be unlikely that you can judge the full strength of the candidate's match for the job, the aim is for you to have enough information to ascertain whether you should use a search credit to see more details.  

Accessing further details and credit usage

There are two ways in which you can see more information regarding the candidate. Both of these methods require idibu to extract this information from the job board -  therefore, both will use a search credit if applicable. (Whether this is applicable depends entirely on how the job board works, but the majority of boards work in this way).  

1.Clicking the blue arrow:

To the left of the candidate name, you'll see a blue arrow. Clicking this will open up the candidate profile provided by the board in a pop up window.

2. Clicking the candidate name

This will display the profile provided by the board in a full page, with the option to click 'Next' and 'Prev' to scroll through all the candidates. If you have CV downloading activated, this is also where you can download the CV to your desktop.

If you are confident in the suitability of the candidate from the free data alone, and don't take either of these actions, a credit will only be deducted when you add the candidate to your idibu account or download the CV.

How to maximise your use of search credits

We understand that sometimes it may suit you to run a general search in 'all vacancies' mode, but wherever possible, searching against a vacancy is a great way to maximise the benefits of your credit spend. 

Searching against your vacancies means the search history is logged against each vacancy. The benefits of this are:

1. Specific searches performed in the past are easier to find, and recorded for longer as each vacancy can retain up to 15 searches. In contrast, if you only ever search in 'all vacancies' mode you're reducing all your available search history to a maximum of 15 for all the searches you run. 
2. Historical searches retain the actions you've taken. Therefore if you need to return to the search results at a later time, repeating actions that have deducted credits already will not cause any further credits to be deducted. This is not the case if you run the search from scratch again.

Common questions

Will I be charged an additional credit for adding the candidate to idibu or downloading the CV?

If your board works on a credit basis and you have reviewed the additional candidate data by clicking the blue arrow or the candidate name, a credit will already have been deducted by your board. Therefore, as long as you add the candidate to idibu from the same search, then no further credits to be deducted.  

For further guidance on adding your candidates to idibu, see 'Adding candidates to idibu'.

Will credits be deducted via other searches where the same candidate appears?

Yes - we don't store all of the candidate data automatically. Therefore, if another search produces the same candidate and the additional details are accessed, then another credit to be deducted. 

For this reason, it may be prudent to add candidates to idibu who may not be suitable for the vacancy in question, but who you may be able to help in future. This means that they can be found in future when running a local search. It also means your most cost effective approach is to firstly run your search locally inside your idibu account, before searching the external boards.