Moving Candidates Between Jobs

Sometimes the right candidate applies to the wrong job — or a strong applicant could be a great fit for another open position in your organization. SmoothHiring's Port to Job feature (also called Assess Fit for Another Role) lets you create a new applicant profile for a candidate under a different job, complete with its own assessment, report, and Job Fingerprint match.

Table of Contents

1. Overview
2. When to Use Port to Job
3. How Port to Job Works
4. Step-by-Step: Porting a Candidate
5. Choosing a Target Job
6. What Happens After Porting
7. What Data Carries Over
8. Viewing Related Profiles
9. Important Considerations
10. Best Practices
11. Frequently Asked Questions

Overview

The Port to Job feature creates a separate applicant profile for a candidate under a different job posting. This is not a simple move — it creates an independent profile with its own:

• Job Fingerprint match — how well the candidate fits the new role.
• Assessment report — new assessment based on the target job's criteria.
• Pipeline stage — starts at the beginning of the new job's pipeline.
• Comments and ratings — starts fresh (independent from the original).

The original profile remains completely unchanged. Both profiles exist independently, giving you a complete picture of how the candidate fits different roles.

When to Use Port to Job

Common Scenarios

How Port to Job Works

The Process

1. You open a candidate's profile and select Port to Job (or Assess Fit for Another Role).
2. You choose a target job from your available positions.
3. SmoothHiring creates a new applicant profile under the target job.
4. The new profile gets its own Job Fingerprint match and assessment.
5. The original profile stays unchanged.
6. Both profiles are linked, allowing you to navigate between them.

Key Principle: Copy, Not Move

Port to Job is a copy operation, not a move. The candidate's original application and all its data remain in place. The new profile is a fresh evaluation of the candidate against a different job's requirements.

Step-by-Step: Porting a Candidate

1. Navigate to the applicant list and open the candidate's profile.
2. In the profile toolbar, click Assess Fit for Another Role (or the port/swap icon).
3. The Port to Job dialog opens with:
   • An information message explaining how porting works.
   • A Target Job dropdown to select the destination.
4. Select the target job from the dropdown.
5. Click Port Profile.
6. Wait briefly while the new profile is created.
7. A success notification confirms: "Profile ported successfully."
8. You can optionally navigate directly to the new profile.

Choosing a Target Job

The target job dropdown shows your available positions organized into categories:

Job Categories

Selecting a Job

1. Click the Target Job dropdown.
2. Browse the categorized list of available jobs.
3. Each job shows its name and is grouped under its category heading.
4. Select the desired job.
5. If no other jobs exist, a message appears: "No other jobs available for this employer."

Note: The dropdown excludes the candidate's current job to prevent duplicate profiles.

What Happens After Porting

When you click Port Profile:

1. New Profile Created: A fresh applicant profile is created under the target job.
2. Job Fingerprint Match: The system evaluates the candidate against the new job's fingerprint and criteria.
3. Assessment Generated: A new assessment report is created specific to the target role.
4. Success Notification: You receive a confirmation message.
5. Navigation Option: You can navigate directly to the new profile in the target job.
6. Original Unchanged: The original profile, with all its data, comments, and ratings, remains intact.

What Data Carries Over

Viewing Related Profiles

After porting, both profiles are linked. You can navigate between a candidate's profiles across different jobs:

1. Open the candidate's profile (either the original or the ported version).
2. Look for the Related Profiles link or indicator.
3. Click to navigate to the other profile(s).

This cross-referencing helps you compare how the same candidate is assessed against different roles.

Important Considerations

This Is Not a Stage Change

Port to Job is different from moving a candidate between pipeline stages. Stages track a candidate's progress within a single job. Porting creates an entirely new profile under a different job.

Assessment Differences

Because each job has different requirements, criteria, and a different Job Fingerprint, the same candidate may receive very different assessments for different roles. A "Strong Fit" for one position might be a "Weak Fit" for another — this is expected and valuable information.

Profile Independence

After porting, the two profiles are independent:

• Rating one does not affect the other.
• Adding a comment to one does not appear on the other.
• Changing the stage of one does not affect the other.
• Rejecting one does not reject the other.

No Duplicate Prevention

You can port a candidate to the same job only once. If a candidate already has a profile under the target job, the port operation will handle this appropriately.

Best Practices

Evaluate Before Porting

Before porting a candidate, consider:

• Does the target job's requirements genuinely match this candidate's skills?
• Is the porting adding value, or just creating extra work?
• Have you discussed with the target job's hiring manager?

Add Context

After porting, add a comment on the new profile explaining why the candidate was ported:

• "Ported from Software Engineer role — strong full-stack skills that align well with this Lead Developer position."

Coordinate with Team

• Inform the hiring manager for the target job that a new candidate has been ported.
• Share the new profile with relevant reviewers.
• Compare the assessments across both jobs to get a holistic view.

Track Both Profiles

Periodically check both profiles to ensure the candidate is progressing appropriately in each pipeline.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does porting consume a job credit or cost anything? No. Porting a candidate to another job does not require additional payment. The candidate is already in your system.

Can I port a candidate to a job that is expired? Yes. The target job dropdown includes expired jobs, so you can port candidates to positions that are no longer actively posted.

Can I port a candidate back to the original job? If the candidate does not already have a profile under the original job (which they would, since they applied there first), the system would prevent duplicate profiles.

Can I port multiple candidates at once? Currently, porting is done one candidate at a time. You must open each candidate's profile individually to initiate a port.

What if I port a candidate by mistake? The ported profile exists as an independent record. You can choose to ignore or reject the ported profile — the original remains unaffected.

Can I port a candidate to an internal job? Yes. Internal jobs appear in the target job dropdown and work the same way as active or expired jobs.

Related Articles

• Managing Candidates
• Custom Hiring Pipeline
• Share Candidates with Team
• Applicant Notes & Comments