Overview

A number of iCIMS' Talent Cloud products leverage searching and reporting, including:

• ​​iCIMS’ Candidate Relationship Management (CRM)
• iCIMS’ Applicant Tracking (ATS)
• iCIMS’ Offer Management 
• iCIMS’ Onboarding

The following questions and answers about iCIMS' searching and reporting capabilities may differ, depending on your company's configurations and your own permissions within the system.

Frequently Asked Questions About Searching & Reporting

How do Job, Person, and Recruiting Workflow searches relate to each other?
Job searches may pull in information from any searchable field on a Job profile; Person searches may pull in information from any searchable field on a Person profile. Recruiting Workflow searches may access both Job and Person profile information because the Recruiting Workflow represents the connection between a job and a person.

What is Simplified Candidate Search (Search > Find Qualified Candidates), and how does it differ from a regular Candidate search (Search > Person > Candidate)?
Simplified Candidate Search is a quicker, simpler version of a regular Candidate search. Since it does not have reporting functionality, it is primarily used for recruiters to find qualified candidates and submit them to particular jobs or talent pools. To run a Simplified Candidate Search, the recruiter just has to input a job title, keyword, or skill; they can also add a location, if desired.

What does the "This Week" date range mean when running a search/report?
"This Week" within iCIMS' reporting tool means from Sunday (12:00 a.m.) through Saturday (11:59 p.m.).

What does the date filter "Since Last Workday" mean when running a search/report?
The "Since Last Workday" filter will show you information from 5:00 p.m. the previous day until 11:59 p.m. today. If it is a Monday, the last workday would have been Friday, so it will show you information for the weekend, as well, or from 5:00 p.m. Friday until 11:59 p.m. Monday.

Is it possible for reports to show only the date value in the report, and not the specific time?
It is possible to make this change from the Edit Preferences menu. To access this menu, click the User Options dropdown (the circular icon at the top right of the screen in the iCIMS system) and choose Edit Preferences. Toward the bottom right, there is an option for Search Engine Date/Time. Choose Always Show Date-Only from the dropdown.

Some fields have a (Text Only) [Row] and then only [Row] option. What is the difference between them?
Certain text area fields in iCIMS allow use of HTML formatting for style, such as the Job Description field. Reporting columns with the (Text Only) label will provide a plain text version of the data within the text field, while the columns with the [Row] label will contain the HTML used in the field.

How can I view total applicants in my job report?
If you are reporting on workflow statistics within a Job search, add Total # of Candidates as an output column to review total applicants per job. To review the total number of candidates across all jobs, add a group-by for Total.

Why does a Candidate search include people who are current employees or in folders other than "active"?
Candidate searches include all people who have ever been candidates. If you would like to narrow your search to include only currently active candidates, you can include a filter for Person Folder...is...Cand:Active.

What is the difference between the Updated By and History Updated By columns available in a Recruiting Workflow search? What does Updated By and History Updated By mean?
The Updated By column will show you the most recent person that initiated the take action process in the workflow. For each action conducted in the workflow, the system keeps a record of the historical changes. History Updated By will display the person that performed the previous actions in the workflow. Please note that duplicates will display in the report when using the History Updated By column, as the search will show a separate entry for each status change.

Why can I sometimes select filter criteria from a dropdown, while other times I have to enter the criteria into an open text field?
Filter dropdowns can only display a maximum of 100 values; once there are more than 100 values, an open text field will display instead.

Can I pull Onboarding Workflow iForm responses into a Recruiting Workflow search?
No. Onboarding Workflow iForm responses should be accessed via an Onboarding Workflow search.

What is the difference between Time to Hire and Time to Fill?

• The Time to Fill Since Creation columns automatically calculate the number of days that elapsed between the created date of the job and the date the candidate was placed into a Hired status.
• The Time to Hire Since Creation columns automatically calculate the number of days that elapsed between the date a candidate created their profile and the date the candidate was placed into a Hired status.
• The Time to Hire Since Identified columns automatically calculate the number of days that elapsed between the application date of a candidate (the day the candidate was attached to the job) and the date the candidate was placed into a Hired status.

Note: Calculations for these columns cannot be modified; however, iCIMS staff may be able to create a formula field to accommodate your organization's preferred calculations. Contact iCIMS Technical Support for more information.

How do Time to Fill columns work?
If a report is being generated where multiple hires are being viewed, the Time to Fill (min) column will display the least number of days it took to fill any of the positions that are being referenced in the report. The Time to Fill (max) column will display the largest number of days it took to fill any position referenced, and the Time to Fill (avg) column will display an average for all hires referenced in the report.

Notes:

• If only one hire is being reviewed, the Min, Max, and Avg columns will all display the same value.
• Calculations for Time to Fill columns cannot be modified; however, iCIMS staff may be able to create a formula field to accommodate your organization's preferred calculations. Contact iCIMS Technical Support for more information.

What is a Pipeline Report? How can I run a Pipeline Report?
Pipeline Metric Reports show statistics on recruiting workflow history on a per-job basis. This helps users review how many applicants are moving through each stage in their workflow or pipeline. To run one of these reports, access the Reporting Center (Report > Reporting Center) and select the Pipeline Workflow Report, located in the Candidate Management Reports panel.

What are the # Ever In... columns used for?
The # Ever In... columns (available in Recruiting Workflow and Job searches) may be used to review the specific recruiting workflow of a job to review historically how many individuals were ever in a specific bin or status, even if they are no longer in that status now. (For every applicant flow status in your system, there is an available # Ever In... column that matches it. Additionally, there are # Ever In... columns for the larger bins that group a selection of statuses together.)

How do the Days in Job Folder (e.g., Days in Approved) columns work?
The Days in Job Folder columns calculate the total number of days a job spent within a specific folder. If a job was placed into a specific folder multiple times, the column provides the sum of all days spent in that folder. For example, consider the following scenario:

• A Job profile is placed into the Approved folder. It stays in this folder for 5 days.
• The profile is then placed in the Hold folder for several days.
• The job is then placed back into the Approved folder for an additional 5 days.

In this scenario, the Days in Approved column would display 10 days for this Job profile.

The Days in Job Folder columns can also be used to calculate an average number of days multiple jobs spent in a specific folder. If a Days in Job Folder column is included in a Job search using a group-by, the column displays the average number of days each job within a group spent in a specific folder. For example, consider the search results below:

This Job search includes the Days in Approved column and uses a group-by to categorize results by recruiter. In this case, the Days in Approved column displays the following information:

1. The average number of days all jobs assigned to Alan York spent in the Approved folder.
2. The number of days each individual job assigned to Alan York spent in the Approved folder. 

Why do duplicate results display in a report?
Some columns, such as the Job Post Information: Posted Date column, appear to show duplicate information. This is because one profile may have multiple values for the column selected; the Job Post Information: Posted Date column, for example, will display a result for each portal that a particular job was posted to. In addition, history columns in Recruiting Workflow searches tend to display what seems to be duplicate entries because the search engine displays each status that a person was ever in. These columns are indicated by an asterisk in the column picker.

How is the Rank column calculated?
The Rank column's percentage is based on where the skill set that was searched for falls in the resume (the higher up on the resume, the higher the percentage) and how many times that skill set appears within the resume.

How can I make a self-reflexive query in a report?
Users can make self-reflexive queries for profile-link fields using @userid, all lowercase, exactly as shown. (Note: It's important that @userid is entered exactly as such, without capital letters or spaces.) For example, to run a search where the hiring manager is the current user, the user could enter in Hiring Manager: SystemID = @userid.

In addition, user admins (and internal iCIMS staff) are able to create searches with dynamic filters that draw values from the logged-in user's data. (This functionality works like the Myself or @userid functionality described above.) After adding a search filter, instead of typing in a value or selecting one from a dropdown, users can click the Dynamic Filtering icon. This will launch a relational picker, allowing the user to select a field based off the person profile. When the search is run, the filter will dynamically substitute the value from the profile of the user who is running the search, filtering the search results based on that value. [For example, if a user were to create a search with the filter Job : Department...is...My Department, once the search is run, My Department will be replaced by the user's department (i.e., the value entered on that user's Person profile in the Department field).] This will be reflected in the search results.

Note: Dynamic Filtering is not supported for all fields/field types; when a user selects an unsupported field/field type as their filter, the Dynamic Filtering icon will not appear. The following field types are unsupported:

• Date
• Date/time
• Dynamic Multiselect (used for Profile Folder Categories)
• Icon
• Rank
• Image/File
• Rating
• Total
• Count
• Percent

Important Note: By default, only user admins and internal iCIMS Admins will be able to create and edit dynamic filters. However, searches with dynamic filters can be saved as templates and shared with other users, who can run these searches without having the ability to edit the filter.

What are noise words?
A noise word is a word such as the or if that is so common that it is not useful in searches. To save time, noise words are not indexed and are ignored in index searches.

For a full list of noise words that cannot be used in iCIMS keyword or quick searches, review the Understanding Search Noise Words Knowledge Base article.

Why aren't graphs displaying full names or groupings?
This is because there is not enough space on the screen to display enough info. In order to get this information to display, you can try the following solutions:

• Change the graph to a different type and/or change the graph's orientation. (For example, a horizontal bar graph has more room than a vertical bar graph.)
• Remove groupings.

Why does Other show as a value when viewing a pie chart of search results?
Any section that is less than 2% of the graph will display as Other.

Why does my search export give me an error message of Cell data too large to load?
The reason Excel might give an error message when exporting data is due to the size limitations of cells in Excel. As of the latest version of Microsoft Excel, there is a character limit of 32,767 characters per cell.

You will need to cut the report down, or upgrade to another spreadsheet program or a new version of Excel, in order to fix this problem.

Additional information can be found for the different versions of Excel at these links:

• Excel 2007 specifications and limits
• Excel 2010 specifications and limits
• Excel 2013 specifications and limits

How can a user admin delete search templates?
User admins are typically template administrators, meaning they have the ability to remove or delete existing search templates in the system. Follow the instructions below to access the Search Template Admin page and delete Filter and/or Output templates. 

Deleting the Filters section of the search template:

1. Navigate to a specific search type.
2. Within the Filters section, click the Manage Search Templates icon.
3. Find the search template you would like to delete, and click the delete (X) icon beside it.
4. Click Delete to finalize.

• Tip: If the delete icon is faded out beside a template, it is either private or locked (hover over the X for more information). To make a search template public, click the Edit (pencil) icon beside the template, share the template with all user groups, and then save. You will then be able to click the Delete icon. Locked templates are standard searches within the system that cannot be deleted. These templates will not have the Edit icon available beside the X. 

Deleting the Output section of the search template:

1. Navigate to a specific search type.
2. Within the Output section, click the Manage Output Templates button.
3. Find the output template you would like to delete, and click the delete (X) icon beside it.
4. Click Delete to finalize.

• Tip: If the delete icon is faded out beside a template, it is private, linked to search template, locked, or currently used elsewhere in the system (hover over the X for more information). To make the output template public, click the Edit (pencil) icon beside the template, share the template with all user groups. and then save. You will then be able to click the Delete icon. Output templates that are linked, locked, or currently used elsewhere in the system cannot be deleted. 

Can the template administrator set default searches globally?
Yes, the template administrator has the ability to set defaults globally. Any user with access to the search engine can save a search and check off the Default option, but this will affect them only. If a template administrator (typically a user admin) selects the Global Default option, the default will be applied for all system users.

Can I export searches and reports?
Any search or report in the iCIMS system can be exported out of the system. Currently, data can be exported in Excel (.xls), CSV (Comma Separated Values), TAB (Tab Delimited Values), or XML (Extensible Markup Language) formats. For more information, review the Exporting Search Results & Reports Knowledge Base article.

• Note: For reports where data is grouped, the only option will be Excel.

Reports can also be generated and converted into charts directly in the system. To do so, simply:

1. Run the report.
2. Click the Chart button, which may be located within the More menu.
3. The Graphical Reports popup will open, allowing you to manipulate the layout of the data.

• Tip: Use the Chart Context Menu (icon of three horizontal lines) to print the chart, or to download a PNG or JPEG image, PDF document, or SVG vector image of the chart.

By default, only user admins have access to all export types. Access can be granted to other users; contact iCIMS Technical Support to have this enabled.

Is it possible to increase the number of search result rows displayed per page?
Yes. Navigate to the User Options menu (the circular icon at the far right of the menu bar) and select Edit Preferences. Then, modify the Page Size key located within the Search Result section of the page.

How do I add the name of the default location from a Job profile's Detail tab to a Recruiting Workflow search as a filter, column, or group-by?
Use the following selection path to pull the default location’s profile name from the Job profile's Detail tab: Job File > Job > Detail Tab > Location > General > Location > Professional Tab > Name.

Notes:

• Select Name Linked instead of Name to have the default location name display as a link that allows a user to navigate to the Location profile from the search results.
• Depending on your organization’s preference, the Location profile may have a different label, such as Company.

---

Searching & Reporting Curriculum

The iCIMS Knowledge Base includes additional resources to prepare users to use the iCIMS system's searching and reporting tools. These resources have been compiled in the following article: Searching & Reporting Curriculum.