When a candidate arrives at the ATS site to apply for a job, it's useful to know which board that candidate arrived from. This is possible in part by embedding some of the forementioned URL variables into the Candidate Response URL. Something like the following:
| 1 | https://customer.ats.cxm/responses?job_id=123&board_id={board_instance_id}&source_board={pipeline_id} |
It would provide your ATS, during the candidate response process, with the same Board Instance ID & Board Pipeline ID submitted in the Return Process.
Board Instance vs Pipeline ID Explained
A Board Instance is a specific instance of some Job Board (Pipeline ID). For example, as a customer I can set up 10 instances of 'Monster.com' that will be used regionally by my users. Most likely this would mean 10 unique Monster logins, each associated to their own inventory and branding.
In this case, eQuest would return 10 different board_instance_id's but the pipeline_id would always be 'Monster.com'.
Example
A user posts a job through eQuest via your ATS. The Candidate Response URL included looks like this:
| 1 | https://customer.ats.cxm/responses?job_id=123&board_id={board_instance_id}&source_board={pipeline_id} |
The user chooses three boards labeled: Monster (US), Monster (UK), and CareerBuilder - My Account. Everything goes well in eQuest and the user is redirected to the return_url; included in that request are the Return Parameters for each board, which your ATS stores for later use:
| 1 | username: |
"Zuul" |
| 2 | requisition_number: | "123" |
| 3 | board_count: | "3" |
| 4 | board_id_1: | "101" |
| 5 | board_name_1: | "Monster (US)" |
| 6 | board_pipeline_id_1: | "Monster.com" |
| 7 | board_id_2: | "102" |
| 8 | board_name_2: | "Monster (UK)" |
| 9 | board_pipeline_id_2: | "Monster.com" |
| 10 | board_id_3: | "103" |
| 11 | board_name_3: | "CareerBuilder - My Account" |
| 12 | board_pipeline_id_3: | "CareerBuilder" |
When each posting was generated in eQuest, the {board_instance_id} variable was substituted for it's respective value, and each Candidate Response URL became.
-
Monster (US)
https://customer.ats.cxm/responses?job_id=123&board_id=101&source_board=Monster.com
-
Monster (UK)
https://customer.ats.cxm/responses?job_id=123&board_id=102&source_board=Monster.com
-
CareerBuilder - My Account
https://customer.ats.cxm/responses?job_id=123&board_id=103&source_board=Careerbuilder
With this information included in the URLs, your ATS knows that responses for the first come from the instance Monster (US) or the global eQuest board Monster.com, etc.