There are several places where it is possible to set the Availability for candidates. depending on what you are doing depends which is the most appropriate method to use.
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First Availability Date (often used for Contractors)
For candidates who work as Contractors, it is best to set their availability using the dates at the top right of their candidate record.
It is normal (and best) to set only the first date to indicate when they become available e.g. they are currently working on another contract and will not be available until 15/12/2015
If you enter a date into these fields, you can SHOW that date on the [Candidates] workbench, (See below)
If you run a Search from within a vacancy it is possible to search for candidates using this date. The system will only return candidates whose availability date is on or before the date entered into the search.
e.g. Looking for Java developers with an availability of 18/11/2014 will only return those candidates where the availability date is on or prior to the 18th Nov or any candidate where the date has not been set (since they may be available - you just don't know)
See below for example. On the [Candidates] workbench the column representing the earliest availability date is normally labelled Start (although you can change the heading) since it indicates the earliest start date for the candidate.
Software releases after version 1.00.16.356 allow users to search/restrict the candidate list directly from the [Candidates] workbench.
Selecting the Date Type = Start & End will then allow users to use the Date filters to restrict the display to only those candidates who have
a 'start' date (earliest availability) prior to the selected date.
| NB: A <Blank> date is considered as being 'available'. |
Availability Calendar (Often used for Temps)
At the top right of the Candidate record, next to the availability dates, is a small Calendar icon. 
This calendar is used by the Temp Booking System to determine whether a candidate is available for work on a particular day or not.
Candidates can be made Available or Unavailable by default. (e.g Always available, or never available unless specified)
This calendar is also used by the AWR calculation system and if a worker is not working for a particular reason such as Jury Service or Maternity Leave it must be recorded in here to correctly pause or update their AWR counter.
Using the palette at the bottom left it is possible to select a particular item such a "Unavailable" and then apply that for a week, a month or an individual day, by selecting the relevant open, then clicking into the calendar.
e.g. To make someone unavailable Mon-Fri for a particular week, choose Unavailable then choose Working Week and then click on the relevant week in the calendar.
Availability Planner (Only used for Temps)
The Planner (often know as the [Bookings] Workbench) allows you to show visual markers for the availability of a Temp worker within the database. This is often ideal for booking short-term Ad-hoc temps, and allows you to easily look at workers for the week, and see who is available on particular days.
By using the filters it is possible to easily get a view of candidates for a particular ROLE, and show their availability "This week"
| Note: Any days where the candidate has been set as 'Unavailable' in their calendar will be shown in the Planner with a pink [U] |
It is possible to use the palette of items at the bottom left of the planner screen to select markers for certain days to show the candidate can work afternoons only, or only 'am'.
On newer systems (ver 1.00.15.009 or later) it is possible to filter the bookings display using the 'Bookings' multi-selector on the left. This will allow you to find any candidate with bookings/markers during the selected view period.
e.g. In the screenshot below the system is displaying only Matrons with an AM or PM availability "This Week"
| NOTE: Is is possible to configure the booking types displayed in the palette using Maintenance>Setup>Booking Types. These booking types are VISUAL, and do not restrict/prevent booking outside the indicated times. |
[Keywords: Availability, candidate availability, temp availability, available temps, setting availability, planner availability, available candidates. ]
Graeme Orchard
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