Bringing Candidates and Positions Together with Job Applications

Our app can track candidates and open positions, but there's a crucial element that's missing: how do we know which candidates are interested in which positions? We can create lookup relationship fields on the Candidate object that let recruiters specify the positions in which the candidate is interested, but what if we want to track additional information, such as whether the candidate is currently scheduled to interview for one of those positions? And wouldn't it be helpful if the recruiter has a way of storing the cover letters that candidates tailor for each specific job to which they are applying?

We can satisfy these requirements with a Job Application custom object that stores data about an individual candidate's application to a single position. Each time a candidate wants to apply for a position, the recruiter can create a job application record that contains the candidate's name and the position to which he or she is applying, as well as any cover letter that the candidate may have submitted specifically for that position. Recruiters will also be able to indicate the status of the candidate's application, such as whether he or she is scheduled for an interview or if the application has been rejected. After we create the Job Application object and its fields, we'll make a few small modifications to the Position, Candidate, and Job Application objects so that each position record displays the names of the candidates who have applied to it, and each candidate record displays the name of the positions to which the candidate has applied.