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Support Topics
Communications
The communications screen is divided into four parts:
Click between the tabs located in the center screen to explore the different sections.
The Style Settings section can be found at the top right corner.
Send Message (Tab)
The Send Message tab is divided into three main sections:
Candidate List
The bar at the top of the list allows users to filter candidates by date or by status.
There are three different status filters to pick from:
Candidates Pending Invitation (Blue Button): Candidates who have not yet been sent an invitation.
Unresponsive Candidates (Gray Button): Candidates who have been sent messages but have not yet responded via date selection.
Candidates on Waitlist (Yellow Button): Candidates who accepted their invitation but have not yet been assigned an interview date because there were no available openings.
Once you have found the candidate(s) with whom you would like to communicate, click on their entries to select them. Doing so will enable you to send messages to them using the Message Drafter. You will also see their names populate the Message Preview window located below the Drafter.
Click the green Select All button at the bottom of the list to select all the candidates within a list.
If multiple candidates have been selected, you can click the red Deselect All button to deselect all candidates that were previously selected. Otherwise, you can click on each person who should be deselected individually.
Message Drafter
MESSAGE FIELDS
Click into the Message Drafter’s fields to manipulate or edit these elements:
Template: The Message Drafter allows you to create templates that can be used to communicate with candidates over and over again with pre-populated information. Clicking on this field will open a drop down menu listing your previously created templates. Click on a template and its contents will populate the Message Drafter.
There are two templates that you will see when you open this drop down menu for the first time: Congratulations and Invitation.
These templates can be used as starting points for the messages you would like to send your candidates. For more information about how to edit and use templates, scroll down to review the Composing Messages and Creating and Saving Templates sections
From Email: This is the email of the person who is responsible for reviewing any replies or inquiries candidates might have after they receive your communications. It defaults to the residency coordinator’s email, but it can be changed to any email address you prefer.
From Name: This is the name of the institution that your candidates will see when they open your email message. It will default to your department’s name, but it can be changed to any name you prefer.
Subject: This is the subject heading that your candidates will see when they open your email.
Body: This is the space in which you will compose your message to the candidate. The text that appears in this space is NOT precisely what you candidates will see. Use the Message Preview section to better visualize what your candidates will see when they open your email message.
COMPOSING MESSAGES
The Merge Fields Menu is located to the right of the Message Drafter:
These merge fields can be used as placeholders for unique personal information that will change in each message based on who the recipient is. For example, clicking on the “Candidate First Name” field will insert a {CANDFIRST} placeholder into the Body section of the Message Drafter. Wherever that field appears in the draft, the candidate’s first name will appear in the message the candidate ultimately receives.
Two important merge fields are the Schedule Interview Button field and the View Schedule Button field.
Schedule Interview Button: Inserting this field into a message will include a link that the candidate can use to select interview dates online.
View Schedule Button: Inserting this field into a message will include a link that the candidate can use to view their personalized interview day schedule.
Note: Visit the Candidate Experience section of our support guide to see these tools in action!
Here’s an example what it looks like to use several merge fields in one message:
In this example, the user wanted to include the candidates first name, last name, and a button with a link to their personalized interview day schedule. To do this, the user clicked on the following fields from the Merge Fields list:
-Candidate First Name
-Candidate Last Name
-Schedule Interview Button
Doing so inserted the following elements into the body of the message:
{CANDFIRST}
{CANDLAST}
{SCHEDULEBTN}
The way the message will look to the candidate can be confirmed using the Message Preview window.
Click on the blue refresh button located next to the preview window to ensure that your final edits are reflected in the displayed preview.
Here’s what our preview window looks like using our previously mentioned example:
CREATING AND SAVING TEMPLATES
New Template: To create a new template, click on this blue button. Doing so will blank out all the message fields. If you had previously been working on another template and had made changes, you will be asked if you want to save your changes before continuing.
Save Template: To save the changes you have made to the template you are currently working on, click on this green button.
Save as New Template: Click on this green button if you would like save the template you are working on as a new template and leave your original template intact. You will be prompted to give the template a new name. Any changes you made will be reflected in the new template; the old template will not reflect any of the changes you made.
Access saved templates by clicking on the Template bar at the top of the Message Drafter.
Message Preview
At the center of this section is a window that will enable you to preview the messages you compose in the drafter. The message preview window provide users with an accurate depiction of what their messages will look like when they are opened by recipients.
There are five elements that surround the window:
Candidate Name Display (top left): The names that you selected from the Candidate List are visible in this section. Use the blue arrows to toggle between different candidates.
Candidate Email Preview (top right): The email address of the candidate currently occupying the Candidate Name Display will be seen in this corner.
Refresh Button (left): Make sure to click this button before proofreading your message. This will ensure that your most recent edits are visualized in the message preview window.
Send Test Copy (left bottom button, yellow): Click on this button to send a test email of the message being previewed. A window will open up asking to whom the test email should be delivered. The field will default to the email used in the “From” field of the Message Drafter (most likely the email address of the coordinator).
Send Email (right bottom button, green): Click on this button to send an email to each student you selected. The total number of students can be seen in this button and in the Candidate Name Display section.
Manage Waitlist (Tab)
From the Manage Waitlist tab, users can manage the candidate waitlist.
Click on the Date Selector (top center blue button) to pick a particular date.
A drop down menu will appear listing interview days along with: the number of candidates scheduled for each day, the total number of slots each day has available, and the number of candidates who have been waitlisted for each day.
After you select a specific day, the left and right sides of the window will populate with content.
On the left side, all the candidates who have been scheduled for that specific day will be listed.
On the right side, all candidates who have been waitlisted will be listed.
To manage a waitlisted candidate, click on the blue arrow button located to the left of their waitlist entry.
A window will open up with three menu options:
View Candidate Profile: Clicking this button will take you to the Candidates section of RezRATE, where you will be able to view and manage the candidate’s profile.
Email Candidate: Clicking this button will take you to the Message Drafter tool in the Send Message section tab. The candidate’s entry will be selected so that you can compose a message and communicate directly with them.
Schedule for [DATE]: Clicking this button will enable you to schedule the candidate for cited date.
Communication History (Tab)
The Communications History tab allows users to see the messages they have sent to candidates.
The Communications List (left) is arranged chronologically, but you can further filter the entries by template type.
Click the bar at the top of the communications list that says All. From there, a drop down menu should appear with the different templates you have used during your interactions with candidates.
Click on the name of a template. The list will adjust and show you only the candidate communication entries that use the template you selected.
If you want to see all the communications you’ve sent out to candidates without template filtering, click on the same bar and then select the Show All Communications button.
Click on an entry from the Communications List to select it.
The contents of that entry will be displayed in the preview window on the right side.
Although the communication entries on the left side contain most of the relevant text sent in the body of your messages, the preview window will depict the contents of your messages as they appeared to the candidates who received them.
– At the top left of the preview window, there is a bar displaying the heading that accompanied the message.
– To the right of that, the date and time of the selected message are listed.
– Underneath the heading and the date, you will find the contents of the message.
Style Settings
Click the Style Settings button at the top right of the screen to adjust the colors of the text and background featured in the header of your messages.
If you are uncertain of which numeric code to use for a specific color, consider consulting Google’s color picker.
After you have entered a new numeric code into either the text color or background color fields, click the refresh button. Your new color will be applied to the header.