Creating a Drop Down List
To create a new Drop Down List item, navigate to Admin > Customise Fields > Custom Fields then select the User Option Types tab.
Click New within the Toolbar. Give your list a Title and click Save.
You'll now be able to manage the contents of your list by clicking Manage or navigating to Admin > Drop Down Lists and selecting your new list from the Show Values For field.
Once populated, your list can be set as the Option Type for any list-based Custom Field:
Drop-Down
Multiple Choice
Checkboxes
Editing a Drop Down List
Implications of editing a Drop Down List
Having the ability to edit the content of a drop down list gives you great flexibility in the configuration of your system, whether it be managing your department list, the positions you recruit for or even the job boards you advertise on.
However, before you begin making changes to drop down lists, there are a couple of things worth considering to ensure you fully understand the implications:
Changes made are LIVE - as soon as you add an option or relabel it, the change will be immediately available to select in the Core System, Hiring Manager and Candidate portals.
Updating Old Values - If you decide to change the label on an existing value, the label will be updated throughout the system, including where it has already been used. Whilst this is great for fixing spelling mistakes or changing the name of a department, it will look as those it has always been that department. Changes like this can have a detrimental affect on Reporting, so before making any changes, ask yourself "Do I need to be able to report on what this was called previously?" If the answer is YES, it's better to archive the existing label and create a new one to replace it - remembering to update templates or other records accordingly
Archiving and Deleting Options - On certain drop down lists, you are able to archive old options that are no longer required, which is great for things like job boards you no longer advertise on. If you archive an option, you will still be able to report on it historically but wont be able to select it going forward. For those that cant be archived, you may be able to delete it. If you do delete an option, wherever this label has been used in the past will be also deleted, which cannot be undone or recovered. Please think long and hard before deleting an item. Unless it's something you definitely don't need to see ever again, Archiving is usually the best option.
Candidate Friendly - Certain lists will be visible in different areas of the system, so you need to ensure that the content of the list is suitable to ensure that candidates, hiring managers and vendors can see values that are applicable and relevant to them. For example, Candidates can search on the portal based on your Location, Position, Department and Function drop down lists, so you need to ensure that the options available to them help them to find jobs across your organisation.
Shared Resource Lists - There are a number of lists, such as location or function, that appear in multiple different record types. This means that they share the drop down list as a resource and any options within the list with be available across those records. For example, location is used on a vacancy to show where the role is based, whilst the same list is used within job alert preferences to help match candidates to vacancies. Similarly, business area is used across companies and vacancies.
Influential Lists
As well as being cautious about how you manage list content, there are certain drop down lists that are crucial to the configuration of each system, so please take care when making changes to any of the following:
Contact Position - The position types assigned to contacts help you to create a structure or hierarchy within the organisation. This can be particularly effective to highlight those with additional responsibilities or seniority. This list will also help to drive any Authorisation Workflows, dictating who is available to select at each stage of the authorisation process. With this in mind, adding or removing options here can have a dramatic impact on who is available to select when raising new jobs.
Business Area / Department - These lists will be used for reporting across the organisation, as well as being a factor in authorisation workflows. They may even dictate the application and onboarding processes in place for candidates.
Locations / Positions - These lists, along with Department, are likely used as part of your job alert settings, so creating or changing options here will impact the effectiveness of the auto alert system. As candidates specify their preferences when signing up to job alerts, making changes could result in them receiving far too many / not enough emails to be useful!
How Did You Hear About Us? / Details? - Candidate Source - This nested drop down list helps users to automatically track the candidate source, as they register and apply for jobs on the website. It will also track the source of any applicants coming through the CV import mailboxes. For this to work properly, you need to set up the relationship and set a source string, which is a unique code for each job board or source. If making changes to lists, ensure that the correct source strings are in place.
Editing a Drop Down List
When you are ready to edit a drop down, navigate to Admin > Drop Down Lists, then select the list to edit within the Show Values For field.
📌 Note - Not all drop down lists are available to edit. If you are looking to make changes to a list that doesn't appear to be available, please contact Eploy Support to discuss.
Once you have selected your list, you will see all existing entries. To make any changes to existing options, including archiving / deleting, click into the description.
Alternatively, click New on the toolbar to create a new entry to appear within the list.
Depending on the list you are editing / inserting an entry for, you may have different configuration settings available including:
Parent - This will appear when editing a hierarchy or nested drop down list, allowing you to insert your option into the structure. For example, in the Location list, you could set UK as the parent of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Description - This is how the item will appear in the drop down list and may be visible to hiring managers, candidates or vendors.
Reference - This is used when configuring exports and is not visible in the system or when using the field. This can be populated to help match the drop down list with a value from another platform.
Order ID - Used to dictate the order in the list that this item will appear. If set to 0, the list will be sorted alphabetically.
Source String - This is used to auto track applications and appears within the How Did You Hear About Us / Details drop down lists.
Populate each of the options accordingly and click Save to confirm.
Candidate and Application Source
Candidate and Application Source is tracked using two drop down lists:
How Did You Hear About Us (Candidates) captures the high-level source category e.g. Social Media, Job Board, Our Website, etc.
How Did you Hear About Us - Details (Candidates) captures the source detail e.g. Google, Indeed, LinkedIn, etc.
Candidate Source is captured on initial Registration and Application Source is captured each time a Candidate submits a new Application.
When editing the How Did you Hear About Us - Details (Candidates) list you can:
Link each value to a parent value contained within the How Did You Hear About Us (Candidates) list
Add a Search String which enables Eploy to automatically detect the source when redirected from another website such as Google or Indeed. The search string should be the name of the website as it appears within the website address. For example indeed, monster, google, reed, etc.
🤓 Tip to ensure reporting accuracy, only include sources that you actually use. For example, if you don't post Vacancies to certain job boards, don't include them in your list.
🤓 Tip specific source options can be hidden from Candidates e.g. Recruiter names. To do this, add each item as a source and contact the Eploy Support Team letting them know which options to hide. This can be really useful when carrying out head-hunting activities or tracking registrations at specific events, such as Careers Fairs.
Deleting and Archiving Values
When an option is no longer required, you have two options - to archive or to delete (depending on your user permissions).
Archive stops the value from being selected going forward but preserves all historical uses, meaning your reporting isn't affected.
Delete removes the value from the list completely. You can only delete a value that has not been selected within a Record. For example, if a Candidate has selected a location as part of their Job Alert settings, you will not be able to delete that location, only archive.
Export and Import a Drop Down List
As part of Eploy's Import Tools, you can also import the content of your drop down lists to save having to enter them manually - this can be a great time saver if you have lots of new locations to add or new business areas to manage.
The Import/Export Drop Down Lists tool can be found within Imports on the menu.
Export Drop Downs
Any drop down list that can be edited can also be exported out of Eploy, allowing you to make any required changes and then re-imported into the system.
Within the Manage Dropdown Lists page:
Select a Format Type - Standard, Eploy ID or External ID
Select the Down Down Type to export
Click Export and select either CSV or XML
Having updated your list outside or Eploy, follow the steps below to Import your updated drop down list.
Import Drop Downs
When you select this option, the tool will open in a new window and show you the 5 stages of importing drop downs:
Upload Data
CSV Validation
Missing Data
Existing Records
Import
Upload Data
This is where you can prepare the list to be imported, including preparing the relevant CSV or XML file. You can also generate example files to help you map the information required in order to create new drop down items.
There are three different Import Types you can run for your drop down items and different example files are available for each:
Standard - This import should be used when you are creating or updating drop downs and the data is not coming from a third party system.
Eploy ID - This option should be used if you have downloaded the list content from Eploy first in order to update the list and import back into the system.
Import ID - This import is used when you need to include external ID numbers as part of your drop down lists and the data has come from another system. This helps to keep the data synchronised.
Use the file to prepare your data and then save locally before uploading. As part of this process, you can then select the chosen import type and the specific drop down list you are looking to update. Ensure your file is saved as a CSV or XML file.
Once uploaded and you have set the drop down type, click Continue.
CSV Validation
At this stage, the tool will check that you have included all of the minimum information required in order to run this type of import. You will be prevented from proceeding to this stage if you are missing any of the following information for each type of import:
Standard - You need to ensure that you include the Description header as a minimum for a standard import, along with the Active column (to indicate if the item should be active or not once imported / updated)
Eploy ID - This import requires you to include a column for Eploy_ID as a minimum, along with Active.
External ID - This will require the use of External_ID as a minimum along with Active.
So long as the minimum requirements are met, the CSV validation will highlight any other errors that this import could cause. This will check each column and confirm individually if their content is suitable.
If any of the descriptions are not recognised or do not meet the required validation, it will be flagged here and ignored if you choose to proceed. At this stage, you can either edit your data and click Restart to re-upload an improved data set. This can then be repeated as required in order to prepare your data.
🤓 Tip - When importing using the Active column, we recommend to use TRUE / FALSE to indicate if the option should be active or not. You can also leave the column blank to default the option to inactive.
Missing Data
This stage will only flag up if there are any items in the import that are missing, which applies to external ID or Eploy ID imports only. If the any of the rows in the import are missing the ID, it will be flagged here, allowing you to correct your data in the CSV and restart the process.
Existing Options
Following on from Missing Data, you will then be able to decide what to do with any existing options, that have matched on the description (or IDs, based on the type of import).
Any matched records can then be handled with:
Import - This will create new options, despite them matching with existing options. This will lead to duplicate items if you do this, which can then be managed or tweaked manually in the drop down admin.
Update - This will update or overwrite the existing records, allowing you to correct descriptions or set parent options if applicable. This can also be used to deactivate or archive drop down items. Choosing this option will lead to changes to your existing list.
Exclude -This will ignore any existing options in the import and make no changes, so only select this option if you do not want to impact on the existing options at all. i.e. this should be used if you are intending to import new options only and ignore any duplicates.
Pick the appropriate option and click Continue when ready.
Import
The last stage is to confirm the details which will be imported, including the number of new records and the ones that will be ignored / updated. You can also chose to create a group of the new records to help you track the changes.
If you are happy with the information and the process so far, click Import to run the tool and create the records.
The tool will then run, showing the progress of the import and confirm the new records. You can then click finish to close the import tool and load the list of imported records for review.