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Creating your custom tag structure

Setting up tags before you start using them, so they stay consistent from day one

Written by Luke Pitkin

Tags are brilliant, right up until you've got "Construction", "construction" and "Constrction" all meaning the same thing.

Hey! Luke here, founder of Giig šŸ‘‹

Tags are how you slice your database later. Every "who've I got in healthcare on a month's notice?" search relies on them. The trick is to set up your structure before you start tagging, so everyone on your team picks from the same list instead of inventing their own. Ten minutes now saves you a very boring afternoon of tidying up later.

Plan your categories first

Giig groups tags into categories, and each category holds a set of tags. Before you click anything, jot down the things you actually search by. For most agencies that's something like:

  1. Industry, e.g. Healthcare, IT, Construction

  2. Seniority, e.g. Junior, Manager, Director

  3. Notice Period, e.g. Available, 2 Weeks, 1 Month

  4. Skills, the handful that matter in your niche

If you'd never filter by it, it doesn't need to be a tag.

Finding your tag settings

  1. Click the settings (gear) icon, top right of the platform

  2. Select Customisation

  3. Click Tags

Adding a category and its tags

You'll land on Customise Tags, with your categories on the left and their tags on the right. To add a new one:

  1. Click + Add Category at the bottom of the list

  2. Give the category a name (it starts as something like "Category 7", just click in and type over it)

  3. Click into the tags box next to it, type a tag and press Enter. Repeat for each tag

  4. Hit Save

Want each category to stand out? Click the Aa box next to the category name and pick a colour. Tags from that category then show in that colour on your records, so you can spot a candidate's industry or notice period at a glance.

Editing or removing tags

  1. To remove a single tag, click the little x on the tag

  2. To remove a whole category, click the X on the far right of its row

  3. Rename a category by clicking into its name and typing

  4. Don't forget to hit Save

šŸ’” Pro tip: keep it tight. Five or six categories with a sensible list of tags in each beats thirty categories nobody can remember. If you can't decide whether something is a tag, it probably isn't.

Tagging your records

Now the fun bit. Tags work on candidates, contacts, companies and jobs, and they all pull from the same structure you've just built. There are two ways to add them.

When you're creating a record

  1. Click the orange + Create button at the top of the screen

  2. Choose Candidate, Contact, Company or Job

  3. Click Add Tags, pick your tags, then finish filling in the form as normal

On an existing record

Works the same way whether it's a candidate, contact, company or job:

  1. Open the record

  2. Click the edit (pencil) icon next to Tags

  3. Click the tags you want from each category, or start typing in Start typing to add tags... to find one quickly

  4. Click Save & Close

šŸ’” Pro tip: anything you type that isn't in your structure ends up under Custom Tags, in plain grey. That's where the chaos lives. If you spot the same custom tag popping up again and again, add it to a proper category in settings instead.

Searching by tags

This is the payoff. Head to Advanced Search (the magnifying glass, top left) and use Tags/Skills Only or Add Tags to pull up everyone with the tags you need.

šŸ“¹ Watch a Full Giig Walkthrough

Need a hand?

Look, software's only useful if it actually helps you place people faster, that's the whole point of Giig. If something's not clicking, or you think a feature's missing that would make your life easier, tell me. I'm not a faceless support team, I'm the guy who built this thing. Email me: support@giighire.com

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