Use Bullhorn's AI Screening to Triage Inbound Applications

What This Does

Bullhorn's built-in AI parses every inbound application, scores candidates against your job description criteria, and surfaces a ranked shortlist — so instead of reading 300 resumes, you're reviewing the 15–20 that actually match.

Before You Start

• You have Bullhorn open and are logged in
• You have an active job order with a populated description (the AI scores against the JD text — more detail = better scoring)
• Your Bullhorn subscription includes AI resume parsing (most tiers do; confirm with your account rep if unsure)

Steps

1. Open your job order and locate the candidate shortlist

From the Bullhorn navigation bar, go to Jobs and open the job order you want to triage. Click the Candidates tab within that job order. If AI parsing is active, you'll see a Match Score column next to each candidate's name — a percentage or star rating based on fit against the JD.

2. Sort by match score to surface the shortlist

Click the Match Score column header to sort candidates from highest to lowest. Bullhorn has already parsed every submitted resume against the job description; you're now looking at a ranked list. Focus your review on candidates scoring above your threshold (typically the top 10–20% for a high-volume req).

3. Review the AI-parsed candidate snapshot

Click into any high-scoring candidate. Bullhorn displays a parsed Candidate Summary panel on the right side, showing auto-extracted: job titles, years of experience, skills, education, and location. You don't need to open the raw resume to get the key facts — use this panel for your initial pass.

4. Apply a status in bulk to non-qualifiers

After identifying your shortlist, check the boxes next to candidates who clearly don't qualify. Use the Bulk Action dropdown (top of the candidate list) to update their status to Reviewed — Not Qualified or your agency's equivalent disposition. This keeps your pipeline clean without manual one-by-one updates.

5. Move qualified candidates to Phone Screen status

For candidates above your threshold, select them and bulk-update status to Phone Screen or Active. These are the only candidates you need to call.

Real Example

Scenario: You posted a warehouse supervisor req on Monday. By Wednesday, 280 applications have come in. You have four other reqs to work.

What you do: Open the warehouse supervisor job order in Bullhorn → Candidates tab → sort by Match Score descending. The top 22 candidates have scores of 70% or higher. You quickly scan their parsed summaries — 16 show supervisory experience and local geography. You bulk-disposition the bottom 258 and send the 16 to Phone Screen status. Total time: 25 minutes instead of 4 hours.

What you get: A clean, ranked shortlist with no resume-by-resume reading. Your call list is ready.

Tips

• Feed the AI good JD text. Bullhorn's scoring is only as good as the job description it's scoring against. A vague JD ("responsible for managing team") produces noisy scores. Specific criteria ("minimum 3 years supervisory experience, forklift certification required, WMS experience preferred") produces much tighter results.
• Check your subscription tier first. Basic AI parsing is included in most Bullhorn tiers, but advanced features like asynchronous voice screening (Bullhorn Amplify) require a separate add-on. Call your account rep before assuming a feature is unavailable — you may already have it.
• Use match scores as a filter, not a final verdict. AI scoring can miss candidates who have the right experience but described it with different terminology. Always scan a few mid-range scores manually to calibrate how well the AI is reading your particular req type.

Tool interfaces change — if a button has moved, look for similar AI/match/score options in the Candidates tab of any job order.