Use Bullhorn's AI Matching to Triage Inbound Applications

What This Does

Bullhorn's built-in AI matching scores and ranks inbound applications against a job's requirements — so you review the top 10–15 qualified candidates instead of reading 300+ raw resumes.

Before You Start

• Your firm uses Bullhorn ATS (confirm with your manager if unsure)
• You have an active job order with at least 20 inbound applications
• You're logged into Bullhorn with standard recruiter access

Steps

1. Open the job order in Bullhorn

From your Bullhorn dashboard, navigate to Jobs in the main menu and open the specific job order that has inbound applications. You'll see the Applications tab showing all candidates who applied.

What you should see: A list of applicants with their current status. If you have 50+ applications, the value of AI scoring will be immediately obvious.

2. Enable AI candidate matching

Look for a Match button, AI Match option, or Scoring toggle at the top of the Applications tab. In newer Bullhorn versions (2024+), this may appear as a sparkle icon or a "Rank by Fit" option. Click it.

If you see a prompt to confirm job requirements — review the skills and experience pulled from the JD and adjust any that seem off before running the match.

Troubleshooting: If you don't see a Match or AI Scoring option, your firm's Bullhorn plan may not include this feature. Ask your Bullhorn administrator — it's available on most current subscription tiers and may need to be activated in admin settings.

3. Review the ranked shortlist

After running the match, Bullhorn will reorder your applicant list with a match score next to each candidate (often shown as a percentage or star rating). The highest-scoring candidates appear at the top.

What you should see: Your applicant list sorted by AI score, with score indicators next to each candidate's name. Open the top 10–15 profiles to verify the scores make sense before diving into outreach.

4. Disposition the ranked list efficiently

Starting from the top of the scored list:

• Clear top matches: Open profile, quick review, change status to "Phone Screen Scheduled" and send outreach
• Middle range: Quick scan — if the match score seems off (underqualified or overqualified despite high score), mark "Not a Fit" with a note
• Below threshold: Mark as reviewed with a standard "Does not meet minimum qualifications" note

Tip: Set a cutoff score (e.g., only screen candidates above 70%) and stick to it during peak volume — you can always revisit the 60–70% range if the top tier doesn't pan out.

Real Example

Scenario: You post a Warehouse Supervisor role on Indeed. By Friday, 280 applications have come in. Without AI scoring, this is a 4–5 hour screening task.

What you do: Open the job order in Bullhorn, click Match/Rank, confirm the job criteria, run the score. Bullhorn surfaces 22 candidates at 70%+ match. You review those 22 in 35 minutes. 14 get outreach. You've triaged 280 applications without reading 258 of them.

What you get: 35 minutes instead of 4+ hours. The candidates you reach out to are substantively qualified — not just keyword matches.

Tips

• Train Bullhorn's matching by marking candidates "Not a Fit" with notes when the AI score seems wrong — your feedback improves future scoring accuracy.
• The match score is a tool, not a decision. Always scan the profile for anything the AI might have missed (company name recognition, career trajectory, unusual background).
• For technical or niche roles, check which skills the AI is scoring against before running the match — if the JD was vague, the scoring will be too.

Tool interfaces change — if a button has moved, look for similar AI/magic/smart options in the same menu area.