Bullhorn Amplify: Automate Your Full Recruiting Desk

What This Builds

Bullhorn Amplify is an AI layer that automates the end-to-end recruiting lifecycle within your existing Bullhorn ATS — from sourcing new candidates and matching them to open roles, to asynchronous screening, automated submittal generation, and intelligent scheduling. Instead of manually executing each stage, you manage exceptions and handle the relationship-critical moments.

Prerequisites

• Your firm uses Bullhorn ATS and has Amplify licensed (contact your Bullhorn account manager — Amplify is an add-on to existing Bullhorn subscriptions)
• You have admin access to your Bullhorn account or your IT/ops team can configure Amplify settings
• Comfortable using Bullhorn for standard recruiting workflows (job orders, candidate records, pipeline management)
• Cost: Add-on to Bullhorn subscription (pricing varies by firm size — contact Bullhorn for a quote)

The Concept

Think of Bullhorn Amplify as a junior recruiter who works 24/7 and never gets tired. You still make the strategic decisions — which candidates to present, how to handle a tricky offer negotiation, how to manage a client relationship. Amplify handles the high-volume execution: finding candidates, ranking them, doing initial screening conversations, and writing the first draft of your submissions.

The output isn't perfect — you review and approve at each stage. But instead of building the list from scratch, you're editing a draft. And instead of conducting 20 screens to find 3 presentable candidates, you conduct 5 deeper conversations with Amplify's pre-screened shortlist.

Build It Step by Step

Part 1: Activate Amplify modules with your Bullhorn admin

Amplify is activated module by module. Work with your Bullhorn account manager to turn on the modules most relevant to your desk:

Module 1 — AI Sourcing: Automatically finds and ranks candidates from your Bullhorn database + partner job boards based on job order criteria. For each new job order you create, Amplify immediately surfaces the top-matching candidates from your existing talent pool before you start net-new sourcing.

Module 2 — AI Matching: Scores every candidate in your ATS against every open job order using a trained model based on 60M historical staffing placements. Surfaces "hidden gems" — candidates already in your database you might not have thought to search for.

Module 3 — Asynchronous Screening: Amplify conducts initial screen conversations with candidates via text or chat — asking qualification questions you configure, capturing their responses, and scoring them before you ever pick up the phone. You receive a pre-screened shortlist with conversation transcripts.

Module 4 — Outreach AI: Runs personalized outreach campaigns to sourced candidates — initial contact, follow-up sequences, and re-engagement — using merge fields from the candidate record. Similar to Sense (Level 3), but integrated directly into Bullhorn rather than a separate tool.

Module 5 — Submission AI: Generates customized submission packets for each candidate-to-job-order combination — a first-draft submittal document that pulls candidate record data and maps it to the job requirements. You review and edit before sending.

Module 6 — Scheduling AI: Coordinates interview scheduling between candidates and client hiring managers — sends availability requests, finds common slots, and sends confirmations without manual email back-and-forth.

Part 2: Configure AI Sourcing for a new job order

When you create a new job order in Bullhorn, Amplify's AI Sourcing activates automatically. To configure it well:

1. Open the new job order in Bullhorn
2. Navigate to the Amplify tab within the job order
3. Review the sourcing criteria AI extracted from your job description — add or remove skills, adjust experience ranges, expand or narrow location parameters
4. Set your sourcing scope: Bullhorn database only, job board partners only, or both
5. Click Start Sourcing and let Amplify run

What you should see within 5–15 minutes: A ranked list of 20–50 candidate profiles, scored by fit with the job order. The highest-scored candidates appear at the top with match rationale.

Your job: Review the top 10–15 profiles. Mark each as Interested (move to outreach), Not Interested (remove from this search), or Needs Review (not sure — revisit). This takes 15–20 minutes and replaces 60–90 minutes of manual sourcing.

Part 3: Enable asynchronous screening

For candidates marked Interested, configure whether to route them to:

Option A — Amplify async screen: Amplify sends the candidate a text or chat message with your initial screening questions. Candidate responds at their convenience (often same day). Amplify summarizes their responses and scores them. You review the summary before deciding to call.

Option B — Recruiter direct outreach: Skip async screening and reach out yourself. Best for senior or executive roles where the candidate experience matters more.

To configure async screening questions:

1. In Bullhorn Amplify settings → Screening Templates
2. Create a template for each role type you commonly fill
3. Questions typically include: "Are you currently open to new opportunities?", "What is your current compensation and target?", "Are you available for a [specific start date or timeline]?", "What's your situation — are you currently employed?" — 4–6 questions max

What you should see: 24–48 hours after launching outreach, Amplify begins delivering screening summaries to your dashboard. Each summary shows: candidate responses, a fit recommendation, and a link to the full conversation transcript.

Part 4: Review and advance your Amplify-screened shortlist

Daily, review your Amplify screening results dashboard. For each pre-screened candidate:

• Advance to phone screen: Amplify's async screen indicates a good fit — schedule your own call for deeper qualification
• Decline: Async screen reveals a disqualifier — disposition the candidate in Bullhorn with an appropriate note
• Request more info: Amplify's screening was inconclusive — send one follow-up question via the platform before deciding

Your goal: conduct deep phone conversations only with candidates who've already passed an initial qualification filter. Instead of 20 screens to find 3, you conduct 8 screens and find 5 — same throughput, better conversion.

Part 5: Use Submission AI for first-draft submittals

For each candidate you decide to submit, Amplify's Submission AI generates a first-draft submittal packet:

1. In the candidate record, click Generate Submission or the Amplify Submission button
2. Amplify pulls: candidate's relevant experience from the ATS record, the job order requirements, any matching qualifications, and a draft paragraph explaining the match rationale
3. Review the draft — it will be structurally sound but may miss nuances from your phone screen
4. Edit the draft to add: anything compelling the candidate said on the call that isn't in their record, specific alignment to what you learned in the intake call, compensation and availability confirmation
5. Send to client

What good output looks like: An 80% complete submittal that takes 3–5 minutes to polish vs. 20–30 minutes to write from scratch.

Real Example: IT Staffing Desk, 25 Active Reqs

The problem before Amplify: 25 open reqs; recruiter spends 60–90 minutes per day sourcing, 3–4 hours per week on screening calls that mostly lead nowhere, and another 2 hours per week writing submittals.

Amplify in action:

Monday — 2 new reqs come in:

• Amplify auto-sources 35 candidates per req from Bullhorn database + Indeed (happens overnight)
• Recruiter spends 30 minutes Tuesday reviewing both shortlists → marks 12 per req as Interested
• Amplify sends async screening texts to all 24 candidates

Wednesday — Screening results start arriving:

• Of 24 candidates, 14 responded to async screen
• Of 14 responses, 9 look strong enough for a direct phone call
• Recruiter conducts 9 focused phone screens (vs. the 15+ they'd normally need to screen to find 9 qualified candidates)

Thursday — Submissions:

• Recruiter advances 6 candidates to submittal
• Amplify generates 6 first-draft submittals
• Recruiter edits and sends all 6 in 45 minutes (vs. 2.5 hours manually)

Net effect: 2 new reqs fully pipelined in 3 days; recruiter spent ~3 hours total on these two searches instead of the normal 6–8.

Reported results from Bullhorn: Firms using Amplify report 51% more submissions per recruiter, 22% improvement in fill rates, and significant reduction in time-to-fill. The compounding effect is that more submissions = more placements = more revenue per desk.

What to Do When It Breaks

• Amplify sourcing returns poor matches → Review the job order criteria Amplify extracted from your JD. If the JD was vague, the matching will be vague. Add specific skill tags and required qualifications directly in the Amplify sourcing setup, not just the JD text.
• Candidates don't respond to async screen → Check message content and timing. Text messages sent Tuesday–Thursday 10am–2pm have highest response rates. If response rate is below 20%, simplify the first question to a single yes/no: "Are you currently open to new opportunities?" and expand from there.
• Submission AI draft is too generic → The draft is only as good as the candidate record. If ATS records are thin (missing skills, outdated job titles), the draft will be thin. Update candidate records after your phone screens and the next submission will be better.
• Scheduling AI creates conflicts → Confirm your calendar integration is current. Amplify uses your connected calendar to find availability — if your calendar isn't up to date, it will offer slots you can't actually fill.

Variations

• Simpler version: Turn on Amplify AI Sourcing and AI Matching only — skip async screening and Submission AI until you're comfortable with the sourcing workflow. Sourcing alone provides significant time savings.
• Extended version: Connect Amplify to your client's interview scheduling system (if they use Greenhouse or iCIMS with calendar integrations) — Amplify can schedule client-side interviews directly, eliminating the 3-way calendar coordination entirely.

What to Do Next

• This week: Work with your Bullhorn account manager to activate Amplify on a trial basis; run AI Sourcing on 2 active reqs and compare the shortlist to what you'd source manually
• This month: Enable async screening for high-volume reqs; measure the number of screens it takes to surface a submittable candidate vs. your pre-Amplify baseline
• Advanced: Run the full 6-module Amplify workflow for one quarter and measure: submissions per week, fill rate, time-to-fill, and revenue per desk vs. the prior quarter

Advanced guide for agency recruiter professionals. These techniques use more sophisticated AI features that may require paid subscriptions.