The Recommendations Tab: Shortlist Picks and Pool Analysis

The Recommendations tab appears on every scored job in HireSalt. It surfaces AI-generated shortlist recommendations and an aggregate analysis of your candidate pool so you can make shortlisting decisions faster, without reading every resume individually.

Recommendations

After scoring completes, HireSalt selects the strongest candidates from your pool and presents them as recommendation cards. Each card shows the candidate's name, match score, triage tag, and a one-line AI reasoning explaining why the candidate is worth acting on.

Three types of recommendation cards appear:

• Accept to shortlist — candidates whose score and trajectory make them strong immediate shortlist additions.
• Flag for review — candidates worth a closer look before deciding, often because of a mixed signal such as a high score alongside a career flag.
• Watch — candidates who are borderline or strong on one criterion but weak on others; worth keeping in view as the pool develops.

Clicking Accept on a card immediately shortlists that candidate without leaving the tab. If you want to act on all recommendation cards at once, click Accept Batch — this shortlists every recommended candidate in a single action.

A "Next best action" nudge may also appear above the recommendation cards. This is a short prompt surfacing the most impactful action available given your current pool state, such as scoring more resumes or lowering your threshold to unlock more candidates.

Pool Overview Panel

The pool overview panel sits at the top of the tab as a two-column card. The right column shows pool health at a glance: how many candidates cleared your bar, how many are below it, and how many are accelerating in their career trajectory. The left column contains two distinct signal sections explained below.

Career Trajectory Risks

Question it answers: "Which individual candidates carry career-level risks I should know about before shortlisting them?"

These flags are raised by the career analysis engine on individual candidates, independent of their overall match score. A candidate with a high score can still carry a trajectory flag — the two are separate signals.

Flags are split into two tiers:

• Hard flags — conditions that typically need review before shortlisting. Examples: a career gap of 6+ months, level suppression (titles declining over time), or overqualification relative to the role.
• Soft flags — advisory signals that may or may not matter depending on the role. Examples: short average tenure, a non-linear career path, or lateral-only moves with no progression.

Each flagged candidate's name links directly to their full profile so you can review the context before deciding. The section shows all scored candidates with flags — above and below your screening threshold.

Pool Gap Signals

Question it answers: "Is my pool structured in a way that might cause me to overlook groups of candidates?"

Pool Gap Signals are structural patterns across the pool, not flags on individuals. They appear in the same panel as Career Trajectory Risks, separated by a divider, and they vanish automatically when no gaps exist. Two types of signals currently appear:

• Above threshold — not in any batch: Candidates who cleared your screening threshold but have not been included in any recommendation batch yet. This can happen when the pool is large and recommendation batches have only partially covered it. Clicking the signal takes you to a pre-filtered Candidates view showing this group.
• Accelerating candidates below threshold: Candidates whose career velocity score is strong (above 75) but whose overall match score fell below your threshold. These candidates are growing fast in their field — your threshold excluded them, but they may be worth a look depending on how much weight you place on trajectory. Clicking the signal filters the Candidates tab to this group.

Pool Health Statistics

The right column of the overview panel shows three key numbers: candidates who cleared your bar, candidates below the bar, and the count of accelerating candidates in the pool. Below these, a progress ribbon tracks how many of the AI's recommendation batches you have acted on — giving you a sense of how far through the suggestions you are.

Pool is below your bar

When no candidates cleared the screening threshold after scoring, the tab shows the "Pool is below your bar" empty state instead of recommendations. This state tells you the total number of candidates screened and the top gap signal explaining why none passed. Two actions are available:

• Lower your threshold — links to the Candidates tab where you can drag the threshold slider down and re-triage the pool.
• Upload more resumes — takes you directly to the resume upload page if the pool itself is too small to yield qualified candidates.

See also: Triage and Screening Threshold — Shortlisting Candidates — Career Story Explained