Data-Driven Decisions: Building Smarter Pipelines in Bullhorn

Most staffing firms have massive candidate databases in Bullhorn. The real question is: is that data working for you or against you?

That's exactly what we explored in our recent webinar with Bullhorn and Newbury Partners. Hosted by Joe Calzone, Partner and Vice President of Front Office at Newbury Partners, this session brought together industry leaders to tackle one of staffing's biggest challenges: making your data actually usable.

Joining Joe were:

• Veronica Geraghty, Regional Account Manager at Bullhorn and former recruiter with 7 years in the trenches
• Eric Scalese, Regional Sales Manager at Bullhorn with over 10 years watching the industry evolve
• Andrew Buhrmann, CEO and Co-Founder of CandidateIQ

[Watch the full webinar here]

The Hidden Cost of Bad Data

Here's a stat that should wake everyone up: 30-40% of placements staffing firms make were already in their database, but they couldn't find them or interact with them.

Even worse? When recruiters go external because they don't trust their database, the costs add up fast. As Andrew shared: "$30 a day in sourcing tools is over $10K a year. All those additional job postings, InMails, and sourcing subscriptions just eat into your margin."

But the real cost isn't just financial – it's the erosion of trust.

When Trust Breaks Down

Veronica, drawing from her years as a recruiter, painted a picture many will recognize:

"You start to run a search and it's not accurate. You start to lose confidence in your system. So you're resorting to keeping spreadsheets of candidates when you should be using a CRM or ATS, right? But then that single source of truth just gets fractured."

The ripple effects are everywhere:

• Recruiters maintain shadow systems outside of Bullhorn
• Managers can't trust pipeline reports for forecasting
• Teams resort to expensive external sources for candidates they already have
• Speed to submit suffers because finding candidates takes too long

Eric added: "People may move away from a database because they don't trust the data. So if we have that and we can show them those statuses in real time, giving them that peace of mind – that's critical."

The Framework for Trust

So how do you rebuild that trust? It starts with understanding what makes a candidate record actually usable.

As Andrew explained: "People think about a candidate record as a single row, but really there's over 40 different variables you need to think about when determining whether that's usable or a dead end."

The CandidateIQ approach focuses on four key pillars:

1. Audit

Understanding what's already in your database – not just quantity, but quality and completeness.

2. Clean

Removing outdated or incorrect information. This isn't optional – if you're pushing in new phone numbers without checking what's already there, you're just adding noise.

3. Enrich

Filling in the gaps with verified contact information. But here's the critical part: it needs to be verified. As Andrew noted, "In healthcare, you sometimes get spousal information across the board from enrichment providers. We need to alert recruiters – hey, this is likely going to be a family member number, but the email is verified."

4. Score

Tiering records based on completeness and verifiability so recruiters know exactly where to focus their time.

The Tier System: From Treasure Hunt to Treasure Map

One of the most powerful concepts discussed was record scoring. Instead of making database searches feel like a treasure hunt where you know there's gold but can't find it, a proper scoring system creates a treasure map.

As Andrew put it: "Whether it's millions of records or thousands of records, when you just say 'Hey recruiters, go focus your time on the tier one records,' it's night and day."

Veronica emphasized how this connects to real business outcomes: "Speed to submit is what we live and breathe in staffing. How fast can we get the best candidate over to our client? That's a snowball effect. Your team is happy because they're making a placement quickly, but your client is happy."

Making It Work: Real Results

The proof is in the results. Lindsay from NSC Staffing shared: "Historically, we have a lot of records that weren't searchable and usable. Now with the data clean and properly structured, recruiters are reaching people with significantly better information than we had before, and the team is adopting it seamlessly."

Susie from TOPS Staffing echoed this: "Recruiters are reaching people with significantly better information than we had before."

And the financial impact is real. Eric noted: "We've had a handful of clients that have been able to save significant amounts of money by dropping LinkedIn Recruiter licenses and having Andrew's company come in and enrich the data."

One client Veronica worked with put it perfectly: "We're using Bullhorn like we would a job board now. We know it's updated. We know the best candidates are in there because we've already talked to them or someone already vetted them."

The AI Readiness Factor

Here's something that doesn't get discussed enough: bad data blocks AI adoption.

As Veronica explained: "I hear a lot of clients say 'I'm scared about automating the matching internally because we don't have the right data.' That's typically where I would bring in CandidateIQ as my partner. Hey, let's enrich the data. But then also now you're comfortable. Now you know that those matches are going to be accurate."

With Bullhorn rolling out powerful features like Amplify for intelligent candidate matching and automated workflows, having clean, structured data isn't just nice to have – it's the foundation that makes everything else work.

Three Action Steps You Can Take Tomorrow

Eric closed the webinar with concrete advice for staffing leaders wanting to build smarter pipelines:

1. Start with a database audit

"Not just the audit, but explain to the team why you're doing this. You want to re-earn their trust by saying 'Hey, this is our system of record. This is going to be our go-to when it comes to searching and sourcing.'"

2. Assign clear ownership of candidate records

"Consider having an automation rule in place where if candidate records aren't getting touched within your timeframe – 30 days, 3 months, whatever – change the ownership. Move it to a house account so it's fair game for someone else."

3. Make data part of your daily workflow

"Use the dashboards, have KPIs in place, but refer to them daily. If you're not doing that, it becomes an afterthought and then you're looking at information once it's already happened. We can't change the past. We can change the future by understanding where we need to be focused."

The Bottom Line

As Joe summed it up: "Your database is only as powerful as the data inside it. If you can trust your data, your people can trust your data, and you'll do much bigger and better things."

The future of staffing is more automated, more intelligent, and more efficient. But all of that is built on a foundation of clean, structured, trustworthy data.

Mike Day from BroadStaff captured it perfectly: "We're layering technology on top with confidence now that the candidate data is updated."

That confidence – that trust – is everything.

Watch the Full Webinar

Ready to dive deeper? Watch the complete 30-minute session where Veronica, Eric, and Andrew break down:

• How Bullhorn dashboards help recruiters prioritize the right candidates
• The real cost of incomplete data (hint: it's not just the obvious expenses)
• Why effective enrichment rate matters more than match rate
• How AI and automation are shaping candidate enrichment in the next 12-18 months
• Real client stories of dropping expensive sourcing tools and getting better results

Ready to See What Clean Data Can Do for Your Team?

If you're dealing with any of these challenges:

• Recruiters avoiding the database and going straight to external sources
• Managers questioning pipeline reports and forecasting
• Fear of implementing AI/automation because you don't trust your data
• That nagging feeling you're leaving placements on the table

Schedule a database audit →

Let's turn your database from a dormant repository into your biggest competitive advantage and revenue-generating machine.
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CandidateIQ integrates directly with Bullhorn to audit, clean, enrich, and score your candidate records – giving your team the trust and clarity they need to work faster, place more candidates, and finally use your database the way it was meant to be used.

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