As a recruiter, submittals are how you link candidates to jobs and track their progression through the hiring process. This guide covers everything you need to know about creating, managing, and updating submittals within BrightMove ATS.
What is a Submittal?
A Submittal is the formal connection between a candidate and a job in BrightMove. Creating a submittal starts the candidate’s journey through your company’s hiring workflow, tracked through a series of workflow statuses until the candidate is hired or declined.
Creating a Submittal
To create a submittal:
Navigate to the candidate’s profile.
Select the Send to Job, this will open the New Submittal modal
Choose Assign on the relevant job.
Complete any necessary notes.
Click Save.
This creates the submittal record and places the candidate into the first status of the submittal workflow.
Managing Submittals in BrightFlow
BrightFlow is a Kanban-style visual tool that simplifies day-to-day submittal management. You can navigate to it by clicking the Brightflow button in the top right corner of your dashboard as seen below.
In Brightflow, you will notice:
Each workflow status appears as a column.
Candidates appear as cards within the columns.
Move candidates between statuses by dragging and dropping their cards.
BrightFlow provides a clear, visual overview of where each candidate stands in your workflow and helps streamline candidate movement as hiring progresses.
For more information on Brightflow, feel free to check out Changing a Candidate's Submittal Status in BrightFlow View
Moving a Submittal Through the Workflow
To update a candidate’s submittal status:
Go to the submittal (via candidate, job, or BrightFlow).
Click on Add Activity
Select the new status from the Submittal Status dropdown.
When creating a new submittal activity, there is only one required field to complete before saving:
Comments: This field is required. Enter relevant details about the status change or next steps.
All other fields in the modal are optional:
Assign To: You can change the assigned user if needed.
Activity Type: Defaults to a standard option but can be changed.
Start Time / End Time: Adjust if you want to track specific timing for the activity.
Duration: Automatically calculated from the start and end times.
At the bottom of the modal, you’ll see additional optional checkboxes:
Set Reminder: Enable if you want a reminder for this activity.
Set Follow Up: Use to schedule a follow-up task automatically.
Email Assigned: Select if you want an email notification sent to the assigned user.
Mark Completed: Check if you want this activity marked as completed immediately.
Save your changes.
This updates the candidate’s workflow position and triggers any associated automated communications (if configured).
How to Update or Edit a Submittal
Recruiters can update submittal details if needed:
Edit Notes or Internal Comments on the submittal record.
Update Status as needed throughout the hiring process.
Attach Files or Documents directly to the submittal for hiring manager review.
Remove or Withdraw the submittal if necessary (depending on permissions).
To edit:
Navigate to the submittal record.
Select Edit or the specific field you wish to update.
Save your changes.
Tips for Efficient Submittal Management
Use BrightFlow daily to visually manage candidate pipelines.
Keep submittal notes updated for clear collaboration with hiring managers.
Use internal comments to document recruiter-only insights.
Ensure candidates are moved promptly to the correct status to maintain accurate reporting.
How Submittals Impact Reporting
Submittal activity directly affects reports such as:
Time to Hire reports (based on status movement and placement dates).
Submittal history reports (showing candidate progression).
Recruiter activity tracking.
Maintaining accurate submittal statuses is essential for clean reporting and tracking.
Next Steps
For hiring manager guidance, see Reviewing Submittals as a Hiring Manager
For configuration help, see Configuring Submittal Workflows as a Super User
For reporting insights, see Submittal Reporting Overview