A recruiter finds a strong candidate for a client vacancy, arranges an interview and receives positive feedback. Two days before the offer, the candidate withdraws: the site is an hour and a half away by public transport, the early shift starts before the first train and the candidate has no car. All of this was known to the candidate from the start, and the recruiter could have known it too, but it was never recorded. This article explains why every candidate in your Applicant Tracking System needs a recorded work location and travel radius: what goes wrong without it, which fields to record, how to keep the data accurate and proportionate, how to use it when matching, how the approach differs per segment and how to check with your own data whether location causes avoidable drop-out.
Location matters in every segment. Recruitment agencies match candidates to clients across a region and lose time on submissions that fail on the commute. Staffing desks fill shifts at several sites, often at hours when public transport is limited. Secondment firms place consultants at changing client locations and need to know how far each consultant is willing to travel per assignment. Executive search firms discuss relocation and hybrid arrangements with senior candidates. In-house recruitment teams hire for several offices or plants and want to know which locations an applicant can realistically reach. In every case the question is the same: do you know where a candidate can work before you submit, or do you find out at the offer?
What goes wrong without a recorded location
- Candidates are submitted for roles they cannot reach at the required hours
- Withdrawals late in the process, after client and recruiter have invested time
- Recruiters ask the same travel questions again at every new vacancy
- Search results mix candidates who live nearby with candidates who would never travel that far
- Location details end up in free-text notes, sometimes as a full home address nobody needs
The result is wasted interview slots, frustrated clients and a pipeline that looks fuller than it really is.
What to record per candidate
Keep the set small and specific. A practical set of fields:
- Home region — town or postcode area, enough to calculate travel, not a full street address unless a later stage requires it
- Work pattern — on-site, hybrid with a number of office days, or remote
- Maximum travel — in minutes or kilometres one way, as the candidate states it
- Means of transport — own car, public transport, bicycle or a combination, plus whether shift times limit the options
- Relocation — open to relocation or not, and under which conditions, if relevant for the role
- Date confirmed — when the candidate last confirmed these details
Use fixed fields rather than a free-text note, so you can filter and report. Record the same fields on the vacancy side in the structured brief: the work address, the required office days and the shift times. Only then can the two be compared.
Accurate and proportionate data
Location details change: candidates move, buy a car or change their mind about hybrid work. Ask for confirmation at intake, at every new submission and whenever a candidate returns from your talent pool, and record the date each time. Collect only what you need for matching; a postcode area usually suffices, and the full address belongs in the placement stage, not in the search profile. Location data falls under your normal retention period and appears in an answer to an access request like any other candidate detail. Tell candidates why you ask, so the question feels like service rather than screening.
Using location when matching
Before a submission, compare the vacancy location and hours with the candidate’s travel radius, work pattern and transport. If the role falls outside the radius, discuss it openly with the candidate before submitting rather than hoping it works out, and record the outcome: accepted, accepted with conditions, or declined. A short screening question on the application form can ask for the postcode area and maximum travel time for direct applicants. When candidates do withdraw, record location as a withdrawal reason with a fixed value, so you can see later how often travel was the cause.
Differences per segment
Agencies use the travel radius mainly to avoid wasted submissions and to explain to clients why a shortlist covers a certain area. Staffing desks combine location with confirmed availability and shift times, because a site reachable by day may be unreachable at six in the morning. Secondment firms record travel limits per consultant and check them for every new or extended assignment, since client sites change. Executive search firms record relocation conditions and hybrid expectations in more detail, as these often decide a senior move. In-house teams record which offices or plants an applicant can reach, so a candidate rejected for one location can be considered for another.
Let the system help
Much of the work around location repeats and suits automation: searching candidates within a radius of the vacancy location, warning before a submission when the role falls outside a candidate’s stated travel limit, reminding the recruiter when the confirmation date is older than an agreed period and showing location as a filter in your shared skills and tag searches. An artificial intelligence helper can extract travel preferences from intake notes into the fixed fields or estimate travel time for a given route. The recruiter checks the result with the candidate and decides; artificial intelligence does not replace recruiters and does not decide who is excluded.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Only a home address — the address is known, but not how far or how the candidate is willing to travel
- Distance without time — twenty kilometres can take twenty minutes or an hour, depending on transport and hours
- Never reconfirming — preferences recorded two years ago are used as if they were current
- Excluding without asking — candidates are filtered out on distance without the conversation that might have changed it
- Collecting too much — full addresses and personal details are stored where a postcode area would do
Questions teams ask
- Should we record kilometres or minutes? — Record what the candidate states; minutes usually reflect the real limit better, especially with public transport
- Who records the location? — The recruiter at intake, or the candidate through the application form, with the recruiter confirming
- May we exclude candidates on distance? — Use it to start a conversation, not as an automatic exclusion; the candidate decides what is acceptable
- How often should we reconfirm? — At every new submission and after an agreed period without contact, for example six months
- Does this replace the vacancy brief? — No; the brief records where and when the work happens, the candidate record records where the candidate can work
Check it with your own data
Count from your own records, per team and per segment: how many active candidates have a recorded home region, work pattern and maximum travel, how many of those were confirmed in the past six months, how many submissions in the past quarter fell outside the candidate’s stated radius and how many withdrawals list travel or location as the reason. Compare the share of submissions that reach an interview for candidates with complete location data and for candidates without. Discuss these figures in your weekly pipeline review and report the number of candidates behind each figure. Do not compare with industry averages; your own trend is the number that matters.
A practical start
- Agree the fixed location fields every active candidate must have
- Add work address, office days and shift times to every vacancy brief
- Confirm location details at intake and at every new submission
- Record location as a fixed withdrawal reason when travel is the cause
- Review the share of complete and recently confirmed location data in your weekly pipeline review
Known location, matches that last
A good match on skills fails when the commute does not work. Record where every candidate can and wants to work, keep the data small and current, compare it with the vacancy before submitting, talk to candidates instead of filtering them out and check your own figures. Explore the product or book a demo — we show how candidates, vacancies and the pipeline work together in BoldATS for your segment.