An Applicant Tracking System that tracks candidates until the placement and then forgets them leaves secondment and staffing desks blind at the moment that matters most: the end of the assignment. The contract runs out, the consultant is suddenly available, the client has not decided on an extension, and nobody planned the next step. Record the agreed end date of every assignment in the Applicant Tracking System, and attach a redeployment check that starts well before that date. No vanity metrics, and no promise that artificial intelligence replaces recruiters.
This matters most for secondment and staffing, where consultants and temporary workers move from assignment to assignment. Recruitment agencies with interim or contract desks face the same question, and executive search firms placing interim managers do too. In-house recruitment teams meet it with fixed-term contracts and internal mobility. Your contracts set the dates; the Applicant Tracking System has to make them visible before they arrive.
Why assignments without a recorded end date go wrong
The patterns repeat on every desk:
- The end date lives in a contract file or a spreadsheet, and the recruiter learns about it when the consultant calls
- The client assumes an extension, the consultant assumes the opposite, and nobody asked either of them
- A consultant becomes available on a Friday, and the search for a new assignment only starts the following week
- Two recruiters each think the other one is talking to the client about an extension
- A strong consultant accepts a role elsewhere because nobody showed them what could come next
Each case costs income, trust or both. A recorded end date with a planned check turns a surprise into a scheduled conversation.
What the end date and redeployment check contain
Define it clearly in the Applicant Tracking System:
- Agreed end date — the date from the signed assignment, not an estimate, entered when the placement is confirmed, just like the confirmed start date
- Notice and extension terms — the notice period and any extension option, so the team knows when a decision is due
- Check moment — a fixed point before the end date, agreed per desk, when the redeployment check begins
- Named owner — one recruiter responsible for the conversation with the client and with the consultant, consistent with a single owner per role
- Recorded outcome — extension, new assignment with the same client, new assignment elsewhere, or a planned break, written down with the date
How to run the redeployment check in the Applicant Tracking System
A reminder in someone’s calendar is not enough. In the Applicant Tracking System:
- Create the check automatically from the end date when the placement is confirmed, with a next action date on the consultant record
- Ask the client about an extension and the consultant about their wishes in the same week, and log both answers
- If there is no extension, open the consultant to matching on other vacancies before the end date, not after it
- When the client wants a successor or a new profile, start a new vacancy with a structured brief instead of an informal note
- Close the check only when the outcome is recorded, so open checks stay visible in the desk overview
Redeployment and the client relationship
The end of an assignment is also a client moment. The candidate and client relationship records beside the pipeline show which consultants work at which client, which assignments end soon and what was agreed in earlier conversations. Use that view for a plain list per desk: assignments ending in the coming weeks, with the check status and the owner. Do not invent “bench scores” or utilisation percentages that nobody can verify; the useful question is simply which consultants will be available soon and who is talking to them.
Where artificial intelligence may help — and where it must not
Artificial intelligence may suggest open vacancies that fit a consultant’s recorded skills, draft a short message to the consultant about their next step, or summarise the notes from the client conversation for the recruiter to check. It must stay secondary. Artificial intelligence does not replace recruiters, does not decide whether an assignment is extended and does not offer a consultant to a new client without a human confirming it. The Applicant Tracking System stores the end date, the check, the owner and the outcome.
How this sits next to the rest of the pipeline
- A confirmed start date opens the assignment; a recorded end date and redeployment check close it properly
- A next action date keeps the consultant record moving after the placement, not only before it
- A single owner prevents two recruiters from calling the same client about the same extension
A practical week to introduce end dates and redeployment checks
- Agree per desk how long before the end date the redeployment check starts, taking notice periods into account
- Configure the Applicant Tracking System so a placement cannot be confirmed without an agreed end date or an explicit open-ended status
- Add the end dates of all running assignments this week, starting with those that end soonest
- Prepare one short message per language for the consultant and one for the client contact about the next step
- Add a weekly review per desk of assignments ending soon and checks without a recorded outcome
The extra field takes a moment per placement. It saves the idle weeks, the rushed searches and the missed extensions that follow an end date nobody saw coming.
Plan the next step before the last day
If your Applicant Tracking System stops caring about consultants once they are placed, every assignment ends as a surprise. Record the agreed end date, start a redeployment check with a named owner well before it, and keep artificial intelligence as a helper only. Then explore the product or book a demo — we walk through BoldATS assignment and redeployment discipline in your segment.