A recruiter reviews over 200 candidates for a product manager role in Workday Recruiting. Once the position is filled, all runner-up applicants are added to the database without scores. Three months later, a similar role opens, but the hiring manager starts from scratch, overlooking the stored applications. This method wastes budget and delays the hiring process.
This expert guide covers the tools Workday Recruiting offers to find qualified applicants already in your tenant. It also explains where those native capabilities fall short and how an AI integration addresses those limitations.
What Is Candidate Rediscovery?
Candidate rediscovery matches candidate profiles stored in your Workday database to newly opened requisitions. This automated approach identifies qualified talent from your existing network who might otherwise be overlooked. By scoring these historical records against new job profiles, you generate a ranked shortlist, reducing time-to-fill and sourcing costs before any job ads are posted.
Does Workday Recruiting Provide Candidate Rediscovery?
Yes, partially. Workday acquired HiredScore in early 2024 and rolled its AI capabilities into the platform as a separately licensed add-on called HiredScore AI for Recruiting. That add-on can automatically surface past applicants and internal employees when a new role opens. If your organization already pays for it, you have a form of rediscovery built into the Workday workflow.
Most Workday Recruiting users do not license that add-on. The base module offers the Find Candidates report, the My Candidates report, and candidate pools (dynamic pools built on filter criteria, or static pools built through manual selection). Recruiters can also use faceted filters on Type, Distance, Candidate Tags, Worker Type, and Source to narrow results.
All of these are manual search tools. None verify and score a candidate against an open requisition's job profile. None trigger automatically when a new req posts. None attach a reason to any match. For the majority of Workday Recruiting users, there is no automatic talent rediscovery in the platform today.
How to Rediscover Candidates in Workday Recruiting
Workday's native search tools let a recruiter query the tenant manually, but they do not score or rank results against a live req. Recruitment teams integrate Skima AI to add the missing automation: explainable match scores, ranking, database-wide sourcing and scanning. Below is a 5-step workflow that starts with what Workday already gives you, then builds on it.
Step 1: The Native Path, Start With Find Candidates and Candidate Pools
Open the Find Candidates report from the Workday search bar. This report retrieves candidates, prospects, referrals, and internal employees in one view. Use the faceted filters on the left panel to narrow by Candidate Tags, Worker Type, Source, or Distance. If your team already maintains dynamic candidate pools built around specific skill criteria or job families, check those pools first.
This step gives you a filtered list, not a scored one. Nothing here tells you how well a past applicant actually fits this specific req's job profile. The native path is useful for a quick manual check, but it produces a starting list at best. Skima AI scores and ranks (with explanation) that list against the live requisition next.
Step 2: Connect Your Workday Account With Skima AI
Create an Integration System User (ISU) inside your Workday tenant with permissions across the HCM, Recruiting, and Talent Management domains. Configure OAuth 2.0 authentication with proper scope definitions for secure API access.
This connection uses Workday's own REST APIs and web services endpoints directly, with no middleware required.
- Read access: Position Data, Job Applications, Candidate Profiles, Worker Profiles
- Write access: Job Application custom fields, Candidate tags, and Activity notes
- Pulled data: job profiles, requirements, organizational hierarchy, candidate resumes, and application history for scoring context
- Webhook endpoints: enable real-time data sync so Skima AI reacts to job application creation, position openings, and worker profile changes
If webhooks are not enabled, Skima AI falls back to safe polling every 10 to 15 minutes.
Step 3: Map Custom Fields and Confirm the Connection
Map the custom fields and business objects Skima AI writes to across the Recruiting and Talent Management modules. The primary fields are Skima AI match score (a number from 0 to 100) on the Job Application object, and reasons (Bullets explaining the fit) on the same object. A Skima Analyzed tag gets applied at the candidate level so screened applicants stay filterable in any Workday view.
Optional Shortlist Link, HM Feedback, and HM Comment fields capture manager responses once a shortlist goes out. If your Workday tenant restricts custom field creation, Skima AI falls back to writing an Activity Note or attaching a Skima_Evidence.pdf instead.
Before expanding further, test this on two or three requisitions. Create a job application, then confirm the Match Score and Reasons populate on that application record.
Step 4: Launch Talent Rediscovery Against a Live Requisition
Open the job inside Skima AI, from the Jobs list or from within the job itself. Click the three-dot Actions menu and select Rediscover Candidates. A modal lets you scope the scan in two ways: limit it to a saved candidate segment, or leave it open to every synced Workday record.
Set the Candidate Created Date range next. You can choose from: All time, Last 6 months, Last 1 year, or a custom window. Click Apply. Skima AI will scan the selected pool against this job profile. You'll receive a notification when the scan is complete. Refresh the page to see the results.
Step 5: Review, Filter, and Sync Feedback Back to Workday
Open the View Candidates tab to see a ranked list pulled from across your entire tenant history. Each candidate carries an AI match score and reason bullets explaining the fit. Filter by Industry, Work Mode, Experience Level, Notice Period, Location, and Salary Range.
Once the shortlist looks right, generate a secure, no-login link and send it to the hiring manager. They can click thumbs up, thumbs down, or maybe on each candidate, with an optional comment.
Skima AI writes that decision back into Workday through the same API connection for the audit trail, updating the Job Application custom fields and logging an Activity Note. The feedback stays on the candidate record without anyone switching to a second tool.
What If Your Workday Database Is Duplicated
Workday addresses duplicate records through two separate systems. The older Recruiting Match and Merge functionality handles duplicates at the module level. The newer Duplicate Management Framework (DMF), delivered in release 2020R2, works tenant-wide across Recruiting, HCM, and Student records.
Additionally, DMF offers configurable match rules, automatic merging when rules are met, real-time detection as data enters, mass merge actions, and faceted search reports for targeted review. Once an organization opts into DMF, the switch is permanent; Recruiting Match and Merge becomes unavailable.
DMF handles detection and merging well for records entering the system going forward. It does not retroactively clean up years of stale profiles already sitting in the tenant. Candidates who applied three years ago carry outdated titles, expired contact details, and resumes nobody refreshed. An enterprise with thousands of historical applicants accumulates this debt steadily, and DMF's real-time matching does not reach backward to fix it.
Skima AI treats this as ongoing maintenance rather than a one-time project. It matches on email, phone, or LinkedIn URL first. It also checks matching name, location, and company together as a backup signal.
Furthermore, a field comparison modal appears before anything merges, flagging exactly what differs across the two records. Missing details get filled in through contextual profile enrichment instead of staying incomplete. A dedicated Duplicates tab logs every resolved case for later audit, split across In Database, From Uploads, and Resolved sub-tabs.
5 Benefits of Candidate Rediscovery with Skima AI in Workday Recruiting
Talent rediscovery with Skima AI changes how an enterprise TA team uses its own Workday tenant history in 5 specific ways:
- Faster Time-to-Screen: Rediscovered candidates arrive already scored, so recruiters skip the raw applicant pile. In a documented 30-day Workday pilot, a team cut time-to-screen by 58%.
- More Interviews From the Same Shortlist: The same pilot saw interviews from the top shortlist double compared to the prior process. Candidates who were near-misses on old reqs often align well with new ones.
- Explainable Match Scores With an Audit Trail: Every rediscovered match carries reason bullets tied to skills and experience, written directly to the Workday Job Application record alongside a Skima Analyzed tag for instant filtering.
- Hiring Manager Engagement Without a Separate Login: The shortlist feedback loop lets managers respond through a secure link, no Workday credentials required. Manager satisfaction rose 24 points on NPS in that same pilot.
- Lower Cost-to-Fill for Enterprise TA Teams: Rediscovered candidates were already sourced once, so filling a role this way needs zero new job board spend. Skima AI customers report filling roles up to 67% faster overall.
5 Best Practices to Rediscover Talent in Workday Recruiting
None of these benefits show up inside Workday without deliberate habits built around the tools your TA team already uses. The 5 practices below cover scan timing, data hygiene, and how to layer rediscovery into an enterprise recruiting workflow:
- Check Your Candidate Pools Before Posting a New Req: If your team maintains dynamic candidate pools filtered by skill criteria or job family, review those pools first. Run Skima AI's Talent Rediscovery scan before briefing a sourcing partner or approving a job board spend. The right candidate often already sits in a pool nobody checked.
- Turn On Automatic Rediscovery for Every New Requisition: Skima AI's setting under Preferences and General starts a database scan the instant a new job is created. Enable it so no req slips through without a first look at existing talent. Enterprise TA teams managing dozens of open roles at once cannot afford to trigger scans manually.
- Use Reverse Search for Internal Mobility Candidates: Workday's unified HCM tenant holds employee records alongside external applicants. Reverse Search starts from one employee profile and returns every open requisition they match, ranked by score. This matters for enterprise TA teams under pressure to fill roles internally before sourcing externally.
- Segment Scans With the Candidate Created Date Filter: Choose a 6-month or 1-year window when a role needs someone who was recently active in the market. Widen to All time only for hard-to-fill or niche roles where the qualified talent pool is thin. Broad scans on a tenant with 50,000 records return noise if the date range is not controlled.
- Audit the Duplicate Management Framework Configuration Quarterly: DMF's match rules only catch what they are configured to catch. If your rules have not been reviewed since initial setup, duplicates from new sources (employee referrals, career site re-applications, agency submittals) slip through. Pair a quarterly DMF rule review with a check of Skima AI's Duplicates tab to close gaps both systems missed.
Is Candidate Rediscovery Worth It for Your Recruitment Team?
The honest answer depends on the size and age of your Workday tenant. A company running Workday HCM for five or more years has tens of thousands of applicant records sitting unscored against current openings. That stored history holds real placement ROI.
Setup effort is not trivial for a platform as tightly governed as Workday. Creating an ISU, configuring OAuth 2.0 scopes, mapping custom fields across business objects, and enabling webhook endpoints all require HRIS or IT involvement.
Additionally, Skima AI is a paid layer on top of Workday HCM. While it is affordable, Workday HCM is already one of the most expensive enterprise HCM platforms on the market. That cost adds up.
A newer company with a small Workday tenant and mostly fresh sourcing has less to rediscover. For that team, the added cost may not justify itself yet. Rediscovery earns its place once your tenant is large, aging, and full of applicants nobody has rescored in years.
Pilot Talent Rediscovery in Workday Recruiting
For most established Workday Recruiting users, a pilot with Skima AI can deliver high ROI. The right move is not a tenant-wide rollout on day one. Start with three live requisitions that are already struggling through normal sourcing.
Connect Skima AI, map the Job Application custom fields, and launch Talent Rediscovery on those three reqs. Skima AI's own Workday integration structures this as a 30-day pilot, with weekly ROI reports and checkpoints at day 15 and day 30.
Track time-to-screen, how many rediscovered candidates reach an interview, and hiring manager response rate. Based on a documented 30-day Workday pilot, expect over a 58% drop in time-to-screen and double the interviews from your top shortlist. From there, expanding to more requisitions becomes a decision backed by your own data, not a guess.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Does Workday Recruiting have a built-in dedicated talent rediscovery feature?
Partially, Workday's HiredScore AI add-on (separately licensed) can surface past applicants automatically for open roles. Without that add-on, the base Workday Recruiting module provides only manual search tools like Find Candidates, My Candidates, and candidate pools. None of these score or rank candidates against a live requisition automatically.
2. How to conduct candidate rediscovery in Workday Recruiting?
To conduct candidate rediscovery in Workday Recruiting, connect Skima AI to Workday through an Integration System User with OAuth 2.0 authentication, map custom fields on the Job Application object, then launch Talent Rediscovery on a live requisition. Skima AI scans your tenant history, ranks candidates by fit, and syncs hiring manager feedback back automatically.
3. What are the benefits of Workday Recruiting candidate rediscovery?
In a documented 30-day Workday pilot, Skima AI reduced time-to-screen by 58% and doubled interviews from the shortlist. Matches carry explainable reason bullets, a Skima Analyzed tag for filtering, and hiring manager feedback collected through a no-login link. Manager satisfaction rose 24 points on NPS.
4. Is Skima AI safe to integrate with Workday for talent rediscovery?
Yes, Skima AI operates within Workday's security framework using OAuth 2.0 and role-based access through an Integration System User. It encrypts candidate data in transit and at rest, follows SOC 2 and GDPR practices, and logs every AI decision for audit. Scores rely on resume-based evidence only, with no automatic rejections.
5. Is candidate rediscovery useful for enterprise Workday Recruiting customers?
Yes, especially for large enterprises with years of applicant history stored in their Workday tenant. The value scales with database size and age, so a company with tens of thousands of historical applications gains more from rediscovery than one that recently implemented Workday.
