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Administrator Guide
Last Updated: 2025-06-13
Merge Duplicate Candidates

Merge Duplicate Candidates

  • You can enable candidate merging using the
    Enable Candidate to Person Merging
     task.
  • Security:
    • Candidate: Global Search
       and
      Candidate Merge
       domains in the Recruiting functional area.
    • Exit Interview
       and
      Former Worker Storage
       domains in the Staffing functional area.
Workday Recruiting Match and Merge automatically identifies potential duplicate records for a candidate and enables you to:
  • Manually merge a candidate to another candidate, pre-hire, former worker, or contingent worker.
  • Unmerge records.
You can merge duplicate External Candidates or Pre-Hires, but not with Internal Candidates or Workers.
Merge events have a:
  • Source
     (the candidate that you want to merge).
  • Target
     (the worker or candidate with whom you want to merge the
    Source
    ).
The
Source
 is the candidate:
  • That applied to a job on the external career site.
  • Created by the
    Put Candidate
     web service.
  • From whose profile you initiate the merge on the
    Duplicates
     tab.
  • Whose name you enter in the
    Find Duplicates for Candidate
     report.
You can now opt in to the new Duplicate Management Framework. After you opt in, you can't opt out and won't be able to access the Workday Recruiting Match and Merge functionality. For more information, see:
  1. Access the
    Edit External Career Site
     task.
    Complete the
    Apply - Previous Worker
     section to check whether external candidates previously worked at your company. Workday uses candidate answers to flag potential duplicates.
  2. (Optional) Access the
    Edit Tenant Setup - Notifications
     task.
    Configure Workday to send a notification to the email address associated with a deactivated Candidate Home account.
    1. In the
      Notification Delivery Settings
       section, access the
      Recruiting
       parent notification type.
    2. Configure the
      Candidate Home Account Deactivated
       notification category.
  3. Access the
    Find Duplicates for Candidate
     report.
  4. Select a candidate and click
    OK
     to advance to the list of potential duplicates for that candidate.
  5. Select an action on the
    Merge
     column:
    • Merge
      : Merges the candidate to the selected record.
    Clicking
    Remove
     prevents that record from displaying as a duplicate for the candidate in future searches.
    If you merge a candidate to a former worker, Workday uses the former worker information when you hire the candidate. This type of merge might trigger data updates on the former worker record. All processes triggered by the merge have (Merge) appended to the process name.
    Before merging a person record, close all other browser tabs, windows, and mobile instances where that record is open.
  6. If you want to merge the candidate with a person not shown on the
    Potential Duplicates
     grid, click
    Merge with Other
    .
    Search for a person with whom you want to merge the candidate. The
    Last Name
     that you enter must fully match the person's last name.
    Example: If you want to search for a terminated worker named Ava Coulson-Greene, enter
    Coulson-Greene
     in the
    Last Name
     field.
Workday automatically sets these types of records as the
Target
 when you merge them with a candidate:
  • Candidates with a Candidate Home account, except when you merge 2 candidates with different accounts.
  • Contingent workers.
  • Terminated workers.
When you merge a candidate with a terminated worker, Workday:
  • Automatically sets the terminated worker as the
    Target
    .
  • Updates the terminated worker profile with candidate information, including the:
    • Contact information.
    • Legal name.
  • Marks the merged record as a former worker on the job application.
When you merge a:
  • Candidate who has a Candidate Home account with a contingent or terminated worker, Workday automatically sets the worker as the merge
    Target
    . You can't select any of these record types as a
    Source
     for merging.
  • Prospect created through Prospect Introduce Yourself with another prospect, Workday displays Terms and Conditions from the merge Target and not the merge Source in the merged record. Terms and Conditions for the Source are still available in audit reports.
When a prospect applies on an external career site that requires a Candidate Home account, Workday creates a candidate record independent of the prospect record. The 2 records don't merge automatically.
When you merge candidate records, the
Candidate Confirmed Opt-In Email
 status is based on the primary email of the candidate not the profile of the candidate. The
Candidate Confirmed Opt-In Email
 status is based on the most recent or updated primary email address.
When you merge a candidate with a worker and the candidate has a pending
Review Documents
 task, Workday removes the pending
Review Documents
task if you’re using
e-Sign by Adobe Sign
 as the
eSignature Integration Type
. Workday recommends that after such a merge, you use the
Review Documents
 task to add this step.
Review merged records on the:
  • Candidate profile.
  • Merged Candidates
     report.
You can use these report fields to identify and report on merge targets and the former or terminated worker that a candidate was merged to:
  • Candidate is Merge Target
  • Merged Former Worker
  • Merged Terminated Worker
To restore a merged record to its original state, click the
Unmerge
 button on the
Merged Candidates
 report. All actions you take on the merged record, such as creating a job application, transfer to the target record of the original merge. You can't unmerge records when:
  • There's an in-progress or completed
    Hire
     event.
  • The source record is purged.