This article explains how you can set up your recruiting email communications settings. This allows you to contact candidates directly from Personio and make use of email templates for a more efficient exchange. 

What Does Candidate Communication via Email In Personio Entail?

Personio provides the option to receive messages from candidates via a personal recruiting mailbox and to send emails to candidates directly from your Personio account. The communication is set up from two points, which can be configured separately:

1. Automatic forwarding of emails from candidates that enter your own company's or subcompany's recruiting email address to the Personio Company recruiting email address myaccount-jobs@m.personio.de. ► Set up a redirection in your company's email address to receive all applications in Personio and enable easy candidate management.
2. Sending recruiting emails from Personio using your company's or subcompany's recruiting email address as the sender address. ► Set up your custom email address as the sender and configure a Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP). 

Note that you can set up a redirection of emails to Personio (for incoming communications) and set up SMTP (for outgoing communications). For a smooth communication process, we recommend setting up both, however you can also set up just the redirection.

Set Up A Redirection to Receive Candidate Emails in Personio 

If you want to receive applications via email and messages from candidates directly in the Unassigned messages or the candidate's profile in the recruiting section, you have to set up a redirection. This redirection sends incoming emails from your company's recruiting email address to Personio's Company recruiting email address. 

You will find your Company recruiting email address in Personio under Settings > Recruiting > Recruiting > General > Recruiting email settings. All outgoing messages will be sent from this email address by default, and all messages received in this mailbox will be shown in your Personio account.

To receive candidate emails sent to your company's recruiting mailbox in Personio, follow these steps: 

1. Navigate to Settings > Recruiting > Recruiting > General > Recruiting email settings.
2. Note the Company recruiting email address for your account and set up an email redirection from your company's email server.

   Make sure that the original header of the email is also transmitted, and a copy stored on your company email server. If you are unsure about the required settings, please contact your IT department.

3. Go to Sender name to define whether the employee logged in at the given time, or the company name (Settings > Organization > Company) will be shown as the sender of the email. 

You can test if the redirection is properly set up by following the steps described under 1. Set up the Sender's Custom Email Address.

Configure SMTP Settings for Outgoing Emails from Your Address

To keep interactions with candidates as efficient and transparent as possible, you have the option of handling all communications with them via Personio using your company’s email address. Companies with several subcompanies can store separate email addresses for the main company and each subcompany. 

We suggest that you work with your internal IT department to configure the SMTP settings.

1. Set up the Sender's Custom Email Address

Store your company's or subcompany's recruiting email address where candidates should send their applications. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to Settings > Recruiting > Recruiting > General > Recruiting email settings and click on Edit.
2. Select Yes for the question Use custom email address? Store the required email address in the field Custom email address for the parent company or one of the subcompanies.
3. Once you have saved the address, click on Send test mail. Personio will send a test email and check whether the email redirection from your email server to the company recruiting email address works. If the redirection has been successfully set up (see Set Up A Redirection to Receive Candidate Emails), the test email (and subsequent applications) will automatically land in the Unassigned messages. 

2. Set up the Connection to the SMTP Server

In the next step, apply the SMTP settings for the chosen parent company or subcompany that are necessary to send outgoing messages from your company email address directly from Personio.

Without the SMTP settings, your messages will be sent via the Company recruiting email address (here: accountname@m.personio.de). If your SMTP server only allows the sending of emails from certain documented IP addresses, whitelist our recruiting IP addresses 3.121.59.239/32, 3.65.146.216/32 and 18.158.122.164/32 to ensure the transmission runs smoothly.

To do this, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to Settings > Recruiting > Recruiting > General > Recruiting email settings > Use custom email address? Yes > use for sending emails? and click on Yes to open the SMTP settings.
2. Enter the information for Host, Port, Encryption, Account and Password and click on Save.

   Make sure that the username you enter is the email address you have previously defined as your custom email address. The SMTP settings ensure that emails sent from within Personio are sent to the candidate via your internal server. Click here for more detailed technical information on SMTP settings for different providers.

3. Click on the Test connection button to verify whether the SMTP settings have been configured correctly. If a connection to your SMTP server cannot be successfully established, an error message will be displayed that you can then forward to your internal IT department to locate the error in the settings. 

If you have set up email addresses for subcompanies,  you define which subcompany a position belongs to in the position details. Candidates applying for the position then receive all messages you are sending them from within Personio via the email address you stored in the SMTP settings for the subcompany. Find more information about setting up email addresses for subcompanies.

Finishing Touches for Candidate Communication

To finalize the settings and preparing Personio's Recruiting module for candidate communications, we recommend setting up email templates to make your candidate communication more efficient and standardized.  Furthermore, ensure that all employees who will be involved in candidate communication have a proper email signature configured in their Personio profile. Once everything is set up, you can start with your candidate communication. Learn more about Managing Recruiting Messages in Personio and understand why you receive certain messages in the Unassigned messages.