This article explains why some recruiting emails might appear in the wrong place. We'll cover the following issues:

• Why emails from candidates might land in your Unassigned Messages.
• Why your emails might land in a candidate’s spam folder.

Before you start

There are two options for communicating with candidates via Personio. You've already set up one of the following:

1. The Personio email service option (default): In this case, candidates send emails to your Personio recruiting email address. This looks like: yourcompany-jobs@m.personio.com
2. A connection using our Google integration, our Microsoft integration, or SMTP. In this case, candidates send emails to your custom recruiting email address, for example, jobs@yourcompany.com. If you are having trouble setting up a connection, refer to our dedicated troubleshooting article.

How to use a spam test tool

You can use a spam test tool to test your spam score. We use Mail-Tester in this example. Follow these steps:

1. Open a test application in Personio. Go to Recruiting > Applications and click Create application. Leave the email field blank for now.
2. Open Mail-Tester and copy the test email address provided. Return to Personio and paste it into the email field of your test application.
3. Finish creating your test application. A candidate profile is automatically created. You can delete this later.
4. In the candidate profile, go to the Messages tab.
5. Send a message to your test candidate. Ideally, use a message that you know is landing in candidates’ spam folders. Include attachments if necessary.
6. Return to Mail-Tester and click the button to check your score.

A candidate's emails land in your Unassigned messages

Emails from candidates should appear in the Messages tab of the respective candidate profile. However, some emails can land in your unassigned messages. You can access this area via Recruiting > Unassigned messages.

There are several reasons why your candidate emails may appear in your Unassigned messages. Explore the issues and suggestions below.

Possible issue: There's no existing application for the candidate

You receive an email from a candidate, but there's no existing application with their email address. Therefore, their email lands in your Unassigned messages.

Solution: You need to manually create an application for the candidate. Go to Recruiting > Unassigned messages. Open the relevant email. Click Create application and fill in the required information. This creates a new candidate profile.

Possible issue: A previous candidate replies to an old email thread

When a candidate replies to an email thread related to a job they were previously rejected for or withdrew from, their email lands in your Unassigned messages. This applies to candidates who were rejected or withdrew 14 or more days ago.

If a candidate applies for a new job using the application form, the system processes their application normally and assigns it to the correct job. This is the case even if they were rejected for a previous position.

Solution: You need to manually create an application for the candidate. Go to Recruiting > Unassigned messages. Open the relevant email. Click Create application and fill in the required information. This creates a new candidate profile.

Possible issue: The candidate is using a different email address

If a candidate uses a different email address, the new email address isn't linked to their application. Therefore, their email lands in your Unassigned messages.

Solution: You need to manually assign the message to their candidate profile. Go to Recruiting > Unassigned messages. Open the relevant email. Click Assign and select the correct candidate. The original email now appears in the Messages tab of the candidate profile.

Possible issue: The candidate has applied for two or more different jobs

In this case, the candidate's email address is linked to different jobs. Learn more about multiple applications from the same candidate.

Solution: You need to manually assign the message to the candidate profile. Go to Recruiting > Unassigned messages. Open the relevant email. Click Assign and select the correct candidate. The original email now appears in the Messages tab of the candidate profile.

Your emails land in the candidate’s spam folder

There are several reasons why your recruiting emails may land in a candidate’s spam folder. Explore the issues and suggestions below.

Possible issue: DNS settings

There are some DNS configurations, like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, that contribute to an email sender's “quality”. If these configurations are not available, emails are more likely to be marked as spam.

Solution: Use a spam test tool to get more details on the root cause.

• If you are using your own email address and an SMTP connection, ask your IT department to check your DNS settings.
• If you are using the company recruiting email address provided by Personio, the necessary configuration is already set up by Personio.

Possible issue: Your email address might be listed on a public spammer list

There are several public spammer lists available online. If your sender email is listed in one of those lists, your emails may end up in the candidate's spam folder.

Solution: Use a spam test tool to get more details on the root cause. If your email is blocklisted, contact the spammer list and ask them to remove you from the list.

Possible issue: The email content looks like spam

Email messages may look like spam to spam detectors. For example, if the email contains executable files as attachments.

Solution: Use a spam test tool to get more details on the root cause.

Possible issue: The candidate marked similar emails as spam

If the candidate marked similar emails as spam in the past, the new emails end up in their spam folder.

Solution: Ask the candidate to mark the email as “not spam” to ensure further emails are sent correctly.