Notes

Learn how to use notes to collaborate with your team and keep track of feedback and internal comments on candidates throughout the hiring process.

Notes allow you to leave internal comments on a candidate. Notes help you keep track of feedback, internal updates, and hiring discussions directly within a candidate’s profile. They support formatted text, threaded replies, mentions, and emoji reactions that help teams align quickly throughout the hiring process.

Notes are only visible to your hiring team and are never shared with candidates.

You can use notes to:

• Record feedback after interviews or assessments

• Tag colleagues using mentions for opinions or follow-ups

• Leave yourself a reminder (e.g. "Send offer after final approval from Hiring Manager")

• Share context from communication that happened outside JOIN

• Start discussion threads on a note by replying to it

• Signal sentiment on notes by other colleagues using emoji reactions

Notes are tied to the candidate profile and will only be visible there, regardless of which jobs the candidate is linked to or if the job is archived.

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Adding notes

You can add and view notes from multiple areas in JOIN:

From the Candidate Profile

• Go to any tab under Jobs or Applications

• Click on a candidate's name to open their profile

• Scroll to the Notes section at the end of the right-panel

• Click into the input box to open the note editor, type your note, and click the icon to Save note

From the 'applications' tab of a job

• Go to Jobs > Active or Archived > Select a job > Applications

• Find the candidate's entry in the pipeline view

• Depending on the view setting of the pipeline:

  • Cards view: Click the icon on the bottom of the candidate card

  • Table view: Select the candidate/s. Use the bottom toolbar and click the overflow menu > Add notes

• Type your note in the pop-up window and click Save

• Switch to the Rejected tab if needed and add notes to candidates in that view as well

From Screening Modal

You can also add notes when reviewing candidates in the screening modal.

• On the right-end of the screening modal, you will see the Notes section

• Click on Add a note to open the note editor

• Write your note and click the icon to Save note before moving to the next candidate

From Applications tabs

• Go to Applications and navigate to the relevant sub-tab Active, Hired or Rejected

• Select a candidate or multiple candidates using checkboxes

• Use the bottom toolbar and click the overflow menu > Add notes

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Writing and formatting notes

The note editor supports rich formatting to help you structure your feedback clearly. You can use:

• Bold, Italic, Underline and Strikethrough

• Numbered and Bulleted lists

• Links

• Emojis inserted into the text field

• Paragraphs

• Mentions

Notes have a character limit of 2,500 characters, and emojis typed inside the editor count toward this limit.

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Mentioning team members

You can mention team members in a note to draw their attention to a candidate or request feedback. Mentions can be added in two ways:

• Type @ followed by the person’s name

• Or click the icon in the bottom row of the note editor to open the list of available team members

When the list appears, select the team member you want to mention.

You can only mention colleagues who are part of your company account on JOIN and have access to the candidate via a job or the talent pool.

Team members are managed under Settings > Team. Read more

When you tag a colleague, they receive an email notification with a link to the candidate profile so they can review or respond to your note quickly.

You cannot mention team members in bulk notes. Mentions are only available when writing a note on a single candidate’s profile or within an individual note thread.

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Reacting to a note

Reactions allow you to signal agreement, acknowledgement, or sentiment without writing a new comment. Each note shows an icon beneath it, next to Reply.

Adding a reaction

1. Go to the note you want to react to

2. Click the icon to add emoji under the note

3. The emoji picker will open. You can:

   • Scroll to browse available emojis, or

   • Use the search bar at the top to find a specific emoji

4. Click an emoji to add it as a reaction to the note

You can repeat this process to add additional reactions. Each reaction you add appears below the note.

Adding a reaction that already exists

If a reaction has already been added by you or someone else, you can simply click the existing emoji to add the same reaction. This increases the count displayed on that emoji.

Viewing who reacted

• Hover over any emoji reaction to see the list of team members who reacted with that emoji

• If the list is long, JOIN will show the first 20 names and then “+X more” for additional users

Limits on reactions

• You can add only one reaction per emoji type

• Each note can have only a limited number (up to 8) of unique emoji types. If that limit is reached, the icon is grayed out and on hover you will see a tooltip that shows you “Limit of unique reactions reached”

• Within an existing emoji type, any number of users can react

Removing your reaction

To remove your own reaction, click the emoji again. This removes your entry from the reaction count. You cannot remove reactions added by others.

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Replying to notes (note threads)

Notes support threaded conversations, allowing you and your team to discuss a candidate in context. Threads help keep related messages grouped together so feedback and decisions remain easy to follow as the hiring process progresses.

Note and its associated replies

You can create a new note using the Add a note field.

Any comments added using the Reply button under a note become replies to that note. A note and its linked replies together form a note thread. This keeps all discussion about the same topic grouped in one place.

New notes always appear at the top of the Notes section. Each new note you add starts a new thread that is placed above all older note threads.

Replies, however, follow a different order. A note reply is always added to the bottom of the existing thread, directly underneath the note and any earlier replies. They appear in chronological order, from oldest to newest. Each reply stays grouped under the note it relates to, so conversations remain clearly structured.

This behaviour ensures:

• Note threads are easy to read from top to bottom

• The newest notes remain the most prominent in the Notes section

• Discussions stay organised and easy for teams to follow

Automatic mentions when replying

When you click Reply on a note written by someone else, JOIN automatically adds a mention of that colleague in the reply editor.

You can remove the mention before saving if you prefer not to notify them.

If you reply to your own note, no automatic mention is added.

Adding a reply

To reply within an existing thread:

1. Hover under the note you want to respond to.

2. Click the Reply button beneath the note.

3. Type your message in the note editor. Use formatting tools or @mention colleagues if needed.

4. Click the icon to Save note .

Your reply becomes part of that note’s thread and appears at the top of the existing replies.

Starting a new thread

If you want to write a new note that is not a reply, simply use the Add a note… field at the top of the Notes section.

A new note will:

• Appear above all existing notes and their threads,

• Begin its own thread (even if it has no replies yet), and

• Push older parent notes and threads downward.

Each new original note forms a self-contained discussion and doesn’t affect other threads.

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Editing or deleting notes

To edit or delete:

1. Open the candidate profile.

2. Find your note.

3. Click Edit or Delete.

Editing a note

Only the person who created a note can edit it. You can update the content of your own note at any time. Replies cannot be edited by anyone other than the person who wrote them.

Deleting a note

Deletion rules work differently:

• System Admins can delete any note.

• Standard and Limited users can delete only the notes they created.

Deleting a note with replies

If you delete a note that has replies, the entire note thread is deleted. This includes:

• The original note

• All replies connected to it

• All reactions under that note or its replies

A confirmation step appears before deletion to prevent accidental loss of threaded discussions.

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Viewing and access permissions

Access depends on your company role and job assignment.

• System admins Can view and add notes on any candidate across all jobs.

• Standard and limited users Can view and add notes only for candidates in jobs they are assigned to.

To access notes, standard and limited users must:

• Be assigned to the job

• View the candidate via Jobs or Applications

This ensures sensitive information remains visible only to relevant team members.

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FAQs

Can candidates see the notes I write?

No, notes are only visible to your hiring team within JOIN.

Can I add notes to multiple candidates at once?

Yes, you can add bulk notes from:

• The Applications tabs

• The pipeline (Cards or Table view)

However, bulk notes have limitations:

• You cannot @mention team members in bulk notes

Will the colleague(s) I mention in the note get notified?

Yes. When you mention a cYes. When you mention a colleague in a note or reply, they receive an email notification with a link to the candidate profile—provided they have access to that candidate.

Mentions are available only:

• In single-candidate notes

• In replies (threaded notes)

They are not supported in bulk notes.

Can I edit or delete a note after saving it?

• Only the original author of a note can edit it.

• System Admins can delete any note.

• You cannot edit or delete someone else’s note unless you are a System Admin.

• Replies cannot be edited by anyone except their author.

• You may remove your own emoji reactions at any time.

Who can see and add notes on a candidate?

This depends on your account role and job assignment:

• System Admins: Can view and add notes on all candidates across all jobs.

• Standard & Limited Users: Can only view and add notes for candidates in jobs they are assigned to. They must access the candidate via Jobs or Applications.

This ensures sensitive information is restricted to relevant team members.

Are notes visible if the job is archived?

Yes. Notes remain visible and editable on candidate profiles, even after the job has been archived.

Can I react on a note with any emoji I want?

Yes—you can choose from the full emoji picker. If the note already has 8 unique emoji reactions, the Add Emoji button ( icon) becomes disabled.

Can I collapse or hide note threads?

No. Collapsing threads is not supported. All replies remain visible to keep the conversation transparent and easier for teams to follow.

When can I use notes?

You can add notes at any time, regardless of the job status. Even if a job is archived and other candidate management features (such as phase changes or messaging) are disabled, the candidate profile and Notes section remain accessible.

This makes it easy to store final evaluations or internal remarks on a candidate post-hiring process.