Job order intake: by hand or with software?
Many boutique staffing firms do job-order intake by hand: a recruiter reads the client's email, types the details into the ATS, and writes back with questions. It works, and for some firms it should stay that way. This guide compares doing it by hand with using a single-task intake tool, says where the hand method fails first, and helps you decide with your own numbers instead of a sales pitch.
What doing it by hand involves
A careful recruiter does more than type. For every email they:
- Read it, often twice, because clients bury the pay or the start date in a side comment.
- Decide which parts are requirements and which are preferences.
- Open the ATS and fill in each field, translating the client's wording into your fields.
- Notice what is missing, such as submission deadline, location or headcount.
- Check whether the client already has an open order for this role.
- Write back to the client with questions.
Each step is quick on its own. Together they interrupt a recruiter who would rather be calling candidates, and the quality depends on how busy the day is.
Where the hand method breaks first
The usual failure points:
- A field is skipped. The record is created without a pay period, a location or a headcount, and nobody notices until a candidate asks.
- Retyping errors. A range becomes one number, a monthly figure is entered as annual, or a client name is spelled two ways and two records appear.
- Preference becomes requirement. The client wrote "a CPA would be nice" and the record says "CPA required".
- Version confusion. The client replies to an old thread with a change. The record shows the first email, the recruiter remembers the second, and the third sits unread.
- Duplicates. A follow-up email becomes a new order because nobody searched the open orders first. The update or new requisition guide shows how to avoid that.
- Nobody checks the second time. The person who typed it is the only person who read the email closely. Errors survive until a candidate or the client finds them.
None of these are about carelessness. They are what happens when a repetitive reading task meets a busy desk.
What software can and cannot take over
A single-task intake tool takes the reading, field-mapping and checking steps and leaves the decisions with you. A good one can:
- read a free-form email and propose values for your fields,
- check the fields against a list of those you require,
- show where in the email each value came from,
- draft a reply that asks about the gaps.
It cannot know what the client meant when the email is vague, and it cannot make a business call on a fee, a start date or a duplicate. Whoever uses it still reads the draft. The gain is that the reading starts from a draft with sources, and not from a blank record.
Side by side
| What you care about | By hand | Single-task intake tool |
|---|---|---|
| Setup | None | ReqDrop: nothing to install or set up |
| Who reads the email | A recruiter, then retypes | ReqDrop: software reads it, a second AI model reviews the result |
| Required fields checked | If someone notices | ReqDrop: against a list you upload |
| Source of each value | Not recorded | ReqDrop: each value linked to its email line |
| Missing fields | Found when someone looks | ReqDrop: left blank and listed |
| Reply to the client | Written by the recruiter | ReqDrop: drafted, you edit and send it |
| Entering it in your ATS | Typed in by hand | ReqDrop: you paste the draft |
| Cost | Recruiter time | 12 credits a job order, no subscription |
| Orders that arrive by phone | You take notes | ReqDrop does not take them: email only |
When doing it by hand is enough
Stay with the hand method if:
- you get only a few orders a week,
- one or two experienced recruiters handle every order,
- your clients already send orders in a structured form with the fields you need,
- or your main problem is on the intake call, not the email. In that case, start with the intake call questions.
A written checklist is often the cheapest big improvement. The fields every job order form needs is a starting point you can print.
When software starts to pay off
Software is worth testing if:
- orders arrive as free-form email, often with several clients writing in different styles,
- more than one recruiter handles intake and records come out in different shapes,
- fields are found missing after the search has started,
- you have created duplicate orders more than once,
- or recruiters say that intake is what keeps them off the phone.
A fair test
Do not decide on a hunch. Take ten recent client emails and process five by hand, timing yourself, and five through the tool. Then compare:
- Minutes per order, including reading the draft.
- Fields that were missing or wrong.
- Whether you could point to the source of every value.
- How many replies to clients you would send unchanged.
If the tool does not save time or catch gaps on your own emails, do not buy it.
How ReqDrop does this step
ReqDrop reads the client's job-order email, which you upload or, if it is short, paste next to an uploaded file. You can add your required-field list as a .csv or .txt file, one field name per line, and your open orders as a spreadsheet, a Word file, a PDF or a photo. Without a list it uses a default job-order list.
You get a checked job order as JSON and CSV, a checklist with each value linked to its email line, and a reply to the client that asks only about the gaps. A value the email does not give stays blank and becomes a question, never a guess. With an open-order list, it flags an update to an open order instead of a new draft.
It does not write into your ATS, so you paste the draft yourself. It does not email your client, and it handles email only, not phone orders.
A second, stronger AI model reviews every result, fixes what it can, and lists what is left for you to decide. Results are model output checked by code and by a second model; they are not verified by a person.
One job order is 12 credits, from $8.40 to $12 depending on the pack, with no subscription. Sign up and run your own five emails through it.
Questions
- How do I know whether intake is costing my firm enough to fix?
- Time and count it. Log ten consecutive orders: minutes spent, fields found missing after the search started, and duplicate records. If the numbers are small, keep doing it by hand.
- Does my ATS already handle job-order emails?
- It depends on your ATS and your plan, so check its documentation or ask the vendor. Some can take a structured web form from a client. If yours does not turn free-form emails into job-order fields, someone still reads each one and fills them in.
- What should I measure after changing how intake works?
- Track the same three things as before: minutes per order, required fields found missing after the search began, and duplicate orders. Compare the same number of orders so the result is fair.
Your next job-order email, checked and drafted.
Sign in, upload the client's email, read the draft and paste it into your ATS.