When you post or edit a shift, you'll be able to see the shift booking fee and total expected pay right away. You are only charged the shift booking fee if there's a successful booking.
A relief shift is booked only after the following actions take place:
The relief professional applies to the shift you posted.
You review and approve the shift application. You can always chat with shift applicants for free, regardless of which subscription plan you have.
The relief professional then confirms the shift. The shift is now booked and will appear under the "bookings" page for both you and the worker. The shift booking fee is charged to your account.
Note: You are responsible for arranging payment to the relief professional directly.
Video Tutorial
Check your notifications for shift views and applications
After you post a shift, you'll be notified by email about shift views and applications. You can click the email to be taken to your notification page.
2. Your notifications page is time stamped and if the writing is in bold, you haven't clicked on it. Click the notification to be taken to that job seekers profile.
3. You can also find your applications by navigating to your shifts page.
View shift applicants
4. Find the shift you want to view candidates for and click candidates. The candidates button will only appear on shifts with active applications. This will bring you to the connections page on your account.
5. The fastest way to see all candidate connections is to go to your connections page directly.
6. Toggle to shifts on the right to narrow your connection to those viewing shifts. If you have multiple shifts or locations posted, you can use the filters to narrow down your connection search.
Approve or reject shift applicants
7. Scroll down your connections page to the applications section.
8. Click the review button on a candidate's profile card to learn more about this applicant and view any messages or attachments.
9. Click the candidate picture to open their profile and learn more about them to see if they are a good fit for this shift.
10. A candidate can apply to more than one shift. Select all or choose which shifts you want them to cover and click approve or reject. The applicant will be notified if you approve the shift; they will not be notified if you reject the shift.
Review and reply to the application message
11. A candidate can attach a message and document with their application. If there is a green bubble, click it to view their message and respond. Note: this icon won't appear if the candidate did not attach a message with their application, but you can message any shift applicants for free.
12. View the message and click reply to open up a chat with this candidate to negotiate terms. Your chat will open in a new tab.
Review shift costs and booking fees
13. You'll see a breakdown of costs associated with this shift. Remember, the shift booking fee is charged to the card on your Hound account when you successfully book a relief professional. The expected worker pay is paid by you to the relief professional directly off Hound. If you negotiate on payment, we recommend updating your shift posting to reflect the agreed upon amount.
Expected Worker Pay: this is calculated by the pay/hour x total shift hours you list in the shift posting, and is the amount that employers are responsible for paying to the worker directly. For example, a shift pay of $100/hour x 9 hours (8:30am - 5:30pm) = $900 total worker pay.
Shift Booking Fee: this is $15/hour booked for DVMs, and $3/hour for non-DVMs. This is the only fee you are paying to Hound, which is charged when a worker confirms and books the shift. For example, if the shift booking fee is $15/hour for DVM shifts x 9 hours (8:30am - 5:30pm) = $135 shift booking fee.
Total Expected Cost: this is simply the expected worker pay + shift booking fee, and is meant as a guideline only. Employers will not be charged this amount at any time. For example, $900 total worker pay + $135 shift booking fee = $1,035 total expected cost.
Your shift is booked when the applicant confirms
14. After approving the shift, this candidate will move to pending section of your shift bookings page. They will need to also confirm the shift before it's considered a booking.
15. Here's how it looks when a relief professional applies for a shift. They're aware there's a next step to confirm the shift, after you've approved it and it moves to pending.
16. Once the relief professional confirms the pending shift you approved, it'll move to booked and will be considered a booked shift. At this time, your card on file will be charged and the shift will move to the booked section of your shift bookings page.
18. By now, you should have already been messaging with the candidate to negotiate terms, pay and exchange information.
18. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to use our chat feature in the lower right corner to connect with someone on the Hound team.
Now you know how to manage your relief shifts and connect with applicant. Remember, you can post unlimited free relief shifts, only paying the booking fee when you book someone.