This is an updated version of an article originally posted in September 2020.
When hiring, you must select whether to use an existing pre-hire record (for someone already in Workday) or create a new pre-hire (for someone who has never been in Workday). When confronted with this choice, some people will unintentionally create duplicate pre-hire records. If you input the name or EID to search for an existing pre-hire and do not find an existing record right away, you might assume the person is NOT in Workday. This is a trap!
Even if a pre-hire record exists, it will not come up during the hire process if the person is already hired or in the process of being hired. In other words, you cannot hire a person if they are already active in Workday or are in the process of being hired.
You should always search for the EID (and name, if EID search is unsuccessful) of the person you intend to hire using the Workday search box and ensure the search category is either People or All of Workday. Searching in this way will always reveal if a pre-hire record exists regardless of whether the person is active, or another hire is in progress. If you can find the pre-hire record through a search of Workday but not when performing a hire, you can assume the person is already active or has a hire in progress.
So, what should you do? You can reach out to the person you are hiring to get more information, which is often the best option when hiring students who frequently have multiple jobs. Alternatively, you can contact askUS (askUS@austin.utexas.edu), and we can confirm if a hire is in progress. If there is a hire in progress, we can provide contact information for the department with the in-progress hire. If the person has multiple jobs, you may need to coordinate with the other department to decide which department does the hire which does the add job. If it is not a multiple job situation, you may need to determine which department will hire the person.
Related resources
- Hire (PM) Workday Instructional Guide (WIG)
- Hire (JM) Workday Instructional Guide (WIG)
- Duplicate Candidate Records Interfere with Hiring (askUS)
- Troubleshooting a Pre-Hire (askUS)
If you need further assistance, contact askUS@austin.utexas.edu.