What to do next, from what was actually said.
Not a task generated by a timer. The promise you made, the answer you are waiting on, the role that has gone quiet.
Quick answer
What to do next surfaces the actions that follow from conversations rather than from elapsed time. Because commitments, dates and changes are already on the record, Signals can show what a desk owes and what has stalled, ordered by what is closest to a placement. The list is short by design, and it is empty when there is genuinely nothing that needs doing.
What it is
Most systems build a task list from rules. Seven days have passed, so follow up. A calendar could do that, and it produces a list of things that are due rather than things that matter. Recruiters learn quickly that a list like that is not worth reading, and once they stop reading it, it is worse than having none at all. A list is only useful if the things on it came from something that actually happened, which is why this one starts from commitments that are already on the record.
How it works
The commitments are already on the record
Three CVs by Thursday. A decision after they speak to their partner. A second interview to arrange. These were separated out when the conversation was written up.
They become things to do, with a name and a date
Not a category called follow ups. This client, this promise, this date, on the person who made it.
The list is ordered by what is closest to a placement
Not by what is oldest. An offer waiting on a reference sits above a candidate who has not been called this month.
It gets shorter when there is less to do
A system that always finds ten things is guessing. When the desk is genuinely clear, the list is short, and some days it is empty.
What it looks like
Four things, each one traceable to the conversation it came from.
What it means on the desk
Nothing you promised a client quietly falls off the end of the week.
A role that has stopped moving surfaces before the client notices.
A short list gets read, which is the only test that matters.
Where it fits
Where commitments are separated from discussion in the first place.
Why the list is ordered by proximity to a placement rather than by age.
For the questions you want to ask rather than the ones brought to you.
Common questions
It stays short. The list is built from commitments made in conversations rather than from a timer, so nothing appears unless something was said or agreed. Every item names the conversation it came from, so you can check it in a second. Anything you do not want to see again can be dismissed permanently, and on a clear day the list is empty.
No, it does not. Signals surfaces the action and the recruiter takes it. Nothing is sent, replied to or submitted on your behalf, and no message leaves your desk unless you write it and send it. The record is kept for you. The decision about what to do with it stays with you.
From the conversations themselves. When a call or an email is written up, commitments, dates and changes are separated out from the discussion around them. An action exists because a client asked for a shortlist by Thursday or a candidate said they would decide this week, not because a number of days has elapsed.
Yes, permanently. Dismiss an item and it does not come back, and Signals does not rephrase it and offer it again a week later. If the underlying commitment changes in a later conversation, that is a new fact on the record and it can surface as a new item, which you are free to dismiss in the same way.
Both, by permission. Each recruiter sees the actions that follow from their own conversations. Managers with team visibility can see where a desk owes something or where a role has stopped moving, at the level of access they already hold to the record. This view exposes nothing that was not already visible.
Yes, all three. Actions come from what was said, so the shape of the desk does not change how it works. Contract renewals and compliance dates surface in the same way as a shortlist promised for Thursday. Long executive processes benefit most, since those are the roles that go quiet for weeks at a time.