TIP TUESDAY: One Update, Every Template - The Power of Placeholders

WHAT IS THE TIP?

Create a placeholder for your team email address

💡 Placeholders are brilliant for standardised text that appears in multiple templates. For example, instead of hardcoding recruitment@company.com into 35 email templates, create a placeholder like [placeholder="team_email"][/placeholder]. That way, if your email address changes, you won’t have to update every single template - just the placeholder itself.

🔧 Use case: Your organisation has rebranded and your contact email is changing from jobs@oldbrand.com to talent@newbrand.co.uk. A single placeholder update does the work of 50 template edits in one go.

Use placeholders to manage your standard recruiter signature block

💡 Adding your standard closing as a placeholder helps keep messaging consistent across all touchpoints - and makes updates a breeze. For example, a sign-off like “Kind regards, The Recruitment Team” or links to your help centre can be quickly added or updated in one place, rather than editing every template individually.

📌 Pro Tip: Use formatting in the rich text editor to include styling (bold text, links, spacing) so your signature looks professional wherever it's used.

🔧 Use case: You want to highlight your new career site in all applicant communications. By updating your standard_signature placeholder, you can instantly include the link in all messages without manually editing each template.

Think beyond just emails - placeholders also work in letter templates, status messages, and some system labels

💡 Placeholders aren’t just for emails. They’re a time-saving secret across your whole workflow - from status updates like “Application received” to standard paragraphs in contracts or onboarding documents. If your wording is repeated across multiple areas of the system, using a placeholder means it’s consistent and easy to update.

For example, If you're using contracts or offer letters that include things like a standard working hours statement, equal opportunities wording, or onboarding steps - placeholders are your friend. You can add reusable text blocks into your templates, which helps you maintain consistency and quickly update your policies in one go when they change.

🔧 Use case: Your legal team updates the standard clause around probation periods or notice periods. Instead of editing 12 contract templates, you update the placeholder and it's sorted everywhere - no missed updates, no outdated documents.

📌 Pro Tip: Use clear, descriptive placeholder names like [placeholder="contract_probation_clause"] so it's obvious what each one is used for - especially useful in teams with multiple admins.

Keep the placeholder name simple, clear, and consistent

💡 When you create a placeholder, you’ll need to give it a Unique Identifier (that’s the bit in square brackets, like [placeholder="company_signature"]). Keep this short and logical so that it's easy to reuse - and once it’s set, avoid changing it unless absolutely necessary. Use underscores instead of spaces (e.g., company_signature, not company signature) - this helps ensure the system reads the placeholder correctly.

If you rename a placeholder, you’ll need to manually update every place it’s been used. That’s fine if you’ve only got a few - but risky and time-consuming in a large configuration. Save yourself the hassle by getting the naming right from the start.

😊 Got a great use case or a naming convention that works well for your team? We’d love to hear it!

BENEFITS

• Saves hours of admin time - update once, not 100 times
• Ensures consistency across your candidate communications
• Reduces room for error (especially during high-volume campaigns)
• Easy to maintain even in multi-language systems

CONSIDERATIONS 

• Placeholders don’t support datapaths, deep links, images or conditional logic, so stick to static, reusable text
• Avoid changing the Unique Identifier after the placeholder is in use - it will break existing links
• For multi-language systems, review each language tab if the placeholder is used globally

COSTS

This feature is available with level 1 configuration. 

NEXT STEPS

• Speak to your Customer Success Manager if you'd like help setting up or auditing your existing placeholders

• Raise a case to our Delivery team if you'd like to explore placeholder use in contracts or more advanced templates