Migrate from Personio to Bullhorn ATS & CRM

Personio Recruiting Positions map to Bullhorn JobOrder. The position's title, department, location, status (open/closed/hired), and hiring manager map to Bullhorn's title, clientCorporation (created from the company's own ClientCorporation record or a designated internal client), address, status, and assignedUser fields. We flag any Personio position that represents an internal role (not a client engagement) as requiring a separate Bullhorn client structure or manual categorization. JobOrder custom fields are available via Bullhorn REST API for any Personio custom position attributes.

Personio Applications map to Bullhorn Candidate records. Each application is a distinct Candidate record with its own application history (status, applied date, interview notes). The Personio candidate's name, email, phone, and resume link map to Bullhorn Candidate fields. We link each Candidate to the target JobOrder via a JobSubmission record. Active applications migrate as Candidates with a current JobSubmission; historical applications migrate as Candidates with a closed JobSubmission preserving the original outcome.

Personio Employees do not map 1:1 to Bullhorn Candidates because Personio manages internal staff and Bullhorn manages external candidates. If the migration scope includes existing employees who will be placed by the agency, we create Bullhorn Candidate records with an internal-employee flag (via customObject1 or a custom field). If the agency's own staff records need to exist in Bullhorn for system administration or internal recruiter tracking, we create Bullhorn User records and link them as assignedUser on JobOrder. We define the split rule during scoping based on whether the agency uses Bullhorn to manage its own headcount or only external candidate pipelines.

Personio employee documents (contracts, certificates, ID scans) retrieve via the Personio API as binary blobs or download URLs. We download each document, rename it with a consistent convention (CandidateName_DocumentType_Date), and upload to Bullhorn as a ContentDocument linked via ContentDocumentLink to the associated Candidate record. Document naming and folder structures in Personio vary by company configuration, so we flatten them into a flat list with descriptive filenames at the destination. Resume files map to the Candidate's primary resume field in Bullhorn.

Personio absence records (vacation, sick leave, other absence types) have no native equivalent in Bullhorn ATS. Bullhorn does not include an absence management module. We evaluate each absence type during scoping: if absence data is relevant to the staffing context (e.g., a candidate's availability or a contractor's leave history), we map it to a Bullhorn Custom Object (customObject1) with fields for absence type, start date, end date, and status. If absence data is internal HR data unrelated to the staffing pipeline, we exclude it from the migration scope and note it in the written inventory for the customer's HR admin.

Personio performance review records (review cycle, ratings, scores, status) have no standard Bullhorn equivalent. Bullhorn is not an HR performance management platform. We map performance review status and overall rating to a Bullhorn Custom Object attached to the Candidate record if the agency needs to preserve historical performance data for placement decisions. Review form question text and competency ratings that require free-text storage are noted as out-of-scope for migration and documented for manual re-entry or a separate performance tool implementation.

Personio payroll records (salary, bonus, compensation, effective-dated pay changes) are out of scope for Bullhorn migration. Bullhorn ATS does not include payroll functionality and is not a replacement for a payroll system. If the agency needs to track pay rate information for contractors or placed candidates, we map the most recent pay rate to a Bullhorn Custom Object field (customObject1 payRate or billingRate) rather than a full payroll history. Full payroll records remain in Personio or migrate to a dedicated payroll platform separately.

Personio company-level goals and individual employee OKRs have no Bullhorn equivalent and are not migrated. Bullhorn does not include a goal-management or OKR module. If the agency's recruiting team uses goals and objectives as part of recruiter performance tracking, we document the existing goal structure in the written inventory for manual reconfiguration in Bullhorn or a separate performance management tool. Goal alignment hierarchies from Personio are noted as not transferable.

Personio organizational departments and sub-departments map to Bullhorn ClientCorporation records if they represent external client organizations in the staffing pipeline. If the department structure represents the agency's internal org chart (internal recruiters, sales teams), we document it separately rather than importing it as Bullhorn ClientCorporations, since those records are semantically reserved for external recruiting clients.

Personio custom attributes on Recruiting Positions migrate to Bullhorn JobOrder custom fields. Bullhorn supports custom fields on JobOrder via the REST API (fields such as customText1, customText2, customDate1). We pre-create the field mapping during scoping by querying the Personio Position schema for custom attributes and matching them to Bullhorn field types (text, date, number, dropdown). Bullhorn custom fields on standard entities are client-configurable without Support involvement.

Personio custom_attributes on job application forms cannot be retrieved via any documented Personio API endpoint according to community reports. During migration scoping, we explicitly ask the customer to provide the complete list of custom application form fields and their data values. We map these to Bullhorn Custom Object fields attached to the Candidate record or to Candidate custom fields if the number of attributes is small. Without this step, custom candidate data will be missed and not transferred. This is one of the highest-severity pair-specific gotchas for the migration.

Personio employee benefit enrollments (health insurance, pension, company benefits) are out of scope for Bullhorn migration. Bullhorn ATS does not include a benefits administration module. If the agency manages benefits information for contractors (e.g., health insurance tier for W-2 contractors), we map the most recent benefit type and coverage level to a Bullhorn Custom Object. Full benefits history and carrier-specific details require a separate HRIS or benefits administration platform.