Switching from Bullhorn to Wizard Application: What Moves and How

Bullhorn is one of the best known names in recruitment software, and many agencies have run on it for years. It is built for staffing firms, and at scale it does a lot.

Smaller and growing agencies often find themselves in a different position. They use the ATS every day, but their client relationships, contractor timesheets, invoices and internal HR sit in other tools, and the cost and complexity of the whole stack keeps rising. If you are weighing up a Bullhorn alternative, this guide covers what a move from Bullhorn to Wizard Application involves, how your recruitment data maps across, and what you gain by making the switch.

Step 1: Decide what is moving

Recruitment databases grow quickly, and not every record is worth keeping. Before you export, agree on three things:

• Which candidates to keep. Active candidates and anyone you have a lawful reason to keep. Records past your retention period should be deleted, not migrated.
• Which clients and jobs to keep. Current clients, open jobs and recent placements come first.
• How much history to bring. Older submissions and notes may be useful, but they make an export much larger.

Step 2: Export your data from Bullhorn

At the time of writing, Bullhorn supports exporting from its list views. Filter the list to the records you want, select them, and choose to export as CSV. A few things are worth knowing before you start:

• Permissions. Not every user is allowed to export to CSV, so you may need an administrator.
• Record limits. The maximum number of records per export depends on your user type, so large databases usually need several exports.
• Submissions multiply rows. If the submissions column is in your candidate list view, each record can include its most recent submissions, which can multiply the size of the file and stop the export from completing. Remove that column for the main candidate export.
• Larger exports. For big datasets, Bullhorn documents its REST API as the route for searching and exporting data, available on its Front Office Growth and Enterprise editions.

Step 3: How your records map across

The recruitment ATS in Wizard Application covers the same core objects a recruitment agency relies on:

• Candidates become candidates, with their CVs attached. AI CV parsing can extract contact details, work history, education and skills from the documents, and is available on the Professional and Enterprise plans.
• Jobs become jobs, each with its own hiring pipeline. Pipeline stages are fully customisable, so you can match the process your consultants already follow.
• Client companies and contacts move into the sales CRM, where business development and client management happen.
• Submissions, placements and notes are agreed during mapping, based on how much history you decided to keep, so candidates land at the right stage on the right job.
• Custom fields map to custom fields, so agency specific data is kept.

When you carry candidate records across, bring their consent and retention dates with them. Our GDPR checklist for candidate data covers what to keep and for how long.

Step 4: Choose how to move

Let our team do it

Our migration service follows four steps: discovery, mapping, a test migration, and go live. Before go live you get a private staging link to check candidates, jobs and clients inside Wizard Application, and your consultants keep working in Bullhorn until you switch, so there is no downtime. The assessment is free, and we quote once we understand your data.

Do it yourself with the API

If you have a developer, the REST API can create candidates, jobs, contacts and companies directly. You generate a scoped API key in your settings and run the import in batches until everything is right. API access is included on the Professional and Enterprise plans.

What works differently

The ATS is only one part of the workspace. Placed contractors can submit timesheets that move from submission through approval to payment, invoices go out from the same system, and your own team is managed in HR alongside everything else. Business development runs in the CRM next to the jobs it creates, so nobody has to rekey a new client into a second system.

Why agencies move to Wizard Application

For small and growing agencies, the case for moving comes down to running the whole agency from one place:

• One workspace instead of a stack. Candidates, jobs, clients, contractor timesheets, invoices and your own HR live together, so nothing is rekeyed between systems.
• Less admin per placement. AI CV parsing, customisable pipelines and a candidate portal keep candidates moving without paperwork slowing them down.
• From placement to payment. Contractor timesheets move from submission through approval to invoice in the same system that made the placement.
• Wizard AI built in. Wizard AI works across the platform, from screening candidates to raising invoices.
• We handle the move. Our migration team maps, tests and moves your data, and your consultants check everything on a staging link before you switch.

If your agency is paying for an ATS plus separate tools for clients, timesheets, invoicing and HR, moving to Wizard Application brings it all together, and our team will handle the switch for you.

Frequently asked questions

A quick checklist

1. Apply your retention policy and agree which candidates, clients and jobs to keep.
2. Ask an administrator to confirm export permissions and record limits.
3. Export candidates without the submissions column, then export jobs, clients and contacts.
4. Book a free migration assessment, or plan an API import if you have a developer.
5. Check candidates and jobs on the staging link before you switch.

You can start on the free Starter plan with no credit card, or try any paid plan free for 7 days while you plan the move. When you are ready, request a free migration assessment and we will plan the switch with you.

For a side by side view, read Wizard Application vs Bullhorn.

Bullhorn is a trademark of Bullhorn, Inc. Details about Bullhorn were correct at the time of writing (September 2026), based on its public knowledge base, and may have changed since.