Moving Candidates Through Hiring Stages

Hiring stages show where each candidate is in your hiring process. Keeping a candidate in the correct stage helps your team understand what has happened, what needs to happen next, and which candidates are ready for a hiring decision.

You can move a candidate forward, move the candidate back for another review, disqualify the application with a reason, or restore a disqualified application when your team changes its decision.

Prerequisites

Before you move a candidate, make sure that:

1. You are in the correct company workspace.
2. You can access the job and the candidate’s application.
3. You have reviewed the candidate’s current Dossier, Evaluations, and Activities.
4. Your role allows you to manage the candidate workflow.

If the job is still a Draft, or if the application is archived or withdrawn, the workflow may be read-only. If you cannot see the required action, ask an administrator to confirm your access.

Understand the stage controls

Open Jobs, select the job, choose a hiring stage, and select a candidate. The candidate detail area shows the current stage and the available actions in the Stage actions area.

The controls can include:

• Advance to [next stage]: move the candidate to the next stage in the job’s sequence.
• Move Stage: choose an earlier or later stage from the job’s hiring stages.
• Disqualify candidate: remove the candidate from the active hiring sequence after selecting a reason.
• Requalify candidate: restore a disqualified application to an active stage when the action is available.

The exact stage names come from the job’s configured hiring process. The Move Stage menu shows the current stage for reference and marks the other available stages as earlier or later choices.

Visual guide: the Move Stage and Disqualify controls

What stage and status mean together

The stage describes the candidate’s position in the job’s hiring process. The application status describes the broader state of the application:

• Moving to a regular hiring stage keeps the application Active.
• Moving to the job’s Hired stage changes the application status to Hired.
• Disqualifying an application changes its status to Disqualified and places it in the Disqualified view.
• Requalifying a disqualified application makes it active again in a hiring stage.
• A Withdrawn application is read-only.

A Hired application can still be moved to another stage when the controls are available, but Disqualify candidate is not offered for it.

Move a candidate forward

Use the forward action when the candidate has completed the current stage and your team is ready to continue.

1. Open the candidate in the correct job and company workspace.
2. Review the current-stage feedback and recent activity.
3. Select Advance to [next stage].
4. Wait for the success message and check the candidate’s new stage.

If you need to skip a stage or choose a different destination, select Move Stage and choose the required later stage instead.

After a successful move from the screening workspace, the candidate leaves the current stage queue. The application normally returns you to that stage and selects the next candidate still in the queue so you can continue reviewing.

Completion checks for forward moves

Some jobs require the current stage to be completed before a candidate can move forward. Depending on the job’s setup, the application may require:

• At least one current-stage evaluation.
• Evaluations from all explicitly assigned reviewers.
• Completed results for assessments assigned to the current stage.

If a requirement is missing, the move is blocked and the application explains what to complete. You may see messages such as:

• Save a current-stage evaluation before moving this candidate.
• All assigned reviewers must submit their evaluations for the current stage before this candidate can move.
• Complete the assessments assigned to the current stage before moving this candidate.

These completion checks apply to forward movement. A backward correction can still be available when your role and the job status permit it.

Move a candidate to a specific stage

Use Move Stage when the candidate needs to go to a stage other than the next one.

1. Open the candidate’s Stage actions area.
2. Select Move Stage.
3. Review the stages listed before and after the current stage.
4. Select the destination stage.
5. Confirm the candidate’s new stage after the update completes.

Choose an earlier stage when the team needs more information or another review. Choose a later stage when the candidate is ready to skip an intermediate step under your hiring policy.

Undo a recent stage move

After a stage move, the application may show a confirmation message with Undo. Select Undo promptly if you need to return the candidate to the previous stage.

The Undo option is temporary. It may disappear after a short time or become unavailable if another teammate changes the application first. Always confirm the candidate’s current stage after using it.

Visual guide: the stage move confirmation and Undo message

Disqualify a candidate

Disqualify an application when the candidate should no longer continue in the active hiring process for that job.

1. Open the candidate’s application.
2. Select Disqualify candidate.
3. Read the prompt asking you to select a reason.
4. Choose the most accurate reason from the list shown.
5. Confirm that the candidate now appears in the Disqualified view and that the reason is recorded.

Selecting a reason applies the action. Use the reason categories shown in the application so your team can report on decisions consistently.

The candidate’s application retains the stage from which it was disqualified and the selected reason. This context helps you understand the decision if the application is later requalified.

Undo a recent disqualification

After disqualifying a candidate from the screening workspace, the application may show Undo with the confirmation message. Select it promptly to restore the application when the action was accidental.

If the undo option is no longer visible, open the candidate in the Disqualified view and check whether Requalify candidate is available.

Requalify a disqualified application

Requalify an application when your team decides that a disqualified candidate should return to the hiring process.

1. Open the job’s Disqualified view.
2. Select the candidate’s application.
3. Review the recorded disqualification reason and the stage from which the candidate was removed.
4. Select Requalify candidate when it is available.
5. Confirm the application’s restored stage and Active status.

Requalification normally restores the application to its previous active stage. If that stage is no longer available, the application may be restored to the last active stage the application can use.

Typical candidate stage workflow

Use this sequence to keep stage changes clear and consistent:

1. Open Jobs and select the correct company workspace.
2. Open the job and choose the candidate’s current Hiring stage.
3. Review the Dossier, Evaluations, and Activities.
4. Confirm that any required current-stage evaluation, reviewer feedback, or assessment is complete.
5. Select Advance to [next stage] or use Move Stage to choose a specific destination.
6. If the candidate should stop progressing, select Disqualify candidate and choose a reason.
7. Check the success message and confirm the candidate’s updated stage or status.
8. If a change was accidental, select the temporary Undo action when it is shown.
9. Continue with the next candidate in the selected stage.
10. If the team changes its decision later, open Disqualified and use Requalify candidate when available.

Role-aware access

Stage actions depend on your role, your access to the job, and the company workspace you selected. Company administrators generally have the broadest stage-management access. Team members, Dedicated team members, and Limited team members can move, disqualify, or requalify candidates when the action is available within their scope and the job status allows it. Reviewers can contribute permitted evaluation feedback, but reviewer assignment alone does not grant stage movement. Content editors use careers-site content, and External recruiters use the separate recruiter workspace.

Access may be limited to specific departments, sites, or explicitly assigned jobs. Seeing a candidate does not guarantee that you can move the candidate, disqualify the application, or requalify it.

Common pitfalls

You are in the wrong company workspace

Jobs and candidate applications are separated by company workspace. If the job, candidate, or stage is missing, select Switch company and choose the workspace that owns the hiring process.

You do not see a stage action

The application only shows actions that are available for the candidate’s status, the job’s status, and your role. For example, a withdrawn application is read-only, a Hired application does not show Disqualify candidate, and a disqualified application shows Requalify candidate instead of the regular move controls.

You can view the candidate but cannot move them

You may have candidate-view access without permission to manage the workflow. Ask an administrator to confirm your job assignment, department or site scope, and role capabilities.

A forward move is blocked

Read the message shown by the application. Complete the required current-stage evaluation, obtain the pending reviewer feedback, or wait for the required assessment result, then try again.

The candidate appears to have moved unexpectedly

Another teammate may have updated the application, or an action may have returned you to the next candidate in the queue. Refresh the page and confirm the candidate’s current stage in Application context before taking another action.

The destination stage is not available

The job’s hiring process may not include the stage you need, or the stage may have changed since you opened the page. Ask an administrator to review the job’s stages in Settings or the job editor.

The job is read-only

Draft jobs must be activated as Published or Internal before candidates can be managed. Archived jobs and withdrawn applications remain read-only. If you need to continue managing candidates, ask an administrator to review the job status.

An invitation or account link has expired

An expired invitation cannot be used to enter the workspace. Ask the administrator who invited you to send a new invitation, then activate your account from the replacement message before trying to review or move candidates.

After you move a candidate

Review the updated stage or status and check the candidate’s Activities for the latest workflow context. If the action created a follow-up task, evaluation, assessment, or meeting for your team, complete or assign it according to your hiring process.

Keep stage changes accurate and explain important decisions in the appropriate internal activity or evaluation so the hiring team can continue from the same context.