How to Move Candidates Between Pipeline Stages

Pipeline stages represent the steps in your hiring process. When viewing a job's Pipeline tab, candidates are organized into columns, with each column representing one stage. This guide explains how to move candidates between stages manually and automatically.

Understanding Pipeline Stages

Pipeline stages track candidate progress through your hiring workflow:

• Default stages: Sourced, Applied, Interview, Offer, Hired
• Customize stages to match your hiring process
• Each stage has two tabs: Qualified and Disqualified
• Disqualified candidates remain visible in their last stage (on the Disqualified tab)

Manual Methods to Change Stages

Method 1: Pipeline stage dropdown

The quickest way to move a single candidate:

1. Open the candidate profile
2. Find the Pipeline stage dropdown in the profile header
3. Click the dropdown and select the new stage
4. The candidate immediately moves to that stage
5. Any automations configured on the new stage will trigger

Method 2: Keyboard shortcuts for fast screening

Use keyboard shortcuts to quickly screen multiple candidates:

Hold the Shift key while viewing a candidate profile:

Quick screening workflow:

1. Open the first candidate in table or pipeline view
2. Review their profile
3. Press Shift + S to advance OR Shift + Q to disqualify
4. Press Shift + ↓ to move to the next candidate
5. Repeat for rapid screening

Additional navigation shortcuts:

• Shift + P: Open Profile tab
• Shift + R: Open Resume tab
• Shift + F: Open Forms tab
• Shift + D: Open Discussion tab
• Shift + E: Open Messages tab
• Shift + C: Open Calendar/Interviews tab
• Shift + T: Open Tags dropdown
• Shift + Ctrl + S: Open Sources dropdown
• Shift + Esc: Close candidate modal

Method 3: Bulk actions

Move multiple candidates to the same stage simultaneously:

1. Select candidates using checkboxes in table or pipeline view
2. Click the checkbox in the header to select all candidates on the current page
3. Click "Select All X candidates" link to select the entire filtered set
4. Click the "Stage" button
5. Choose the target stage
6. All selected candidates move to that stage

Available bulk actions include:

• Send email
• Schedule nurture campaign
• AI score
• Disqualify (with reason selection)
• Change pipeline stage
• Assign job
• Add tags
• Add sources
• Export
• Delete (moves to Deleted tab)
• Cancel Send (cancel scheduled emails)

Automatic stage changes

100Hires can automatically move candidates between stages based on specific triggers:

1. Nurture campaign response

Automatically move candidates who reply to your outreach emails:

Setup:

1. Create or edit a nurture campaign
2. Enable "If candidate responds, move to stage" toggle in the campaign step settings
3. Select the target stage
4. When candidates reply, they automatically move to the separate stage

Use case: Separate engaged candidates who respond to cold outreach from those who don't.

2. Form submission rules (Act If Form Is Filled)

Move candidates based on their application form or questionnaire responses:

Setup:

1. Add questions to your application form or questionnaire
2. Go to the job's Workflow tab
3. Set up "Act if form is filled" automation on a pipeline stage
4. Configure conditions:

• Contains, doesn't contain, empty, not empty, greater than, less than

5. Choose action: Disqualify, Move to stage, or Assign additional job

Example uses:

• If required question is not empty → Move to next stage
• If salary expectation > X or < X → Move to stage or disqualify
• When questionnaire is completed → Move to next stage for AI scoring

3. AI score threshold

Automatically advance or disqualify candidates based on AI scoring results:

Setup:

1. Set up AI Score automation on a pipeline stage
2. Configure threshold actions:

• Score > X → Move to stage
• Score < Y → Disqualify

3. Optional: Just score without moving candidates

Use case: Automatically advance high-scoring candidates to interview stage while disqualifying low-scoring candidates.

4. Enrichment results

Move candidates based on whether contact information was found:

Setup:

1. Add "Enrich Based on Existing Data" automation to a stage
2. Configure which data to find (personal emails, work emails, phone numbers, LinkedIn URLs)
3. Choose action based on results:

• Move to next stage
• Move to specific stage
• Do nothing if not found

4. Set stop conditions: one/all optional fields found, one/all required fields found

Use case: Automatically advance sourced candidates once their email address is enriched.

5. Stuck candidate alerts

Trigger actions when candidates haven't moved for a specified time:

Setup:

1. Add "Act If Candidate Is Stuck" automation to a stage
2. Set the number of days (e.g., 7 days)
3. Choose actions:

• Email teammate
• Move to stage
• Disqualify

4. Set email repeat frequency (e.g., every 1 day, every 10 days)

Use case: Notify hiring managers when candidates have been waiting in the Interview stage for too long.

What happens when stages change

Automations trigger

When a candidate moves to a new stage, any automations configured on that stage will execute:

Click the bolt icon on any pipeline stage to view or add automations:

1. Email to Candidate - Auto-send email when candidate reaches stage
2. Email to Teammate - Notify colleague when candidate reaches stage
3. Nurture Campaign - Start multi-step email/SMS sequences
4. Disqualify If (Knockout) - Auto-reject based on screening questions
5. Enrich Based on Existing Data - Find contact information via APIs
6. Validate Candidate's Emails - Check email validity with ZeroBounce
7. Assign Task - Auto-create task for team member
8. AI Score - Score candidate automatically
9. Act If Candidate Is Stuck - Monitor time in stage
10. Act If Form Is Filled - Trigger based on form responses

Discussion history updated

All stage changes appear in the candidate's Discussion tab:

• Shows who moved the candidate and when
• Full history of all candidate actions
• Creation timestamp visible

Notifications sent

Hiring team members may receive notifications:

• "Email to a teammate when candidate was moved to a stage" automation (if enabled)
• Additional notifications from other triggered automations

User permissions

Different user roles have different permissions for changing stages:

Access requirements:

• You must be on the job's Hiring Team to see candidates and change their stages
• OR be an Administrator (who sees everything but doesn't receive notifications unless on the team)

Managing hiring teams:

1. Open the job
2. Go to the Team tab
3. Select hiring team members
4. Hiring team members can:

• See this job and its candidates
• Receive notifications about this job
• Move candidates between stages

Administrators see all jobs and candidates but don't receive notifications for jobs they're not on the team for.

Setting up workflows and stages

Using default workflow

By default, all jobs use the same workflow configured at Settings > Workflow:

1. Go to Settings > Workflow
2. Edit the default pipeline stages
3. Changes apply to all jobs using the default workflow

Using different workflows for different jobs

Create custom workflows for different types of positions:

1. Open the job
2. Go to the Workflow tab
3. Enable "Use different workflows for different jobs" toggle
4. Select an existing workflow from the dropdown OR create a new one
5. Add pipeline stages using the dropdown at the bottom

Creating custom stages

To add new custom pipeline stages:

1. Go to the job's Workflow tab
2. Enable "Use different workflows for different jobs" toggle
3. Open the workflow dropdown menu
4. Click Add new workflow at the bottom
5. Name your workflow (e.g., "Designer workflow", "Developer workflow")
6. Add pipeline stages using the dropdown at the bottom
7. Start typing to add new custom stages or choose from existing ones

Common custom workflows:

• Designer workflow: Culture Fit stage, Hiring Manager interview stage
• Developer workflow: Technical Interview, Bar Raiser, Hiring Manager stages

Troubleshooting: Why stages don't show on new jobs

If you added stages to Pipeline Stages settings but they don't appear on a job:

Problem: Adding stages to the Pipeline Stages settings page is NOT enough.

Solution:

1. Go to the job's Workflow tab
2. Enable "Use different workflows for different jobs" toggle
3. Add the stages to the specific workflow being used by that job

Import/Export with stages

Importing candidates

When importing candidates from CSV:

1. Choose the job
2. Select the pipeline stage where new candidates should start
3. Import the file

Exporting candidates

Export candidates from any pipeline view or table view:

1. Use filters to find candidates (optional)
2. Select candidates using checkboxes
3. Click "Select All X candidates" to select the entire filtered set
4. Click "Export" bulk action
5. CSV file includes current pipeline stage information

Updated on: 22/12/2025