What it does
The stage set is the backbone of the ATS: it is what a recruiter sees at a glance when they open a job, and it is what every screening rule, digest email, and hygiene nudge measures against. Rather than treating those seven stages as fixed, the pipeline configuration is employer-customizable, so a role that needs an extra checkpoint can have one, and a role that moves fast can be trimmed down.
How it works
- 1
Every job starts from the same default
New jobs are created with the seven canonical stages already in place, so there is a working pipeline from the first application without any setup required.
- 2
The stage setup can be adjusted for the job
Employers are not locked into the default. The pipeline stage configuration can be customized so the stages a candidate moves through reflect the actual steps that role takes to fill.
- 3
Candidates move as decisions get made
A recruiter updates a candidate's stage directly on their card as the team's view of them changes, and that change is written to the candidate's timeline immediately.
- 4
Rules can move candidates automatically
A screening rule can include set_stage as its action, so a candidate scoring above a threshold on the AI interview can advance to qualified the moment their interview finishes, without a recruiter opening the card first.
- 5
Aging in a stage gets surfaced, not ignored
If a candidate sits in the same stage for 14 days or more, a pipeline-hygiene nudge flags them so the stage setup does not become a place candidates quietly get forgotten.
Stages are what the rest of the ATS measures
Screening rules that set_stage, the weekly hiring digest that reports stage movements, and pipeline-hygiene nudges that watch for stage aging all point at the same stage configuration, so changing how a role's pipeline is laid out changes what all of those tools track, without separate setup in each one.
A fixed default means nobody starts from scratch
New roles are not blank. The seven-stage default is there from the first posting, which matters for a small team that needs a job live today and does not have time to design a pipeline before the first application arrives.
The stage a candidate sits in drives what happens next
A candidate's current stage is not just a label. It determines what a rule can match against with set_stage, what a recruiter sees when they filter the pipeline down to interviewing or offered, and what the hiring digest reports as movement for the week.
Getting the stage setup right for a role pays off across every one of those downstream uses.
Who it's for
Who this is for
This suits hiring teams running more than one kind of role at once, where a generic three-stage pipeline undersells a technical hire and overcomplicates a high-volume seasonal one. A single recruiter posting one job can rely entirely on the default and never touch the configuration.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to use the seven default stages?
No. The default stage set, new through hired or rejected, is there so every job has a working pipeline immediately, but the configuration is employer-customizable if a role needs a different sequence.
Does changing stages affect existing candidates?
Candidates already in a pipeline keep their current stage and full timeline when the stage configuration changes. Their history is not rewritten, so past decisions stay visible.
Can automation move candidates between stages?
Yes. The screening rules engine can set a candidate's stage automatically as one of its five available actions, triggered the moment an AI interview completes and a rule's conditions match.
How do I know if a candidate is stuck in a stage too long?
Pipeline-hygiene nudges flag candidates who have sat in the same stage for 14 days or more, and the weekly hiring digest reports stage movements for the job, so stalled candidates surface without a manual check.
Does the stage a candidate is in affect anything besides where they show up on screen?
Yes. Stage is what screening rules can act on through set_stage, what a recruiter filters by when reviewing a pipeline, and what the weekly hiring digest reports as movement, so the stage setup for a role touches most of the rest of the ATS.
Related pages
Set up a pipeline that matches how you actually hire
Start with the default seven stages or adjust them for the role, then let the screening rules and digests do the tracking.