Change a Candidate's Status

How do I change a candidate's status?

Purpose: When you have new candidates applying to your job openings daily, it is important to stay organized with where your candidates are in the process. This help guide will teach you how to change a candidate's status to help you stay organized. 


Change status

You can change a candidate's status in several ways. One way is to view the candidate overview table and select the preferred status option from the candidate's status drop-down list.

Another way to change a candidate's status is on their candidate profile by selecting the preferred status option from the candidate's status drop-down list. Once you change the status, you can add a comment associated with the change. The status update, along with your comment, will show on the Notes tab under History.

You can quickly change a candidate's status from the Candidates tab under Hiring. Pull down the status drop-down menu and select the appropriate status.

If you have set up disqualifying questions, the system will automatically move your candidates to the selected status if they answer the disqualifying question. Please note, for reporting purposes, the system will first put the candidate in the New status and then move them directly to the status you selected.

If you have set up automated emails, once you change the status, the designated email will be sent based on your schedule preferences.

Status options

The status options for a candidate divide into four sections:

  1. Active Statuses: Choosing one of these options will identify where the candidate is in the hiring process.
  2. Disqualified Statuses: Choosing one of these options will mark the candidate with the respective status filter. The statuses under "Disqualified Statuses" are inactive statuses that will remove the candidate from the active candidate list. You will see these options if you mark a yes/no question as disqualifying in a job opening.
  3. Create Offer Letter: Selecting this option will allow you to send an offer letter to the candidate. If the candidate has already signed an offer letter, you will see the option to Send New Offer here instead.
  4. Hire: Selecting this option will allow you to create an employee profile for the candidate and close the job opening.

If a candidate was already added as an employee in BambooHR, the Hire status under the candidate profile will be grayed out. This prevents duplicate employee profiles from getting created. To remove the candidate from the active candidate list, you can select an inactive candidate status (under Not Hired Because…). For example, you could create a custom inactive status for “Hired, Already in BambooHR.”

Custom candidate statuses

You can add a custom status option to the status drop-down list by selecting the following commands in order:  Settings > Hiring > Candidate Statuses. Click +Add Status to add one to the preferred section.

Type in your custom status and click Add.

When customizing your statuses, think of them as a to-do list and put them in an intuitive workflow order. For example, Send Interview Invitation Email and Interview Invitation Sent are our custom status options. We filter the candidate overview table by a status option and use a bulk action to send an interview invitation email (using a template with placeholders that only take one click) to all candidates at that point. Once the email sends, we change the candidate's status to Interview Invitation Sent, using the bulk action option. This action helps us know where everyone is at and the next steps to take. We can also see where candidates get stuck in the process, such as Waiting for Skills Test Response, and make adjustments to improve the candidate's experience.

Edit the Candidate Statuses list by clicking on the trash can icon next to a standard list option to delete it. You can also edit by clicking and dragging a standard list option up or down to change the order in which it appears.

If you delete any standard statuses, you will see the option to add those back by clicking Add Default Status.

That will open a modal allowing you to add back any standard statuses you have deleted.