Pipeline stages & moving candidates
How the two-axis pipeline works — stages you define, outcomes that never lose history — in board and table form.
Each job has a pipeline — the set of candidates in process. Open a job and select the Pipeline tab, where you can switch between a board (kanban) and a table view.
Stages and outcomes — two separate things
Every application tracks two things independently:
- Stage — where the candidate is in your process. Stages are defined by your workspace (the default set is Sourced → Applied → Screen → Submitted → Client review → Interview → Offer) and fully customisable — see Customising pipeline stages.
- Outcome — how it ended: placed, rejected or withdrawn. Outcomes are not stages: rejecting a candidate at Interview doesn't drag their card backwards — it stamps the outcome and preserves the stage they reached, so your funnel history stays honest. See Recording outcomes.
The board
The kanban board shows one column per active stage and a Placed column for candidates whose outcome is placed. When applicants for the job are waiting for a decision, the board starts with a New applicants lane: click Accept on a card to add them at the stage it names, Decline to turn them down, drag the card onto any stage to accept them there, or open it to review the applicant first (see Reviewing inbound applicants). In the table view, a line above the list says how many are waiting and links to the Review page.
Drag a card to a new column — the stage updates immediately and the move is logged on both the job's and the candidate's History timeline. Cards can show days in stage and the candidate's AI match strength, so you can prioritise within a column. While dragging, drop zones for Reject… and Withdraw… appear so you can record an exit without leaving the board. Dropping a card on Placed opens the place dialog; dragging a card out of Placed onto a stage reopens it at that stage.
Stage order is set for the whole workspace, so columns can't be reordered on a job's board. A column's ⋯ menu offers Hide on this board (just for you) and Edit stages and order…, which opens the stage settings.
Emails and interviews when a candidate moves
Some moves offer a next step. Nothing is ever sent for you: every email opens as a draft in the composer, and only Send sends it.
- Into an interview stage — a dialog offers to schedule the interview (see Tracking interviews). Skip keeps the move without an interview.
- Into your submitted stage, an offer stage, or another stage with a matching email template — Kepler asks "Email [contact] about [candidate]?". Draft opens the template, picked for this client where one exists; Skip just closes it. The question only appears when a template fits.
- Reject — when a rejection template fits, the reject dialog offers Reject and draft alongside plain Reject.
- Placed — the Place [candidate] dialog confirms the Consultants and, when an offer template fits, offers Mark placed and draft.
When Kepler suggests a stage move (for example from an email), the suggestion shows on the candidate's card. Accepting it opens the same dialog instead of moving the card straight away.
The table
Switch to table view for a full-power list of the pipeline's candidates — the same columns, filters, sorting and saved views as any record list, with application details (stage, outcome, dates) alongside candidate fields.
Working several candidates at once
To move or reject several applications together, open Pipeline in the sidebar, filter to the job you are working and select the relevant rows. Choose Move to stage and a destination, or Reject and complete the reason dialog. Review the result message before continuing: if some applications could not be updated, check those records and retry as needed.
On a job's own Pipeline tab, switch to the table view and select rows to Send to client or Reject from this job.
For work across several jobs, use the Pipeline page. When preparing a shortlist for a client, see Formatting and sending CVs and Sharing candidates with clients.
Adding candidates to the pipeline
- From the Pipeline tab, click Add to pipeline and choose an existing candidate from your database.
- From a candidate's record, choose Add to job.
- By accepting an inbound applicant from the New applicants lane or the Review page — they enter at the stage you pick, falling back to the posting's stage and then to the workspace's Inbound default stage.
- By accepting an AI match suggestion from the job's Matching tab.
Submitted tracking
In Settings → Jobs & pipeline you choose the stage from which candidates count as submitted — when a candidate reaches that stage (or any stage after it), Kepler stamps their submitted date automatically. That's what powers the delivery funnel and the Submitted column on the Pipeline page.
Pipeline hygiene
- Keep stage definitions honest — "Interview" should mean a confirmed client interview, not "sent the CV and hoping".
- Record outcomes when candidates drop — the dashboard and reports read stage and outcome data, and stale pipelines produce fantasy forecasts.
- Use the Interviews tab to log rounds, feedback and scheduling alongside the stage itself.
The pipeline records applications — the link between one candidate and one job. A candidate can be in several pipelines at once, each with its own stage, outcome and history.