This article explains the concept of recruiting stages in Personio. Recruiting stages reflect the steps a candidate goes through in your recruiting process. You use a separate stage for each step, from acknowledgment of the application to interviews and final decision.
With recruiting stages, you can:
- Give structure to your recruiting process.
- Understand the status of an application. Go to the candidate profile to check the current stage.
- Gain detailed metrics. You can access data on your recruiting stages in the Pipeline health section of the Metrics tab.
Stage types overview
Personio groups individual stages by stage types. This grouping provides your recruiting process with a clear structure.
In Settings, under Recruiting > Stages, you can see the following stage types:
- System stage types: Offer, Hired, Unassigned, Rejected, and Withdrawn. These stage types are predefined. You can’t edit them or add custom stages to them.
- Other stage types: Screening, Interviews, Other, and Talent Pool. You can create custom stages and add them to these stage types. Creating custom stages helps reflect specific steps in your recruiting process.
The stage types above are organized between Pipeline and Outside of pipeline. We explain each stage type in more detail in the sections below.
Pipeline stage types
Pipeline stage types are the steps candidates go through in the recruiting process. To view and manage your pipeline stage types, go to Settings > Recruiting > Stages.
You can view your current candidate pipeline by enabling certain filters in the Application List. A shorter version of the pipeline is also displayed in areas like the job details.
You can access data on your candidate pipeline in the Pipeline health section of the Metrics tab.
| Stage type name | Description |
| Screening |
New candidates who are in the screening process. You can add custom stages to this stage type and edit them. |
| Interviews |
Candidates who are in the interview process. You can add custom stages to this stage type and edit them. For example, you might create the following custom stages:
|
| Offer (system stage type) |
Candidates who you send a job offer to. This stage type is predefined, and you can’t edit or add custom stages to it. |
| Hired (system stage type) |
Candidates who have accepted your offer. Personio automatically adds them as new hires. The information from the offer tab and the documents transfer to the new employee profile. This stage type is predefined, and you can’t edit or add custom stages to it. |
When you create a recruiting category, you define the recruiting process for that category by adding custom stages. For example, a category for working students likely has fewer stages than a category for permanent employees. Here's how the pipeline might look for these examples:
Example 1
Category:
Working students
Stages:
New application
Screening
Personal interview
Final decision
Example 2
Category:
Permanent employee
Stages:
New application
Screening
Phone interview
Personal interview
Peer assessment
Final decision
Outside of pipeline stage types
Other stage types aren't shown in the pipeline. These stage types aren't reflected in your Pipeline health metrics.
You can view and manage your outside of pipeline stage types in Settings, via Recruiting > Stages.
Tip:
You can automatically anonymize data for candidates assigned to the Rejected or Withdrawn stages. It's a GDPR requirement to anonymize data that is no longer needed. In Settings, go to Recruiting > General and define your preferences. We also recommend adding this information to your data privacy statement. Learn more about anonymizing candidate data.
| Stage type name | Description |
| Other |
This is for any stage that doesn’t fit within the other stage types. Use this stage type for stages that you want to exclude from your reporting. You can add custom stages to this stage type and edit them. |
| Talent pool |
You can use this stage type for stages that represent a talent pool. You can also use this for stages that represent a waiting period. This is useful for reporting, as candidates can often be in a talent pool or waiting period for a significant time. By using this stage type, your metrics are not skewed by waiting periods. You can add custom stages to this stage type and edit them. |
| Unassigned (system stage type) |
Candidates who have not been assigned to a stage are automatically assigned to this one. For example, if you delete a stage with candidates, they are assigned here. This stage type is predefined, and you can’t edit or add custom stages to it. |
| Rejected (system stage type) |
Candidates you have rejected are assigned to this stage. For example, candidates who are unsuitable for the job. This stage type is predefined, and you can’t edit or add custom stages to it. |
| Withdrawn (system stage type) |
Candidates who have withdrawn their application are assigned to this stage. For example, candidates who are no longer interested in the job. This stage type is predefined, and you can’t edit or add custom stages to it. |
Setup information
Refer to the articles below for setup information.