This article provides an overview of the recruiting stages set up in Personio and shows what you can do with them. Recruiting stages allow you to map your company’s specific recruiting processes in Personio from the time you receive an application all the way through to you offering the position to a candidate.
Predefined Recruiting Stages
Under Settings > Recruiting > Recruiting > Stages, the stages Unassigned, Rejected, Withdrawn, Offer and Accepted are predefined by default. These recruiting stages cannot be edited because they trigger further processes in Personio.
| Predefined Recruiting Stage | Note |
| Unassigned | All candidates who have not been assigned to another stage will automatically be assigned to this one. Deleting a stage that contains candidates could, for example, trigger this categorization. |
| Rejected | All candidates you have rejected, for example because they are not suitable for the advertised position, will be assigned to this stage. |
| Withdrawn | All candidates who have withdrawn their application, for example because they are no longer interested in the advertised position, are assigned to this stage. |
| Offer | All candidates you made an offer to (and send this offer) straight from Personio, are assigned to this stage. |
| Accepted | All candidates who have accepted your offer are assigned to this stage and are automatically added to Personio as new hires. The information from the Offer tab, as well as all documents, will automatically be transferred to the new employee profile. The employee profile continues to be linked to the candidate profile. |
Note
Due to GDPR, you are legally required to remove personal data once the purpose for which the data was collected has been fulfilled. Find out how to automatically anonymize candidate data after a candidate has been in the stage Rejected or Withdrawn for a certain amount of time. Learn more about Anonymizing and Deleting Candidate Data.
Custom Stages
In addition to the predefined stages, you can create any number of further stages that candidates will need to complete during the application process.
To create custom recruiting stages, follow these steps:
- Go to Settings > Recruiting > Recruiting > Stages.
- Click on Add new recruiting stage. Insert the name of the stage in the text field, stage name and click Save.
- Define the duration of the stage.
▶︎ Unlimited
▶︎ Limited – Specify the maximum number of days candidates should be permitted to remain in this stage. If a candidate exceeds this number, you will see their name flagged in the Applications list. You can also filter this list for candidates who have already been in a particular stage for too long. Learn more about Application List Functions. - For easier differentiation and a clearer structure, select the color of the stage and click Apply changes.
Tip
You can drag-and-drop the stage within the list of stages.
Learn how to transfer candidates between stages.
To integrate individual custom stages into your application process, select the relevant stages for any recruiting category in Settings > Recruiting > Recruiting > Categories. Learn more about Configuring and Using Recruiting Categories.
Tip
Custom stages can also be used to create a talent pool. To do so, create an additional custom stage called Talent pool. Transfer any candidates into this stage whom you might consider for future positions. Learn more on Creating a Talent Pool.
You can find further information on Best Practice: Recruiting Stages, Categories, and Interviews in our Help Center.