Understanding your pipeline

How stages, candidate statuses, and automations work together.

Every position in Bringboard has a pipeline: an ordered set of stages candidates move through from application to decision. Understanding how the pipeline works helps you track candidates consistently and build automations that save time.

How candidates flow through stages

When someone applies, their application appears in the Inbox stage. From there, you move them forward, backward, or to a terminal stage:

  1. Review the application in Inbox
  2. Move promising candidates to Phone Screen
  3. Advance strong candidates through On-site and Offer
  4. Move successful candidates to Hired, or rejected/withdrawn candidates to Archived

You can move candidates with the stage toolbar dropdown, the S keyboard shortcut, or through a workflow automation.

Stage types

Each stage has a type that controls its behavior:

  • Inbox - the landing zone for new applications. Every position has one.
  • Active - regular pipeline stages where work happens (screening, interviewing, evaluating).
  • Hired - a terminal stage. Moving a candidate here records a hiredAt timestamp and updates their status.
  • Archived - a terminal stage for rejected or withdrawn candidates. Records a rejectedAt timestamp. You can add a rejection reason.

Candidate statuses

Each application has a status derived from which stage it's in:

StatusMeaning
ActiveThe candidate is in a non-terminal stage and progressing through the pipeline
HiredThe candidate was moved to the Hired stage
RejectedThe candidate was moved to Archived by the recruiter
WithdrawnThe candidate withdrew their application

Automation with workflows

Workflows let you automate repetitive actions when something happens in your pipeline. A workflow has three parts:

  • Trigger - the event that starts the workflow (e.g. application submitted, candidate moved to a stage)
  • Conditions - optional filters (e.g. only for a specific position, only when moved to Phone Screen)
  • Actions - what happens (e.g. send an email, move to a stage, set a property)

Common automation examples:

  • Send a confirmation email when a candidate applies
  • Notify the hiring manager when a candidate reaches the On-site stage
  • Auto-archive candidates who haven't been moved in 30 days
Workflows can be scoped to a specific position or applied org-wide. Org-wide workflows trigger for all positions.

Activity timeline

Every action on a candidate is recorded in their activity timeline: stage movements, emails sent and received, form submissions, scheduling events, and workflow executions. The timeline is the single source of truth for what happened and when.

Open any candidate's profile to see their full timeline. Each event shows who did it, when, and any relevant details (like which stage they moved from and to).