Managing Your Pipeline

Why It Matters

The pipeline is where hiring decisions happen. Understanding how candidates move through stages — and how your team’s actions trigger transitions — keeps your process moving and prevents bottlenecks.

How the Pipeline Works

Each job posting has an ordered list of stages. Candidates progress through stages one at a time, from first to last. Every stage has a type (e.g. Application Form, Team Review, Live Interview) and optional configuration that controls its behavior.

When a candidate applies, they enter the first stage. From there, your team advances them through subsequent stages until they reach the end of the pipeline or are rejected.

Stage Progress Statuses

Each candidate has a stage progress record for every stage they’ve reached. It tracks where they are:

Status	Meaning
Pending	The candidate hasn’t started this stage yet
In Progress	The candidate is actively working on this stage
Completed	The stage is finished — candidate can be advanced
Skipped	The stage was bypassed (manually skipped)

A candidate’s current stage is the one with an In Progress status. All previous stages show as Completed or Skipped.

Advancing Candidates

The Advance button appears on a candidate’s application page when all three conditions are met:

1. The application is active (not rejected or withdrawn)
2. The current stage’s requirements are complete (submission received, reviews finished, etc.)
3. A next stage exists in the pipeline

When you click Advance:

• The current stage progress is marked Completed
• The next stage progress is created and marked In Progress
• The candidate receives a notification about their new stage (if applicable)
• A Slack notification is sent to the channel (if Slack is connected)

What Counts as “Complete”

Different stage types have different completion criteria:

Stage Type	Complete When
Application Form	Candidate submits the form
Code Assignment	Candidate submits their code (or deadline auto-submits)
Portfolio Upload	Candidate uploads their files
Questionnaire	Candidate submits their answers
Video	Candidate watches the required percentage
Video Recording	Candidate records and submits their video
Team Review	Voting threshold is met (see Auto-Advancement)
Live Interview	Interview is marked complete
Reference Check	Required references are collected
Offer	Candidate or admin accepts the offer

Auto-Advancement

Some stages can advance candidates automatically based on configured rules:

Voting Thresholds (Team Review)

Team review stages support a voting threshold. When enough reviewers submit positive recommendations (Yes or Strong Yes), the candidate advances automatically. Configure this with:

• Threshold — Minimum number of positive votes needed (1-10)
• Require all reviewers — Wait for every assigned reviewer to vote before evaluating
• Veto auto-rejects — A single Strong No recommendation automatically rejects the candidate

Code Assignment Deadline

When a code assignment’s deadline expires, Kit automatically submits the candidate’s work. This prevents stalled pipelines when candidates don’t explicitly submit before the deadline.

Rejecting Candidates

You can reject a candidate at any stage. Click Reject on their application page to:

1. Enter an optional rejection reason (internal — candidates don’t see this)
2. A rejection email is scheduled based on your account’s configured delay

Email Delay

Rejection emails aren’t sent immediately. Your account has a configurable delay (default: 24 hours, range: 0-168 hours). This gives you a buffer to reconsider or batch rejections. You can adjust this delay in your hiring settings.

The delay prevents the awkward situation where a candidate is rejected and emailed within seconds of applying. It also lets you review rejections before notifications go out.

Skipping Stages

You can skip a stage to move a candidate past it without completing it. The stage progress is marked Skipped and the candidate moves to the next stage. This is useful when:

• A stage doesn’t apply to a particular candidate
• You want to fast-track a strong referral
• External circumstances make a stage unnecessary (e.g. references already known)

Skipped stages are clearly marked in the application timeline so your team knows they were intentionally bypassed.

The Application Timeline

Every application has a timeline showing the candidate’s journey through your pipeline. Each stage appears as a colored dot:

Color	Meaning
Green	Completed
Blue	In Progress (current stage)
Gray	Pending (not yet reached)

Click on any stage in the timeline to open a detail modal showing stage-specific information: form responses, review scores, interview details, or submission files. This gives you a quick overview without leaving the application page.

Quick Checklist

• Review applications as they come in — don’t let the pipeline stall
• Advance candidates promptly when stage requirements are met
• Configure voting thresholds on team review stages to enable auto-advancement
• Set an appropriate rejection email delay in hiring settings
• Use skip sparingly and only when a stage genuinely doesn’t apply
• Check the application timeline for a quick overview of candidate progress