Candidate statuses help you track where each person stands in your hiring process. You can update one candidate at a time or a whole group at once.
Who can change statuses:
Owners and Admins can change any candidate's status
Users can change statuses on job openings where they have Admin or Edit access
Users with View-only access to the job opening can see a candidate's status but can't change it
Candidate statuses
Every candidate in a job opening has one of three statuses:
Status | What it means | When to use it |
Active | The candidate is in your review pool and can receive assessments | Default for all new candidates. You can send invitations, retests, and onsite sessions (in-person testing sessions). |
Hired | You've made a hiring decision | When you've extended and accepted an offer. New assessments can no longer be sent to the candidate. |
Archived | The candidate is no longer being considered | When screening them out or closing a cycle. New assessments can no longer be sent to the candidate. |
Status doesn't affect a candidate's existing scores or results, and candidates don't see their status. However, moving a candidate to Hired or Archived does prevent new assessments from being sent to them. Only Active candidates can receive new invitations and retests.
Change a single candidate's status
You have two options for updating one candidate:
From the candidates list — Check the box next to the candidate and use the bulk actions bar (e.g., Mark as Hired)
From the candidate's detailed results — Click into the candidate's results, then click the status badge at the top of the results page to open a dropdown with the other two status options. Select the new status and the badge updates immediately.
Change statuses in bulk from the candidates list
When you're ready to process multiple candidates at once — like marking everyone you've decided not to move forward, or confirming a hiring decision for a group — bulk status change lets you do it in one step.
In the Classic experience, the only bulk action is Archive — you can select multiple candidates and archive them in one step. Marking a group as Active or Hired at once is available only in the new Select experience. In Classic, change those statuses one candidate at a time.
1. Open a job opening and go to the Candidates tab.
2. Check the box next to each candidate you want to update. To select everyone in the opening, use the Select All checkbox in the table header.
3. In the bulk actions bar above the table, choose the status you want to apply:
Mark as Hired appears as the primary action
Mark as Active and Mark as Archived are in the overflow menu (the three-dot button)
4. A confirmation message will appear asking you to confirm the status change update.
5. All selected candidates update to the new status, the list refreshes, a success message confirms the change, and all candidate checkboxes are cleared.
What to expect
After updating a candidate's status:
Hired or archived candidates. New assessment invitations are no longer available. You won't be able to send new test invitations, retests, or initiate an onsite session for these candidates.
Active candidates. All testing and invitation actions remain available.
Your selection clears automatically. After a successful bulk status change, the candidate checkboxes you selected are cleared so you can start a fresh selection.
Status changes take effect immediately. There's no undo button, but you can always change a candidate's status again — for example, moving a Hired candidate back to Active if circumstances change.
FAQ
Can I change the status of any candidate?
Most candidates, yes. Non-Applicant candidates have a fixed type badge and can't be updated through the status workflow — non-applicant is a candidate type, not a hiring status, so Active, Hired, and Archived don't apply to them. The non-applicant designation is set when you first add or invite the candidate, and it can't be changed afterward. Candidates managed through an ATS integration also can't be updated manually — their status is controlled by the integration.
Why are the bulk action buttons grayed out?
The bulk actions are disabled until at least one candidate is selected. Check the boxes next to the candidates you want to update, then try again.
Can I select candidates with different current statuses and change them all at once?
Yes. You can select a mix of Active, Hired, and Archived candidates and apply any status to all of them in one step. All three options are always available regardless of what statuses are currently in your selection.
What happens to a candidate's scores if I change their status?
Existing scores, fit interpretations, and assessment data are not affected by status changes. The only functional impact is that Hired and Archived candidates can no longer receive new assessments. If you need to send a retest, change the candidate back to Active first.