Effective talent management requires a clear map of where every candidate stands. In Thrive 2.0, Project Stages act as that map, allowing you to track the progress of a search from the initial identification of a candidate all the way to a successful hire.
By tailoring these stages to match your team’s specific workflow, you ensure everyone stays aligned and no top-tier talent falls through the cracks.
Understanding System vs. Standard Stages
Before you begin customizing, it is important to know that not all stages are created equal. Thrive uses two distinct types of stages to keep your data organized:
System Stages: These are fixed stages required by the platform to track core milestones. They cannot be renamed, deleted, or reordered.
Standard Stages: These are your flexible workflow steps. You can add, rename, and reorder these to mirror your team’s unique interview and vetting process.
Note: Users are limited to 10 stages total to represent your real-time process.
How to Configure Your Project Stages
If you have Admin permissions, you can customize these stages in the Admin Portal to ensure they match your company's terminology.
Access the Admin Portal: Navigate to the Admin section and select Project Stages.
Add or Rename: To add a new step, click the plus icon. If you prefer to call "Interviewing" something else—like "Vetting"—you can simply rename the Standard Stage.
Reorder Your Workflow: Use the drag-and-drop handles to move stages up or down so the sequence matches your actual hiring funnel.
Moving Candidates Through the Pipeline
Once your stages are set, getting candidates from "Identified" to "Hired" is simple and intuitive. There are two primary ways to manage movement within a project:
1. The Visual Drag-and-Drop (Card View)
The Card View works like a digital kanban board.
Simply click and hold a candidate’s card.
Drag it to the next stage column and release.
2. Bulk Movement (List View)
If you need to move multiple people at once (for example, moving three candidates into the "Interviewing" stage), the Action Menu is your best friend:
Highlight multiple candidates by clicking on them.
A blue bar will appear at the top of the screen.
Click the Move Stage button to update their status in one click.
Collapse and expand project stages
On busy projects, stage columns can take up a lot of space. You can collapse or expand stages in both Kanban (card) view and long card view so you can focus on the stages that matter.
Collapse or expand individual stages, or collapse/expand all stages at once
Your collapse/expand preferences are saved per project
Empty stages start collapsed by default, so you spend less time scrolling past unused columns
Use this to reduce clutter on large pipelines and keep your view focused on active stages.
List view: sticky stage bar
In project list view:
The stage bar stays visible as you scroll (sticky), so you always know which stage you’re working in
You can collapse or expand a stage by clicking anywhere in the stage header, not only the chevron
This makes long candidate lists easier to navigate without losing stage context.
FAQ
Who has permission to change project stages? Only Admins can configure the global stage templates in the Admin Portal. Typical users can view and move candidates between stages, but they cannot rename or delete the stages themselves.
Can I delete a stage once a project has started? Yes. Older projects with out-of-date stages will appear with a disclaimer at the top that stages have changed. Our recommendation, however, is configure your stages and review with your team to ensure they work with your team's process before adding candidates to a project.
Is there a limit to how many stages I can have? Yes, the system currently supports up to 10 stages to keep your workflow concise and manageable.
Can I move candidates back to a previous stage? Absolutely. Using either the drag-and-drop Card View or the Bulk Action menu, you can move candidates forward or backward through any available stage.