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Managing Candidates

Written by Trish Griffin
Updated over a month ago

What is this?

CommsCoach HIRE has a robust set of tools to monitor and manage Applicants.

Why am I learning it?

Learning to recognize and operate the HIRE dashboard tools lets you manage and interact with your HIRE Applicants progress effortlessly.

What will I learn?

By the end of this module, you will be able to...

  • locate and identify candidate statuses

  • distinguish between candidate pending, accepted, in progress, completed, withdrawn, cancelled.

  • identify use cases for various statuses and actions

  • resend an invitation to the HIRE assessment

Candidate Dashboard Overview

Our focus for this lesson is the Candidate Status panel which is Section #4 in the below diagram

  1. Pre-Hire Tab from Home Dashboard

  2. View Options

    1. Pre-hire Phase (dropdown menu)

    2. Date Range (dropdown calendar tool)

  3. Actions

    1. Bulk Invite form

    2. Invite User form

    3. Summary Report

    4. Export/Download CSV

  4. Candidate status

    1. Invited

    2. Accepted

    3. In Progress

    4. Completed

    5. Hired

    6. Cancelled

    7. Withdrawn

  5. Benchmark Categories

    1. Category: GovWorx (Actual external candidates) vs Calibrated (internal controls)

    2. Calibration candidates included

    3. Archived candidates included

  6. Filters

    1. Show/hide table filters

    2. Manage table columns

    3. Manage table appearance

    4. Fullscreen

Candidate Status in Process

View numbers of Candidates that your Agency or the Candidate has...

  • Pending (not shown on main dashboard)

  • Invited

  • Accepted

  • In Progress

  • Completed

  • Hired

  • Cancelled

  • Withdrawn

  • Deleted (not shown on main dashboard)

  • Archived (not shown on main dashboard)

Descriptions of Candidate Status Categories

Pending - (not shown on main dashboard; only shown on individual candidate record) Candidates who were sent an invitation but who have not yet clicked Accept on the invite.

Invited - Running Total of candidates the Agency has invited to engage in the Pre-Hire Process

Accepted - Current status of all invited users that Agency has accepted into the Pre-Hire Process.

  • The Accepted status indicates that an applicant has received their HIRE invitation and has successfully accessed the system by logging in to their assigned assessment using their provided credentials. At this stage, the applicant has acknowledged the invitation by entering the platform, but may not have started or completed the assessment yet.

  • This status reflects that the invitation has been received and acted upon, transitioning the applicant from a pending invite into an active participant in the hiring workflow.

In Progress - Candidate has started the Pre-Hire Process (begun Assessment)

Completed - Candidate has completed and submitted the Assessment. A candidate should be marked as Completed when:

  • They were legitimately invited

  • They accepted the invitation

  • They logged in

  • They completed the full assessment experience

  • Their results (score, video, etc.) are generated and available

Hired - Agency has hired the Candidate

Cancelled - Agency has cancelled the Candidate's candidacy/application. Candidate is no longer being considered. Apply Cancelled when the applicant is no longer being considered.

Since the invite was valid and the applicant was real, their attempt should still remain in the system, count toward KPIs, and be reflected in completion rate/attempt volume.

Use Cases:

  • Candidate fails an early screening step, they are disqualified during hiring review, or you decide not to move forward after invite or during assessment.

  • Hiring needs change (position closed, hiring freeze, internal hire made)

  • Agency does not want to proceed with the hiring process with this Candidate

  • They did not withdraw themselves; you made the decision to stop their participation

Withdrawn - Candidate has voluntarily withdrawn their own candidacy in the Pre-Hire Process, or has never responded to initial invitation emails.

Use Cases:

  • Candidate has accepted a job for another employer and is no longer participating in the application process.

  • Candidate never accepted invitation.

  • Candidate remained in Pending for a long period.

Deleted (not shown on dashboard) - Agency has deleted the candidate record because the Agency has made a mistake and invited this user in error.

This should never be used instead of "Cancelled" or "Withdrawn" because those categories feed the system with relevant data.

Use Cases:

  • Agency made an error on this record.

  • Applicant was sent invitation by mistake.

Note: once an applicant has been assigned an assessment, they cannot be deleted but can be archived instead.

Archived (not shown on dashboard) - The Archive function allows administrators to retain an applicant’s full record in the system (including their assessment results, score, video, and invitation history) while removing that individual from active reporting metrics such as KPIs, average scores, and agency benchmarks.
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Archiving does not delete or modify the applicant’s data — it simply excludes them from aggregate performance calculations while preserving their information for future reference or auditing purposes.

Archive = Keep the record, remove the reporting impact.
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​Use Cases:

  • Historical Record Keeping - Retain applicants from prior hiring cycles without allowing them to impact current performance metrics or reporting.
    • Invalid Calibration Users - Remove calibration participants who should not be included in benchmarking (e.g., wrong user invited, test participant, or technical assessment issue) without deleting their data.
    • Assessment Technical Issues - Exclude applicants whose results were impacted by system or user error but may still need to be retained for documentation.
    • Data Clean-Up Without Data Loss - Maintain a complete record of applicant activity while ensuring only relevant, active participants contribute to KPI tracking and benchmark calculations.

Archived - you can show only records of candidates who are no longer in the process by clicking the Archive button On/Off. Archiving allows us to retain important data without impacting our KPIs. Archiving does not delete or modify the applicant’s data — it simply excludes them from aggregate performance calculations while preserving their information for future reference or auditing purposes. In short, Archive = Keep the record, remove the reporting impact.​

Candidate Tracker Columns

Candidate - Name of Candidate

Tracking Number - Agency-assigned number (optional)

Application Status - One of the following statuses the system assigns (Accepted, In Progress, Completed, Hired, Cancelled, Withdrawn)

Application Manager - Hiring Manager who invited and is monitoring this Candidate

Invited Date - Date the Agency emailed the Pre-Hire Invitation to Candidate

Accepted Date - Date the Candidate clicked the Invitation Accepted button in their email

Actions - Actions the Agency/Hiring Manager can take regarding this Candidate

Options include the following:

  • Edit Invitation (pencil icon)

  • Resend Invitation (envelope)

  • Resend Login Email (left arrow)

  • Download PDF (download arrow)

  • Email Packet (right arrow envelope)

  • Manage Applicant Record Status

    • Cancel - Agency has cancelled the applicant's candidacy.

      • Use Case: Agency does not want to proceed with this applicant.

    • Withdraw - Candidate has withdrawn themselves from candidacy.

      • Use Case: Candidate has accepted a position elsewhere.

    • Delete - Agency has deleted the candidate record before candidate has taken the Assessment (Never use Delete if Cancelled or Withdrawn is applicable)

      • Use Case: Assessment sent to wrong person, email, etc.

    • Archive - Agency has placed the candidate's record into Archive.

      • Use Cases: Calibration User gets a very low score or if the Calibration User had technical issue and had to abandon the Assessment.

Hired - Toggled for YES or NO

Overall Score - Shows Candidates overall score. Click here for details on candidate scoring and Summary

View Candidate Scoring Summary and Details

Click anywhere on the Candidate Row to access Candidate Results, Summary Report, and Scoring Details.

Once you have selected a Candidate, their details scoring pages are organized in this way:

  • Results

    • Summary Report

    • Competency Areas

    • Scores

  • Calibration (type of calibration may vary)

    • Video View

    • Table View

Results Tab

Results Tab

  • Summary Report

  • Competency Areas

  • Scores

Assessment Tab

Each Assessment Tab will have two sub-tabs: Video View Tab and Table View Tab.

Video View Tab

The video view shows you the Applicant's screen during the Assessment. It should also show the Applicant viewed from their computer's webcam.

Table View Tab

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