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Recording Mandatory Data Before Moving Candidates Between Stages

How to record mandatory candidate data before moving candidates between stages?

Amogh Balikai avatar
Written by Amogh Balikai
Updated over a week ago

Recruiters lose precious time (and sometimes deals) when key fields like salary expectations or GDPR consent are missing at the moment a candidate advances.

Mandatory field validation stops the move until required information is captured, eliminating back-and-forth follow-ups and protecting compliance and reporting accuracy.

Benefits at a glance

Benefit

How it shows up

Higher data accuracy

Recruiters must complete the fields while moving through stages, boosting data quality

Faster stage progression

Once data is present, transitions are one-click with no retroactive clean-up

Audit & compliance readiness

Every enforced field is logged, simplifying client audits and diversity or GDPR reporting

How does the validation work in Recruiterflow?

  • Per-stage rules – Admins pick the exact fields that must be filled before each stage in Settings > Job Settings > Customize Stage Settings

  • Real-time modal – When a recruiter drags or drops a candidate, a pop-up lists anything missing so it can be entered on the spot

    Permissions – Only Admins create or edit the rules; all recruiters experience the check during daily workflow

Moving one candidate vs many candidates

Workflow

What you’ll see

Single candidate

As soon as you drag the card, a modal appears with the candidate’s missing fields (e.g., “Interview Feedback”, “Expected CTC”)

Bulk move

The same modal opens, but with a mini-card for each selected candidate so you can tab quickly through them

Key difference: Bulk mode lets you validate multiple candidates in one flow, no separate pop-ups, yet still enforces the exact same rules for each individual record.

Where mandatory rules do not apply

  • Automations & recipes – Stage moves triggered by automation bypass validation to keep workflows uninterrupted

  • Stages without rules – If no rule is configured for a particular stage, recruiters can move candidates freely.

  • Job templates – Rules are stored inside each job, not in templates, so template changes won’t affect validation.

Day-to-day: Moving candidates with validation enabled

  1. Drag a candidate (or select multiple → Bulk actions → Move stage).

  2. Review the modal. Required fields are highlighted.

  3. Complete missing details (all field types are supported).

  4. Click Update & Move. The candidate(s) advance instantly once all data is present.


Best practices

  • Start small – Enforce only the highest-impact fields first (e.g., interview feedback).

  • Group fields logically – Capture salary-related data together to avoid multiple prompts.

  • Use custom fields for client-specific metrics like diversity self-ID.

  • Communicate changes – Let recruiters know what will be mandatory before you turn the rules on.


Next steps & related articles

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