Rule Stages can be used to skip a stage, fast-track applicants, or auto-reject applicants. Rule Stages can be used to automatically move applicants to another stage in any Opening, or to update their profile based on certain criteria (e.g. responding to "Are you over 21?" with "No").

Rule Conditions and Criteria

In the table below, you'll find a list of logic criteria, and the actions you can build rules on. These can be mixed and matched for your needs:

If (Conditions)...	...Then (Actions)
Applicant Field	Move to the stage...
Applicant Label	Move to another opening
Document has been Uploaded	Update application data with...
Score Card Result	Move to the stage...
Document Signing status
Applicant Location
Learning Status or Result
Personality Test Score
Applicant Duplicate Status
Background Check Status

Here is a list of operators that can be used in a rule, and when they trigger an action:

Operator	Action triggered when there is...	Example of when an action is triggered
Equals	An exact match of the value.
Does not equal	Anything that does not match the value.
Greater than	Anything greater than the value.
Greater than or equal	Anything greater than or equal to the value.
Less than	Anything less than the value.
Less than or equal	Anything less than or equal to the value.
Includes	A partial match of the entire value.	Rule value: "No" Value from applicant: "No, I am not interested at this time."
Does not include	No match of the entire value.
Is in the list	An exact match within a comma-separated list.	Rule value: "New York, California, Oregon" Value from applicant: "I live in California."

Add a Rule Stage

To add a Rule stage, follow the steps below:

Click Applicants and click Applicant Table from the dropdown menu.
Within the Applicant Table, click Settings.
Click Edit Workflow.
On the top left, click on the Add Rule button.
Type a Rule Stage a title, choose the rule type, and specify where you want to add it in the workflow.
Click the blue Add Rule button to confirm.
Click on the blue Add rule button to add a rule. You can add multiple rules to the same Rule Stage for a cleaner workflow (instead of a workflow with many Rule Stages back to back).
Select the logic condition(s).
Select an action(s) in response to the condition criteria.
Select an action for applicants who don't meet the logic.
Click Save changes.

Best Practices:

Multiple Actions: the action can also perform multiple actions to your rules. For example, you can simultaneously move the applicant AND update their profile IF they meet the criteria.
Moving to Reject: if you choose to reject an applicant as the action, keep in mind that rejection reasons are customizable in your company settings and can have specific message templates applied and sent if the applicant lands in the rejected stage. For more information on this, visit this resource.

Placement of the Rule Stage

In order for the rule to apply for the applicant to pass through the Rule Stage,

The Rule Stage MUST be placed after the stages that collect the information you are building the criteria for. For example, the Rule Stage is based on a field (age_requirement = yes). You cannot place this Rule Stage before the Data Collection stage that asks the question "Do you meet the age requirement?" question because all the applicants who have gone through this Rule Stage will not have this field yet.

Rules Cannot Retroactively be Applied

All future applicants going through this rule stage who match the rule set will be move/updated according to your rule, but any applicants in the stage after the ruling stage will not.

Multiple Value Condition

You can add multiple numerical values to a rule condition. For example, if you are trying to sort applicants with a rule stage by zip code, you can list all of the zip codes in one comma-separated list, instead of creating multiple rules.

Make sure to select Is in this list and you'll need to input the numerical values separated by a comma (no space).

In this example, all applicants that have a zip code 94112, 94103, or 94121 will be moved to the next stage. If their zip code is not in the list above, they would not meet this rule's criteria and based on the actions we set for "if applicant does not meet any rule, then..." the applicants would be rejected.

Complex Conditions

You can also build more complex logic where you string together multiple conditions using "OR" or "AND".

For example, if the applicant answers "No" to over 18 years old AND "No" to having a car AND "No" to having a Driver's License THEN they will be moved to Rejected with a custom reason "Does not meet requirement". Otherwise, the applicant will move forward to the next stage.

Additional Resources

Click the image below to try out building a Rule stage.

Click the tile below to launch the Rules and Rule Stages micrcourse in a new browser tab.