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Pipeline stages

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Every application in Lovelio sits in exactly one of twelve stages. Every candidate who arrives on their own - an applicant, a talent pool match, a referral, an import - lands in the Funnel first. When you add someone yourself you pick the Stage: Funnel, Yes, Screen or Submitted. From the Funnel the consultant reviews and marks each person Yes, No or Maybe; the AI suggests a call but never moves anyone. Screen holds candidates in a phone screen or internal interview with the consultant. The client-side stages (Submitted, Client Interview, References, Offer) track the progress agencies actually report on. The last three (Placed, Rejected, Withdrew) are terminal. Stages move automatically as you work: sending a submission, booking a client interview, logging an offer, and logging a placement each move the candidate for you. You can also move a candidate to any stage by hand at any time, forwards or backwards. A move to the client side with no send on record logs one marked "Sent outside Lovelio" and emails nobody. The pipeline lives on the job record page; jobs are listed under "Jobs".

The twelve stages

  • "Funnel" - the landing bucket. Every new candidate starts here, awaiting first review. The AI may suggest Yes, No or Maybe; only you move them.
  • "Maybe" - reviewed, undecided. Come back to them on your next pass.
  • "Yes" - ready to progress. The active pipeline: run phone screens, book interviews, collect references from here.
  • "No" - a soft no. The rejection email has not been sent yet, so you can bulk-reject later, edit the drafted email, or change your mind.
  • "Screen" - in a phone screen or internal interview with the consultant, between Yes and Submitted.
  • "Submitted" - sent to the client for review.
  • "Client Interview" - interviewing with the client.
  • "References" - reference checks underway, between the client interview and the offer.
  • "Offer" - the client's offer is out.
  • "Placed" - the win. Terminal.
  • "Rejected" - rejection sent. Terminal.
  • "Withdrew" - the candidate pulled out. Terminal.

The funnel strip on the job page

The Candidates tab on a job is fronted by the funnel strip: the stages drawn left to right with a live count in each. Click a stage to see just those people; click it again to return to the full active pipeline. Stages with nobody in them do not respond to a click. "No" is a quiet text link off the end of the strip, deliberately not part of the flow (the flow leads to placement). To see placed, rejected or withdrawn candidates, pick those stages in the Filter popover.

You can also drag a candidate's row onto a stage, or onto No, to move them there. It is "Move to" by another door: the same rules, the same ten second Undo, and nothing is emailed. Every stage takes a drop, including stages with nobody in them, except the stage the candidate is already in. Placed, Rejected and Withdrew are not on the strip, so for those use "Move to" on the row. Dragging needs a mouse or trackpad; on a phone or with the keyboard use "Move to".

The Board on the job page

Beside Filter and search on the Candidates tab, a List | Board switch changes how the same people are drawn. List is the table. Board is one column per stage (Funnel to Placed) with a card for each candidate: name, role and employer, Lovelio's Yes / Maybe / No when it has one, and how long they have waited. No, Rejected and Withdrew sit as three tiles along the foot of the board. Lovelio remembers which view you last used and opens on it next time. Search and Filter apply to the Board too. Until you pick a stage, the Board shows every stage; pick one or more stages in Filter, or click one on the funnel strip, and the Board shows just those columns. Clicking No on the strip (or filtering to a closed stage only) shows the List for that visit and leaves your saved view alone. The Placed column shows what the job's placements are worth, one line per currency.

To move people, drag a card onto a column or a tile. Tick several cards first and dragging any one of them carries them all. While you drag, every column lights up and the one under the card opens a slot. On a phone or tablet, hold a card for a moment until it lifts, then drag; a finger that moves straight away just scrolls. With the keyboard, Tab to a card, use the arrow keys to walk around the Board, and Shift plus Left or Right to send it (or everyone ticked with it) one column over. The card menu (the three dots) and "Move to" on the bar that appears when cards are ticked also work. A move shows on the Board the instant you make it and is put back with a message if it cannot be saved. A drag is "Move to" by another door: the same rules, the same ten second Undo, nothing is emailed.

Moving someone backwards (for example from Client Interview to Yes) asks "You have moved Jane backwards. Are you sure this is correct?" Yes moves them, Cancel leaves them where they were. Funnel, Maybe and Yes move freely among themselves with no question, and moves into No, Rejected or Withdrew are decisions, so they do not ask either. Placed opens the placement form for one candidate at a time, and the card moves when the placement is saved. Clicking a stage on the funnel strip scrolls the Board to that column.

On Funnel and Maybe rows the DO NEXT column shows one-click Yes / No / Maybe buttons (your current stage's own button is hidden). Every click returns an undo. Beyond triage, DO NEXT shows the one recommended next action. That suggestion is worked out by a fixed set of rules from the record itself - the stage, the screen score, the client's latest response, whether an interview is booked, whether referee details are in, and how many days the candidate has sat at the stage. It is the same answer every time for the same record, it never waits on anything in the background, and the same rules drive the verdict card on the deal file.

Actions drive stages, not the other way round

The happy path never needs a manual stage change:

  • Sending a submission moves every included candidate not yet client-side (Funnel, Maybe, Yes, No or Screen) to Submitted automatically. Candidates already client-side or terminal keep their stage, so a second submission never regresses progress.
  • Booking a client interview moves a Submitted application to Client Interview. Booking an internal interview (the agency's own screen) moves a Yes candidate to Screen - the Screen stage holds phone screens and internal interviews, and Client Interview is only ever the client's own interviews. Booking also never moves a triage-stage candidate onto the client side: a client interview presupposes a submission. A candidate self-booking a client interview slot from a "pick a time" link moves the stage the same way. An application already at Client Interview, Offer, Placed or terminal stays put.
  • Logging an offer moves the application to Offer.
  • Logging a placement moves the application to Placed. If a placement later falls off during guarantee, the linked application moves from Placed to Withdrew; correcting a mis-click restores Placed, and only from Withdrew.
  • Starting a phone screen moves a Yes candidate to Screen: completing the screen form does it. Funnel and Maybe candidates can still be screened without moving - triage stays yours - and they stay in their triage stage everywhere (the strip and the jobs dashboard both show the actual stage) until you or the screen outcome move them.
  • A phone screen outcome advances a candidate or marks them No. Advance and hold move a Yes candidate to Screen (the screen happened); a reject outcome moves any pre-client candidate to No, not Rejected - failing a screen and sending the rejection email are deliberately two separate steps. A no-show leaves the stage alone, and a candidate already with the client is never pulled back by a screen log. A screen score never moves anyone; it updates the recommended next action instead.
  • Requesting referee details from a candidate at Client Interview moves them to References. Requesting references at any other live stage still sends the request without moving the stage - references are gathering, not a gate. When the references are all in, nothing moves either: the next-action card nudges you toward Log offer and you decide.

Adding someone at a stage

Every place you add a person to a job by hand has a Stage control: Funnel (the default), Yes, Screen or Submitted. That covers Add candidate on the job page, Add to job on a candidate, the People page, bulk assess, Add applications, the Chrome extension, Ask Lovelio, Slack and the API. Use Yes or Screen for someone you already know, so you skip triage you have done in your head. Use Submitted for someone you already sent to the client yourself, by your own email or a phone call.

  • Adding at Yes, Screen or Submitted is a real stage move from the Funnel: it logs on the timeline, fires webhooks and automations, and reporting counts it like any other move.
  • Adding at Screen logs a passed screen on the record with the note "Known to recruiter. Not screened in Lovelio." There is no score and no interview behind it.
  • Skipping to Screen counts as reaching Yes in reporting.
  • Adding someone who is already on the job never makes a second row. If they are at a lower stage they move up to the one you picked; if they are at the same or a later stage they stay put and Lovelio tells you where they are, for example "Already at Screen". Nobody is ever moved backwards, and someone marked No, Rejected or Withdrew stays there.
  • The "application received" email only goes out when someone is added at Funnel.
  • Applicants, talent pool matches, referrals and imports always land in the Funnel. There is no Stage control on those.
  • Adding at Submitted logs a submission to the job's client contact, marked "Sent outside Lovelio". Nothing is emailed to anyone, and there is no client link to copy or resend. It shows on the job's Submissions list with a grey "Sent outside Lovelio" chip. The job needs a client with a contact first.
  • Skipping to Submitted counts as reaching Yes and Screen in reporting, the same as skipping to Screen.
  • Starting later than Submitted is not possible: Client Interview, References, Offer and Placed are reached through the real thing.

Moving a candidate to any stage

There is no transition graph. Any stage can move to any other stage, in any direction, because fall-backs and revivals happen constantly in agency life. On a candidate's row menu or in their slideout, "Move to" lists every stage with the current one ticked. A move changes where the candidate sits. It never cancels or deletes an interview, a send or a placement.

  • Funnel, Maybe, Yes, Screen and No: the stage moves and Lovelio logs it. Nothing is emailed.
  • Submitted, Client Interview, References and Offer: if the candidate has no send on record, Lovelio logs one marked "Sent outside Lovelio" (nothing is emailed to the client) and moves the stage. The send goes to the job's client contact, or the client's main contact. If a send is already on record, the stage just moves.
  • Placed: opens the Create placement form. The stage moves when you save the form.
  • Rejected: asks "Email the candidate?" when they applied themselves. Candidates the agency added are never emailed.
  • Withdrew: asks whether to send the withdrawal acknowledgement.
  • Out of No, Rejected or Withdrew: the stage moves and the old rejection reason is cleared.
  • Out of Placed: blocked while the placement is still standing. The message links to the placement; mark it fell off first.

Only three moves ever email the candidate: Placed (the hired email), Rejected (only someone who applied themselves) and Withdrew (the acknowledgement). Through the API or an AI agent, Placed sends the hired email straight away unless the move says not to email.

Every move except Placed shows a ten second Undo. Undo puts the candidate back, restores who rejected them and why, takes back the "Sent outside Lovelio" send the move logged, and never emails anyone. If the candidate has moved since, Undo changes nothing.

The same rule holds for the grid, the slideout, the API, MCP, Slack, WhatsApp, Cmd+K and Ask Lovelio. In chat, a move to Funnel, Maybe, Yes, Screen, No, Submitted, Client Interview, References or Offer happens as soon as you ask, and a move to Rejected, Withdrew or Placed shows a confirmation first. A move from chat never emails the candidate. Chat has no Undo button: to take a move back, ask for the candidate to go back to where they were. The API and MCP move straight away; a move to Rejected or Withdrew emails the candidate unless the call passes notify_candidate false (the bulk update takes email_options). Automations keep a stricter rule: they cannot move a terminal application, cannot move a candidate into a client-side stage, and cannot pull a client-side candidate back.

A candidate moved back from Submitted stays on the client's shortlist; the client portal never reads the stage.

Every stage move logs a timeline entry (with an optional reason) and fires configured webhooks and automations. The grid, slideout and funnel strip show the ten second Undo.

The AI suggests, you decide

When a candidate is scored, the AI's verdict (Yes, Maybe or No) shows as a suggestion chip on the row - "AI Maybe · 72" - with the match score. It never moves the stage: the candidate stays in the Funnel until you mark them. Once you act, the chip carries a tick instead of the AI tag. Automations obey the same limits as always: they cannot move a terminal application, cannot move a candidate into a client-side stage at all, and cannot pull a client-side candidate back to triage or to Rejected.

Interviews can be requested for applications at Yes, Screen, Submitted, Client Interview or References. Requesting one from the Funnel, Maybe, No or a terminal stage does nothing: no interview is created and no email goes out.

Reject and withdraw

Rejecting a candidate moves them to Rejected and, by default, sends the templated rejection email. The reject action can skip the email. Rejection emails only ever go to candidates who applied themselves (careers page, job board, or the apply flow). Candidates the agency added from a database search, a talent pool, an import or the Chrome extension are just marked No and never emailed about it. That gate is enforced inside the stage-transition email dispatcher itself, so even a plain manual move to Rejected never emails someone who did not apply. Withdrawing moves the application to Withdrew and skips candidate emails. Both record the reason on the timeline and both return an undo ("Undo reject" and "Undo withdraw").

The New grace period

A candidate with no real pipeline history (never placed, never interviewed, never at a client-side stage) shows as New on the Candidate Snapshot for their first 90 days, with no numeric relationship score. Being added to jobs and triaged does not end the grace period; only a placement, an interview or reaching a client-side stage does, or the 90 days passing.

Milestones and the next action

For candidates at Yes, the slideout shows a five-step milestone ladder: Phone screen, Book interview, Interview, References, Offer. Steps can be skipped (straight to booking an interview without a phone screen is fine); a skipped step stays clickable but never shows as the recommended next step. The Interview step only unlocks once an interview is booked ("Book an interview first"). The Offer milestone completes only when the placement is logged.

One next-action label appears everywhere (grid and slideouts), derived from the same logic:

  • Funnel and Maybe: the Yes / No / Maybe buttons (the review IS the next action)
  • No: "Send rejection", only for self-applied candidates; otherwise nothing
  • Yes: the first not-done milestone after the furthest completed one
  • Screen: nothing to click while the screen is unscored (the ball is with the candidate); once scored, or once you log a phone screen by hand with the outcome Advance, the ladder takes over
  • Submitted or Client Interview: nothing to click; the ball is with the client
  • References: the ladder, which usually lands on "Log offer" once the referee request is out
  • Offer: "Create placement"
  • Terminal stages: no next action

The grid's waiting column flags an application red after 4 days in its current stage.

Common questions

  • "How do I move a candidate to Submitted without sending an email?" Use "Move to" and pick Submitted. Lovelio logs a send marked "Sent outside Lovelio" and moves the stage. Nothing goes to the client.
  • "Does marking someone No email them?" No. No is a soft no, not a rejection. The email only goes when you reject, and only if they applied themselves.
  • "Can I move someone backwards?" Yes, any stage to any stage. Use "Move to", or drag their row onto the stage on the funnel strip, or drag their card on the Board (which asks "Are you sure?" before a step back). It never cancels an interview, a send or a placement, and the move has a ten second Undo (except Placed). A placed candidate whose placement is still standing cannot move out until the placement is marked fell off.
  • "Will the AI reject my candidates?" No. The AI only suggests. Nobody leaves the Funnel, and nothing is sent, until you decide.
  • "What do candidates see?" The candidate portal never shows triage language. Funnel, Maybe and No all read as "In Review"; Yes reads as "Shortlisted"; then Screen, Submitted, Interview, References, Offer, Placed. A rejected or withdrawn application shows a not-progressing chip instead of the ladder.