Free candidate tracker

About this document

A candidate tracker keeps everyone who applied on one list — when they applied, where they stand, what happens next. It records the pipeline; the judgments about who advances stay yours, made off the page.

When to use it

• Applications arrive from more than one place and the pile needs one view.
• Several people interviewing, each seeing fragments.
• Filling more than one role without applicant-tracking software.

Getting it right

• Update the stage the moment something happens — a tracker updated weekly is a diary, not a tracker.
• Make the next step an action with a date ("call back Fri"), not a mood.
• Keep notes job-related — skills, availability, references. Nothing else belongs on paper.

It doesn't score, rank or compare candidates — it shows where each person is in your process, and that's the entire job.

Part of Hire and onboard — the whole situation, connected.

Common questions

Why is there no scoring column?

Scores invite comparisons a small business can't stand behind, and they don't make decisions better — clear stages and dated next steps do.

What stages should I use?

Your real ones, in your own words: applied, interview set, offer, hired, closed. The column is free text on purpose.

Where does candidate information live?

In this browser and in the files you download. Names are the only personal detail the sheet asks for — and even those are rows you control.