Taking next steps on a candidate
Updated at August 25th, 2026
Table of Contents
When a candidate is ready to be moved forward in or removed from the hiring process and manual intervention must take place, you can do so from either the Candidate Inbox or from the Job Centric View in My Jobs.
Candidate Inbox
You must be given permission to disposition candidates. In addition to this, if a status does not have next steps created for it and you are not a Company or Account Admin, then the system will not allow a manual status change.
You can take action on candidates from the Action Needed folder of the Candidate Inbox. This folder will allow you to see all candidates who need attention in one place so that no candidates are left in the funnel and all candidates are moved along in the hiring process. Only the candidates that apply to jobs at the locations you have access to will display in your Action Needed folder.
It is recommended to set the Action Needed folder as your home page so that when you open the CEM, it automatically opens for you. To do this,
- Open the Candidate Inbox.
- Select All Segments in the pane next to the left panel's candidate list.
- Select the Action Needed folder's action menu, or ellipses, and then Set as Home.
Take action on candidates
To open the Action Needed folder, open the list of available segments and click Action Needed. From this page, you can take action on candidates by following the steps below.
- Click the first Candidate’s current Candidate Journey status.
- The Next Steps built out for this status will be listed for you. Review the options and select the preferred choice.
- Depending on the status, the next steps may require additional information or steps before the candidate can have their status updated. Complete these details to officially update the candidate's status.
Moving candidates through the Candidate Journey will then remove them from the Action Needed folder and notify them of the tasks they need to complete next in the hiring process, if necessary.
Journey stage and status permissions
Users will only see the candidate stages and statuses or have Action Needed based on their journey stage/status level permissions or Action Needed permissions set in Journeys. This applies in the Candidate Inbox, Job Centric View, and Recruiting Dashboard.
- Full Access – This allows you to select the More Options option in the status selector and view all of the stages and/or statuses that you have access to. Only users with full access to a stage or status can take that stage/status's next steps on a candidate.
- View Access - Full or View Access - Limited – This allows you to select the More Options option in the status selector and view all of the stages and/or statuses that you have access to, including form/offer details in the candidate profile and messages from the conversation/survey stages. You cannot manage candidates.
- No Access – This prevents you from seeing candidates in a stage/status that you do not have access to.
To take an action, you generally need Full Access to the candidate's current status and Full Access to the status the candidate moves into.
Other permission impacts
The following scenarios apply when Journey permissions are configured:
- For Move to Job and Invite to Apply actions, Paradox does not check Journey permissions before the action proceeds. If the candidate's resulting status is one where you have No Access, the action completes and the candidate is hidden from you after the status change.
- If you do not have access to statuses in the Scheduling stage, candidates in those statuses are hidden on the Interviews page. If you are the interview owner or an attendee, you can still view those candidates.
- If you have No Access to the resulting stage or status, Paradox blocks the action. If you have View Access - Full or View Access - Limited, you may create the candidate (Add Candidate) but cannot complete screening or scheduling actions (Add & Screen or Add & Schedule).
For message visibility on the candidate profile, interview owner/attendee access, and other considerations, see Journey stage and status permissions overview.
No action needed message
If a candidate is in a stage/status where a user has full or view access and no actions are needed or can be taken, whether it’s the candidate’s responsibility to move forward, the user lacks permissions for other stages/statuses, or the user isn’t permitted to take action, then the candidate's status dropdown should still be accessible and display a message that lets the user know that no actions are needed at this time.
Job Centric View
When you want to take action on multiple candidates on the same job, you can do so from the Job Centric View, which is a single workspace located in My Jobs. Click here to learn more.
Recruiting Dashboard
You are able to view and take action on candidates from within the Recruiting Dashboard, if enabled for your account and if you have the necessary permissions. Click here to learn more about the Recruiting Dashboard.