Bonuses / Free Pipeline Audit
Where is your hiring pipeline stuck?
Pipelines rarely fail loudly. Candidates just wait, a day at a time, until they stop replying. This free audit looks at the candidates in your pipeline right now: how many are waiting at each of six stages, how long they have waited on average and the longest wait, against a target you set for each stage. It shows which stage holds up the most candidate-days, whether the delay sits with your team, the client or the candidates, and which candidates are most at risk. You also tick six process habits and get a fix plan. It uses only the numbers you enter, works in any country and takes about three minutes.
Use the free interactive audit and report ↓
1. Where are your candidates waiting right now?
Count the candidates in your pipeline today. Leave a stage at 0 if nobody is waiting there. Counts only, no names, any country.
Example data is shown. Replace it with your own numbers, or
| Stage | Waiting | Avg days | Longest | Target days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Waiting to be screened Sourced or applied, no screening call yet. Next step: your team. | ||||
| Screened, waiting to be submitted Passed screening but not yet sent to the client. Next step: your team. | ||||
| Submitted, waiting for client feedback Sent to the client, no answer yet. Next step: the client. | ||||
| Interviewed, waiting for a decision Interview done, decision not given. Next step: the client. | ||||
| Offer made, waiting for an answer Offer out, candidate has not answered. Next step: candidates. | ||||
| Accepted, waiting to join Accepted but not yet started. Set the target to the agreed notice period. Next step: candidates. |
Target days start as planning assumptions. Change them to what you have agreed with clients, and set the joining target to your usual notice period.
Process habits
2. Your pipeline audit
Most of the delay sits with the client. Share of waiting time over target: Flowing under 10%, Slowing 10% to 30%, Stalled 30% or more.
Candidate-days over target, by stage
Waiting to be screened: 12 (12 waiting, avg 3d vs target 2d) · oldest at risk
Screened, waiting to be submitted: 0 (7 waiting, avg 2d vs target 2d)
Submitted, waiting for client feedback: 45 (9 waiting, avg 8d vs target 3d) · bottleneck · oldest at risk
Interviewed, waiting for a decision: 5 (5 waiting, avg 6d vs target 5d) · oldest at risk
Offer made, waiting for an answer: 3 (3 waiting, avg 4d vs target 3d) · oldest at risk
Accepted, waiting to join: 0 (4 waiting, avg 21d vs target 30d)
Candidate-days over target = candidates waiting × days beyond the target. A planning aid built on your numbers, not a verdict.
3. Get your fix plan
Free: your bottleneck, who the pipeline is waiting on, the candidates to contact first, three fixes to try and the process habits to put in place, plus a CSV and a printable report.
Pipeline audit toolkit: everything in one place
1. The six stages and who owns them
| Stage | Next step belongs to | Starting target (assumption) |
|---|---|---|
| Waiting to be screened Sourced or applied, no screening call yet. | your team | 2 days |
| Screened, waiting to be submitted Passed screening but not yet sent to the client. | your team | 2 days |
| Submitted, waiting for client feedback Sent to the client, no answer yet. | the client | 3 days |
| Interviewed, waiting for a decision Interview done, decision not given. | the client | 5 days |
| Offer made, waiting for an answer Offer out, candidate has not answered. | candidates | 3 days |
| Accepted, waiting to join Accepted but not yet started. Set the target to the agreed notice period. | candidates | 30 days |
Targets are planning assumptions, not statistics. Replace them with what you agree with clients and what your market allows.
2. How to read the result
- Candidate-days over target: candidates waiting × days beyond the target. It counts both a few very late candidates and many slightly late ones.
- Share over target: candidate-days over target ÷ all waiting candidate-days. This is the number behind Flowing, Slowing or Stalled.
- Who owns the next step: your team (screening, submitting), the client (feedback, decisions) or candidates (offer answer, joining). The fix is different for each.
- Oldest at risk: the longest-waiting candidate in a stage has waited more than twice the target.
Verdict thresholds are assumptions: Flowing under 10% of waiting time over target, Slowing up to 30%, Stalled at 30% or more. The oldest-at-risk flag uses 2 times the target.
3. What to do at each stage
- Waiting to be screened
- Candidates wait too long for a first conversation. The best ones accept other conversations in the meantime.
- Screen new candidates within one working day, using a short fixed script. Block a daily 45-minute screening slot. Send a quick holding message the same day an application arrives.
- Screened, waiting to be submitted
- Screened candidates are not reaching the client fast enough. Your own team is the delay.
- Submit within one working day of a good screen. Use a one-page candidate summary template. Check at day end that no screened candidate is waiting to be sent.
- Submitted, waiting for client feedback
- The client is slow to react to submissions, and candidates cool off while they wait.
- Chase on a fixed schedule: day 1 by message, day 2 by call. Agree a feedback deadline at the next intake and refer to it. Send 3 strong profiles at a time rather than a long list, to make deciding easier.
- Interviewed, waiting for a decision
- Interviews happen but decisions drift. Candidates read silence as rejection.
- Book the debrief call before the interview takes place. Ask the client what decision they will make by when, and write it down. Tell the candidate the expected decision date and keep to it.
- Offer made, waiting for an answer
- Offers sit unanswered, which is when counter-offers and rival offers arrive.
- Call the candidate the day the offer goes out and agree an answer date. Ask what could stop them accepting before the offer is made. Keep a backup candidate warm.
- Accepted, waiting to join
- Accepted candidates are waiting to start, and this is the stretch where candidates change their mind.
- Agree the joining date in writing and check in weekly until day one. Share first-day details and introduce the team beforehand. Keep a backup candidate in touch until the person has joined.
4. A five-day fix week
- Day 1: contact every at-risk candidate by phone, not message. Confirm they are still interested.
- Day 2: fix your own stages first (screen and submit within one working day).
- Day 3: call each client who owes feedback and agree a dated decision.
- Day 4: call every candidate with an open offer and agree an answer date.
- Day 5: add a next step and date to every candidate; fill any gaps in the process habits.
- Next week: run the audit again and compare candidate-days over target.
5. Client feedback chase script
| When | What to do |
|---|---|
| Day 1 after submitting | Message the client: 'Sent 3 profiles for the role. Could we have your view by Thursday?' |
| Day 2 | Call the client. Ask which profile they liked and what is stopping a decision. |
| Day 4 | Ask whether the role is still a priority and offer to send alternatives. |
| Day 6 | Escalate politely to the budget holder or your account lead. |
6. Six process habits
- ☐ A feedback deadline is agreed with the client for every role. Agree a feedback deadline (for example 2 working days after each submission or interview) at the intake call, and put it in writing.
- ☐ Every active candidate has a named next step and a date. Add a 'next step and date' to every candidate. Review any candidate without one in your weekly meeting.
- ☐ A lead reviews each recruiter's pipeline at least weekly. Hold a 20-minute weekly pipeline review per recruiter, starting with the oldest waiting candidates.
- ☐ Candidates hear a status update within 2 working days of any change. Send a short status message within 2 working days of every stage change, even when the news is 'still waiting'.
- ☐ Pay and expectations are confirmed before a candidate is submitted. Confirm pay range, notice period and location with the candidate before submitting, to avoid late surprises.
- ☐ A backup candidate is kept warm for every role at offer stage. Keep one backup candidate informed and interested for each role until the chosen candidate has joined.
7. Weekly pipeline review (20 minutes)
- List every candidate waiting beyond target, oldest first.
- Name the next step, the owner and the date for each.
- Pick the one stage to fix this week.
- Check that no candidate went more than two working days without an update.
8. Glossary
- Bottleneck
- The stage that holds up the most candidate-days over target.
- Candidate-days
- Candidates multiplied by days. Ten candidates waiting three extra days is 30 candidate-days.
- Target days
- The longest a candidate should wait at a stage, set by you.
- Stage owner
- Who has to act next: your team, the client or the candidate.
- Time to fill
- Calendar days from role opening to the candidate accepting.
- Counter-offer
- A better offer from a candidate's current employer to stop them leaving.
- Notice period
- The time between accepting an offer and starting.
An audit shows today's stall. Pipelines stall again tomorrow.
A one-off audit finds the bottleneck once. Keeping it fixed needs live visibility: every candidate by stage, how long each has waited, and an alert when someone passes the target. HireTrack tracks that as the work happens, so you see a stall while the candidate is still interested.
See how HireTrack shows stalls as they happenIndustry benchmarks for context
Published figures for context, each linked to its source. Check the region and year of every figure. Your own answers drive the result above.
Calendar days; survey of over 4,600 organisations, mostly US. Your own targets matter more than any average. SHRM 2026 Recruiting Executives Benchmarking, 2026.
Survey of 824 candidates in Ireland, June to July 2025. The page also gives 29% in its text, so treat it as roughly 28 to 29%. IrishJobs recruiter survey, August 2025, 2025.
Survey of 475 recruiters in Ireland, June to July 2025. IrishJobs recruiter survey, August 2025, 2025.
Figures come from specific surveys (a large mostly-US survey and an Irish survey) and may not match your country, industry or definitions. The audit does not use them: every result comes from what you enter.
Frequently asked questions
How does the pipeline audit find the bottleneck?
For each stage it multiplies the candidates waiting by the days they have waited beyond your target. The stage with the most candidate-days over target is the bottleneck. A stage with a few candidates waiting a very long time and a stage with many candidates waiting slightly too long are both counted fairly.
What target days should I use?
The audit starts with planning assumptions (for example 3 days for client feedback). Replace them with what you have agreed with clients or what has worked for you, and set the joining target to the notice period you work with. Your own targets matter more than any average.
What do Flowing, Slowing and Stalled mean?
They compare time spent waiting beyond target with all waiting time. Under 10% over target is Flowing, 10% to 30% is Slowing and 30% or more is Stalled. These thresholds are assumptions to start the conversation, not published statistics.
Why does it show who the pipeline is waiting on?
The fix depends on who owns the next step. If your team is the delay, change your routine. If the client is, change how you agree and chase feedback. If candidates are, change how you communicate and close.
Is my data stored or shared?
Your counts stay in the page while you work. Only the numbers you enter (no names) are sent if you choose to unlock the email report, and they are used to write it.
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