# Track Candidate

> Move a candidate through the hiring pipeline — sourced, contacted, first-call, case-study, offer, hired, passed. Captures notes per stage; never lets a candidate ghost-drift. Use when recruiter advances a candidate or the founder adds a new one.

- Skill: `jezweb/track-candidate` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add jezweb/track-candidate`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/jezweb/track-candidate/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: DevOps & Infra
- Author: jezweb (https://skillmd.com/u/jezweb)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/jezweb/track-candidate

---


# Track candidate

Hiring is a startup's biggest time-sink and biggest leverage. This skill makes the pipeline state crisp and current.

## When this skill fires

- New candidate sourced or referred
- Candidate advances stages
- Candidate goes quiet (>7 days no response)
- Boss or recruiter asks "where are we with X?"

## The candidate entry shape

`wiki/contacts/<candidate-slug>/contact.md`:

```yaml
---
slug: <name-kebab>
kind: contact
category: candidate
name: <Full name>
role_open: <role-slug>          # e.g. senior-engineer-q3-2026
current_stage: <stage>          # sourced | contacted | first_call | case_study | offer | hired | passed
linkedin: <url>
email: <email>
referrer: <person who referred, optional>
sourced_at: <date>
last_touched_at: <date>
created: <today>
last_updated: <today>
last_edited_by: recruiter
last_change_summary: <what changed in this update>
---

# <Candidate name>

## Background
[2-3 sentence summary of who they are and why this role]

## Stage history

- <date>: sourced via <channel>
- <date>: contacted; reply received within X days
- <date>: first call (notes in research/<date>-<slug>-first-call.md)
- ...
```

## When advancing stages

1. Update `current_stage` + `last_touched_at`
2. Append to "Stage history" section in the body
3. If first-call+ or later, file the conversation notes to `wiki/research/`
4. If candidate goes quiet, surface to boss after 7 days

## Anti-patterns

- Letting a "contacted" candidate sit > 7 days without a follow-up nudge
- Filing a candidate without naming the role they're for
- Marking "passed" without a reason — recruiter needs to capture *why* for future reference (skills mismatch, salary expectation, timing, culture)
- Ghosting candidates who interviewed — every candidate who reached first-call deserves a polite no