Archived applicants are applicants you’re not actively hiring right now. They aren’t deleted, and you can still see their info, messages, and history. You can also contact them or bring them back anytime.
Archiving keeps your hiring list clean and focused. Applicants usually get archived automatically if no one interacts with them for a while, or you can archive them manually.
Above is where you can find your archived applicants.
Learn how applicants are archived
Applicants are archived when their application becomes inactive. This can happen in three ways:
Automatically due to inactivity
| If no one interacts with an applicant for a set number of days, Workstream automatically archives them.
|
Automatically when a job is deleted | If a job posting is deleted, all applicants tied to that job are archived automatically. |
Manually by a user | A hiring manager or HR user can manually archive an applicant by marking them as inactive. |
Prevent applicants from being archived
Any interaction with an applicant keeps them active. Actions that reset inactivity include:
Reject the applicant
Mark the applicant as hired
Open the applicant’s profile
Send an email or SMS to the applicant
Unarchive the applicant
If none of these actions occur within the set number of days, the applicant is archived automatically.
View archived applicants
Archived applicants live in a separate view from your active hiring pipeline. To access archived applicants:
In Team View, go to the Applicants page.
Select the Applicants ▼ menu at the top.
Select Archived applicants.
Your archived applicants list should now be visible.
Filter archived applicants
You can use filters to quickly find specific archived applicants.
From the Archived applicants view, select Filters.
Choose one or more filters, such as:
Reason for archival (automatically archived, manually marked inactive, job posting deleted)
Applicant status (unread message, hasn’t messaged back)
Inactive time
Close the filters panel to apply your selections.
Manually archive an applicant
You can manually archive an applicant if they are no longer moving forward, but you want to keep their record. To manually archive an applicant:
In Team View, go to the Applicants page.
Find the applicant you want to archive.
Open the applicant’s action menu (•••).
Select Mark as inactive.
The applicant immediately moves to Archived applicants.
Unarchive an applicant
Unarchiving brings an applicant back into your active hiring pipeline. You might want to do this if you’re continuing the same application, resuming conversations or interviews, or if the original role is still relevant.
To unarchive an applicant:
In Team View, go to the Applicants page.
Select the Applicants ▼ menu at the top, then Archived applicants.
Select the name of the applicant, then select Unarchive.
Now the applicant is active again, and you can continue working with them as usual.
Invite applicants to re-apply
You can invite an archived applicant to submit a new application for the same position.
Inviting an applicant to re-apply creates a new application. It does not unarchive their previous one. The new application is tracked separately and is labeled Applicant reapplied.
To invite an applicant to re-apply:
Go to the Archived applicants page.
Find the applicant you want to invite.
Open the applicant’s action menu (•••), then send either email or SMS.
Choose whether to use the reapplication template.
Note: By default, reapplication invites point to the same position the applicant previously applied for.If you want the applicant to apply for a different position, you must edit the message and replace the position link before sending.
Choose Email, SMS, or both.
Select Send.
Set up and manage inactivity auto-archiving
Auto-archiving helps keep your hiring pipeline clean by automatically moving applicants who haven’t been active for a while into the archive.
By default, applicants are archived after 30 days of inactivity, but you can adjust this period for any hiring process.
📌 Access needed: You need the Create and edit hiring process templates permission to create and edit hiring processes. If you need access to this setting, reach out to your Super Admin.
To change the inactivity period:
Go to Admin View, then Hiring Processes.
Open an existing hiring process or create a new one.
Turn on Auto archive applicants after X days of inactivity.
Enter the number of days (between 1 and 90).
Select Save.
Any changes you make will apply to all job postings using that hiring process, including existing ones.