You can control how applicants move through specific stages of your hiring process by setting permissions at the stage level. This lets you prevent a stage from being skipped, or restrict which team members can move applicants into or out of a stage — helpful for enforcing steps like background checks or manager sign-off before a candidate advances.
Configure permissions for a hiring stage
In Admin View, go to Hiring › Hiring Processes, then select the hiring process you want to configure.
Select the stage you want to set permissions on (for example, Screening, VoiceAI Stage).
Open the Permission tab for the stage.
Turn on any of the following settings:
Disallow this stage to be skipped — applicants must go through this stage in order. Team members can't move applicants past it, including bulk moves, Mark as hired, moving them to another position, or adding them directly to a later stage.
Only allow dedicated users or roles to move applicants to this stage — restricts who can move an applicant into this stage.
Only allow dedicated users or roles to move applicants out from this stage — restricts who can move an applicant past this stage.
Note: Disallow this stage to be skipped isn't available on the Application form stage.
Select Select roles and users, choose the users or roles allowed to make the move, then select Save. Super Admin is always included.
💡 Automations and Super Admin accounts are not affected by these restrictions — they can still move applicants through restricted stages.
⚠️ If a team member without the right permission tries a restricted move, the move is blocked and they'll see one of these messages:
"You don't have the permission to move applicants to [Stage name] Stage."
"You don't have the permission to move applicants out from [Stage name] Stage."
"[Stage name] Stage is not allowed to be skipped."
Learn how to add stages in Adding hiring stages, rename or remove them in Edit or delete hiring stages, or see the different stage types available in Explore the hiring stage types.