Follow along the below steps for the recruitment manager lite template:

Use this template if you want to track the number of applications and their progress against the number of job openings.

STEP 1: Enter Settings information

Recruitment Stages

Let's begin by defining our recruitment process steps or stages.  

In the Settings Sheet, we can enter the different stages.

The template can accommodate up to 10 stages in recruiting process. If you have fewer stages, you can enter only those stages and clear the other stages.

For example, in the above screenshot, we have entered 7 stages. 

A few things to note:

  • First stage is always considered as the Application stage - the stage of receiving an application from the candidate. You can name this how you need. But for calculation purposes, this stage will be treated as the stage when the application was received from the candidate. 
  • Last Stage (if we have 7 stages, 7th is the last stage) should be the Hired Stage. You can name this differently as you need. 
  • The stage before the last is the Offer stage. 

The above setup enables us to later easily calculate our Recruitment KPIs such as Offer rates and Acceptance rates.

Application Sources

Next, enter the the list of sources where you receive applications from. You can customize the list as needed. Enter up to 15 sources.

Decline Reasons

Documenting the reasons why a candidate was declined the offer and why candidates decline offers from the company are extremely critical for improving the process.

Enter the list of such reasons that are relevant for your company. You can customize the list as needed. Enter up to 15 reasons.

Enter currency

Enter currency symbol to display the cost information in the currency of your choice.

STEP 2: Enter Jobs/Vacancies and the number of applications

In the Jobs sheet, you will enter each job in a new row with the relevant information.

Click on image to view in full size

JOB ID is the unique identification of a job opening.

You can enter job information such as Job Title, Location, Hiring Manager, Department, Job Type, Job level, and Recruiter Name. 

Job Posted Date is a required field. This is the date when the job is pos

Positions: This template can handle multiple openings of the same title. For example, if you have 3 openings for Graphic Designer, you can enter them in one row and enter 3 in the Positions field/column.

Status: When you enter a new job to be filled, enter ‘OPEN’ as Status. When all the positions for that job are filled, enter ‘COMPLETED’ as Status. If the job is canceled, enter ‘CANCELLED’.

Next, enter the number of applications received via each source in your recruitment channel as follows:

If you indicated in Settings that there are less than 10 stages of recruitment in your company and/or less than 15 sources to hire from, you can hide the un-used columns.

To make it easier for you, they are already labeled as 'Hide column'.

Select those columns, Right-click and choose Hide Column.

Step 3: Track Application Progress

As you review the applications and the candidates go through each stage, just enter the count of candidates that have reached any particular stage.


If there is a successful hire, enter the hiring date and joining date in the columns mentioned along with the cost incurred for the process.


For each application that's getting rejected, you can specify the same as a count too, in the decline reasons section of the table.

For example, if the candidate reaches the interview stage but does not get the offer due to ‘Technical’ knowledge , then ‘Technical’ is Decline Reason for that applicant and would require you to enter 1.




For more than one hire for a job posting, the hire and joining date are considered to be the same day, respectively.


Enter Comments or notes for each job posted in custom columns provided at the end of the table.


Update the job posting

When a job order is fully completed, update status.\

Status: When all the positions for that job are filled, enter ‘COMPLETED’ as Status. 

If the job is canceled, enter ‘CANCELLED’.

 STEP 4: View Dashboard to gain insights


View Dashboard anytime to view performance metrics of your hiring process.

Once you enter a Start Date and End Date for the dashboard to be populate, you can view the fully Dashboard with 4 pages.

The first page focuses on the efficiency of the Hiring Process. 


The KPIs displayed are

  1. Hired: Number of Hired candidates during the period chosen.
  2. Avg. Days to Fill: Average number of days from Job Posted Date to Joining Date for all hired candidates during the period chosen.
  3. Avg. Days to Hire: Average number of days from Application Date to Hire Date for all hired candidates during the period chosen.
  4. Total Cost: Sum of cost entered for all hired candidates during the period chosen.
  5. Cost per Hire: Total cost divided by the number of hired candidates during the period chosen.


We can also see the KPIs trended by month so that we can understand if we are improving on these KPIs monthly. 



The second page of the Dashboard presents KPIs related to measuring the quality of applications.



The KPIs displayed are

  1. Applications Received: Number of applications received during the period chosen.
  2. Offer %: Number of candidates offered a position/ Number of candidates applied during the period
  3. Acceptance %: Number of candidates accepting a position/ Number of candidates offered a position during the period
  4. Hired %: Number of candidates hired / Number of candidates applied during the period 


We have the monthly trends of these KPIs as well.


Recruitment Funnel


Analysis of Application Sources

At a glance, get the percentage of applications received through each source.    


Decline Reasons Analysis



The third page of the Dashboard focuses on Active pipeline - Open Jobs being hired, and Pending applications to make decisions on.



The KPIs displayed on this page are

  1. Open Positions: Number of Positions that are still not filled as of now
  2. Avg. Days in Market: Average number of days from Job Posted date to Today for open positions
  3. Pending Applications: Number of Applications where the status is blank
  4. Applications per position: Pending Applications divided by Number of Open positions


Active Pipeline of Pending Applications



Open Positions sorted by Days in Market


Pending Applications by Month of Application


Page 4 of our dashboard allows us to compare and analyze all the KPIs by department or location or hiring manager or other job attributes. 


You can choose the analysis dimension from the drop-down.


Instantly the KPIs update.


All the 4 pages can also be filtered on all the job attributes as well as dates.