You schedule interviews on your calendar, then come back to Stardex to move the candidate forward manually. That second step is easy to forget, especially when you have twenty meetings a week across multiple roles. Calendar Stage Automation watches your calendar events and advances candidates to the appropriate pipeline stage automatically, so the candidate's record stays current without extra clicks.

Setting up calendar stage automation

This is the most common path: enabling the feature and choosing which stages candidates can be advanced to.

1. Navigate to Settings from the left sidebar
2. Go to AI & Automations then scroll to Calendar Stage Auto-Update
3. Toggle the switch to on
4. Check Restrict stages if you want to limit which stages candidates can be auto-advanced to. When unchecked, the automation defaults to interview-flagged stages only
5. If you checked Restrict stages, use the multi-select dropdown to pick the specific stages candidates should be eligible for. Each stage appears with its color dot for easy identification
6. Optionally, add Automation guidance in the text area — plain-language instructions that help the AI interpret borderline calendar events (e.g. "Meetings titled Coffee Chat are first-round screens and should advance candidates to Screen")
7. Click away from the text area to save your guidance. All other changes save immediately on toggle or selection

How the automation works

When a calendar event involves a candidate who is tracked in a job pipeline, the system evaluates whether the meeting justifies a stage advancement. It considers:

• The calendar event title and description
• The candidate's current pipeline stage
• Which stages are ahead of the current one and permitted by your settings
• Your optional automation guidance

The AI decides whether the meeting represents an interview, screen, or other qualifying interaction. If it does, the candidate moves forward. If the meeting is ambiguous or doesn't clearly map to a stage advancement, the candidate stays put.

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The automation can only move candidates forward — never backward. Rejection, offer, and placement stages are never auto-advanced. If a recruiter manually updates a candidate's stage after the meeting was scheduled, the automation defers to the manual change.

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Controlling which stages are eligible

There are two modes for determining eligible stages:

Default (no restriction): Only stages explicitly tagged as interview stages in your pipeline configuration are eligible targets. Custom job-specific stages (stages you created for a particular job) are always eligible regardless of this setting.

Restricted (checkbox enabled): You pick exactly which canonical stages the automation is allowed to advance candidates into. The multi-select dropdown shows all non-outcome stages (rejection, offer, and placement stages are excluded). When you first enable the restriction, it pre-selects your interview stages as a starting point.

Common use cases

• High-volume recruiting teams that schedule 15+ interviews a day and need pipeline stages to reflect reality without manual updates after every meeting
• Multi-stage interview processes where candidates move through phone screen, technical screen, and onsite — each with its own calendar event
• Coordinators managing pipelines for multiple hiring managers who want the board view to stay current without chasing updates
• Teams using custom stages for specific roles (e.g. "Portfolio Review" for a design role) that should automatically trigger on the matching calendar event

FAQ

Q: What happens if I move a candidate's stage manually after a meeting is already scheduled? The automation detects that a manual stage change happened after the meeting was created and skips the auto-update. Your manual change always takes priority.

Q: Can the automation move a candidate to a rejection or offer stage? No. Rejection, offer, and placement stages are hard-blocked. The automation only advances candidates to qualifying interview or custom stages.

Q: What if I don't check "Restrict stages" — which stages are used? The default is interview-flagged stages only. Any stage marked as an interview stage in your pipeline configuration becomes an eligible target. Custom job-specific stages are always eligible regardless.

Q: Does this work for all calendar providers? It works with any calendar connected to Stardex through the calendar integration. The automation triggers when a synced calendar event involves a tracked candidate.

Q: What does the "Automation guidance" field do? It gives the AI extra context for interpreting meetings. For example, if your team calls first-round calls "Coffee Chats," you can tell the AI that those count as screens. The guidance cannot override safety rules (no backward moves, no outcome stages), but it helps with ambiguous cases.

Key takeaway

Calendar Stage Automation keeps your pipeline stages current based on real meetings — it does not evaluate candidates or make hiring decisions. Use manual stage moves for rejections, offers, and any advancement that requires human judgment. Use this automation for the routine forward movement that calendar events already imply.

Related guides

👉 Pipeline Stages and Customization — How to configure stages, mark them as interview stages, and create custom job-specific stages