Recruitment runs two pipelines at once, and merging them is why forecasts break. Track mandates and candidates separately, with joining dates that hold. From ₹899/user/month.
Free Forever • No Credit Card Required
Quick answer
Most desks run on a spreadsheet per recruiter, a WhatsApp group per client and a whiteboard of roles that is accurate on Monday morning only. Nothing connects a shortlist to the fee it might produce.
The cost appears at month end. Roles that were never really live consumed sourcing hours, shortlists aged without feedback, and two accepted candidates did not join, taking the forecast with them.
A recruitment agency sells twice: once to the client for the mandate, and once to the candidate for the move. Putting both on one board means ten candidates for one role look like ten deals, and the pipeline number stops meaning anything.
Keep a mandate board with client enquiry, role briefed, terms signed, active search, interviewing, offer and placed. Keep a candidate board inside each mandate: sourced, screened, CV sent, feedback, interviewed, offered, accepted, joined.
A mandate becomes active only when terms are signed with a fee percentage and replacement clause, the brief is written down with a salary band, and the client has named an interviewer with available dates. Anything less is a conversation.
On the candidate board, CV sent means the shortlist actually reached the hiring manager with consent recorded. Offer accepted means acceptance in writing with a joining date. Joined means the candidate started, which is when the invoice becomes real.
The mandate board sets the frame; the candidate board carries the work. The times below are illustrative and should be replaced by your own within a quarter.
| Stage | Board | Exit criteria (evidence) | Typical time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Role briefed | Mandate | JD, salary band and panel availability in writing | 2 to 7 days |
| Terms signed | Mandate | Signed terms with fee and replacement clause | 3 to 14 days |
| CV sent | Candidate | Shortlist delivered, candidate consent recorded | 1 to 5 days |
| Interviewed | Candidate | Interview held, written feedback received | 1 to 3 weeks |
| Offer accepted | Candidate | Acceptance in writing with a joining date | 3 to 10 days |
| Joined | Candidate | Candidate started, invoice trigger met | Notice period |
Mandates first: which roles had no submission this week, which have had no client contact, which should be closed because the client filled internally. Killing dead mandates is the most valuable ten minutes of the meeting.
Candidates second, filtered rather than read in full: CV sent with no feedback, interviews this week, and offers awaiting joining. Every pending joiner gets a named owner who speaks to them before the joining date, not on it.
Mandate health, showing CVs sent, interviews and offers per live role. Offer-to-join ratio by recruiter and client, which is the honest measure of a desk. And revenue by expected joining month, because invoices follow joining dates.
Software does not supply discipline that the desk does not already have. If recruiters will not record client feedback or mark a mandate dead, the board becomes a tidier version of the same optimism. Agree the definitions first and hold them for a quarter.
This is not an applicant tracking system. It does not parse CVs in bulk, post to job boards or run assessments. It manages mandates, candidate progress and the conversations around both, and sits alongside whatever sourcing tools the desk already uses.
Read next: lead management software, WhatsApp CRM, sales automation, CRM vs Excel, CRM use cases, India pricing.
Every team in this space loses revenue to the same recurring gaps. Here is what they cost you and how HelloGrowthCRM closes each one.
Everything lives on one board, so twelve candidates for one role look like twelve deals and the forecast is nonsense.
Mandates and candidates sit on separate linked boards, so pipeline value is counted once per role while candidate progress is tracked in full.Separate mandate and candidate boards
Shortlists go out and disappear into a client inbox, and nobody chases until the recruiter notices the role has gone cold.
CV sent carries an ageing clock, so a shortlist without feedback surfaces as a task with a named owner and a date.CV sent ageing
A great month collapses when two accepted candidates fail to join, because acceptance was already counted as revenue.
Offer accepted and joined are different stages with an expected joining month, so the risk between them is visible and measured over time.Offer-to-join tracking
Recruiters work mandates that were never really live, because nobody separated a friendly conversation from a signed instruction.
A mandate becomes active only when terms are signed and the brief is complete, so effort goes to roles the agency can actually be paid for.Terms-signed gate on mandates
AI-powered CRM with the features you need to close more deals.
Common questions about using HelloGrowthCRM in your industry.
Join small businesses that close more deals with HelloGrowthCRM.
Free Forever • No Credit Card Required
Free Forever • No Credit Card Required
Prefer email? Write to sales@hellogrowthcrm.com