On a staffing desk, the seven stages are: the job order, sourcing, screening, the submittal, the interview, the offer, and the start. Other lists use slightly different names, but the shape is the same. The stage that decides how the other six go is the first one. Most rework, from rejected submittals to no-shows, starts with a vague order that nobody wrote down.
The seven stages, one line each
- Job order. The client says what they need. You write it down: result, must-haves, shift and site, pay, start date, who decides.
- Sourcing. Finding people who might match. Database, job boards, referrals, outreach.
- Screening. Checking that they do match. Calls, documents, references.
- Submittal. Presenting the candidate to the client in writing, with proof of each must-have.
- Interview. The client meets them. For temp orders this step is often skipped.
- Offer. Pay, start date and terms, agreed out loud and in writing.
- Start. The confirmation the night before, and the person at the gate on day one.
Where most rework starts
Look at the kinds of rework a desk does and trace each one back.
- A submittal rejected for a missing must-have. The must-have was not on the order, or was not read.
- A candidate sourced for the wrong shift. The shift was not on the order.
- An offer declined over pay. The pay was "competitive" on the order, not a number.
- A no-show at the gate. The confirmation left out the start time, because nobody wrote it down at intake.
Four kinds of rework, one cause. Stage one was a phone call and a guess, not a written order.
What a good stage one looks like
Five lines, written the same day, confirmed by the client.
- The result: five forklift drivers for an eight-week order.
- Must-haves: current forklift card with date, twelve months on sit-down trucks.
- Shift and site: nights, 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., cold storage.
- Pay and start: $19 an hour, weekly pay, start Monday the 4th.
- Who decides: Dana, by Thursday.
Every stage after that has something to check against. Sourcing is narrower. Screening has a list. The submittal answers the order line by line. The confirmation has the details. The start happens.
The stage people skip
Stage four, the submittal, is where the recruiter proves the match in writing. Many desks treat it as forwarding a resume. It is not. It is three to five lines that answer the order's must-haves with evidence. A good submittal makes stage five shorter and stage seven more likely.
Where M-Tracker fits
M-Tracker holds stage one as the brief and checks stage four against it. When a recruiter attaches a submittal, they get a plain-words note on which must-haves are proven and which are missing, before the client sees it. The same check works for the confirmation at stage seven.
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Questions people ask
Are there really only seven stages?
Some lists have five, some have nine. They split or combine the same steps. The order and the submittal are in every version.
Which stage takes longest?
Sourcing, usually. It takes twice as long when stage one is vague.
Where should a new recruiter start learning?
Stage one. Reading and writing a job order properly makes every other stage easier to learn.
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