A hiring tracker for startups: when a spreadsheet is enough, and when to use an ATS

What a hiring tracker has to do

Whatever you use, a tracker has four jobs:

1. Hold every applicant in one place. Not half in an inbox, a quarter in LinkedIn messages and the rest in a founder's head.
2. Show where each person is. One stage per applicant, always current.
3. Show what happens next, and who does it. The most common hiring failure at a small company is not a bad decision. It is a good candidate who heard nothing for two weeks and took another offer.
4. Remember why. Why someone was turned down, what the interviewer thought, what was offered. Three weeks later, nobody remembers.

If your current setup does all four, keep it. Nothing here is a reason to buy software for its own sake.

The pipeline stages to use

Keep the stages few and ordered. Every extra stage is a place for an applicant to sit unnoticed. Five ordered stages and two exits cover almost every startup hire:

The two exits sit outside the order: not proceeding, when you decide no, and withdrew, when the candidate does. Keep them separate from the stages. A board where "rejected" is the last column implies that everyone ends up there.

A few rules make the stages honest:

• Write a reason when you say no. One line is enough. It stops the same decision being argued again, and it is what you will want if a candidate asks for feedback.
• One owner per open role. Everyone can interview. One person makes sure nobody is stuck.
• Do not add stages for each interview round. Put the rounds in the notes. If interviewing takes four stages, the process is probably too long for a startup.

If you are hiring engineers for the first time, our post on hiring your first engineers goes through a two-week process that fits these stages.

A free hiring tracker layout

You do not need a template file. Open a spreadsheet and make these columns, one row per applicant:

Three habits matter more than the columns:

• Make the stage a dropdown. Free text drifts into "intvw", "2nd round" and "maybe", and then the sheet cannot be sorted.
• Sort by next step due, every day. That one view is the whole point. Anyone overdue gets a reply today, even if the reply is "we need another week".
• Write the role's must-haves first. A short list of what the job actually needs, written before the applications arrive, makes screening faster and fairer. Our job description template has a section for them.

Two cautions. Personal data about applicants is sensitive, so share the sheet only with the people hiring, not the whole company drive, and delete rows you no longer need. And do not add a score column that ranks people by a formula. Judge applicants against the must-haves, and write down why.

When the spreadsheet stops working

A spreadsheet is a fine tracker for one role and one interviewer. These are the signs it has stopped being enough:

• Applicants arrive in several places. Email, a form, LinkedIn and referrals, and someone copies them into the sheet when they remember. Anything that depends on copying will miss people.
• More than two people interview. Notes end up in chat threads, and the sheet is a week behind.
• Candidates are waiting on you. If you find a strong applicant who applied three weeks ago and heard nothing, the tracker is not doing its job.
• You have more than one or two roles open. Each role needs its own posting, its own questions and its own view of the pipeline.
• You need a public place to apply. A careers page with each role and a form is more trustworthy to a candidate than "email us your CV".
• The hire has to go somewhere. After the offer is accepted, someone retypes the person's details into payroll, the HR file and every tool they will use.
• Access matters. Pay expectations and rejection reasons should not be visible to everyone with a link.

One or two of these, and a tidier sheet may be enough. Three or more, and you are spending more time maintaining the tracker than it saves.

What a simple ATS should do

A small company does not need an enterprise applicant tracking system. It needs a short list done well:

• Roles with written requirements: must-haves, nice-to-haves, pay range and the screening questions you want answered.
• A careers page that lists open roles and takes applications, so every applicant arrives in the pipeline without copying.
• A pipeline board with the stages above, notes on each application and a reason when you say no.
• Interviews on the calendar, linked to the application.
• Permissions: only the people hiring see applicants.
• A clean exit: the hire becomes a person in your company records, not a row someone retypes.

Be wary of features that score or rank candidates automatically. Automated scoring of applicants is regulated in places such as New York City and the EU, and a ranking you cannot explain is a liability for a small team.

When comparing tools, check two prices: the monthly price, and the price of the next hire. Many ATS tools charge per job posting or per hiring seat, which makes the second and third role more expensive than the first.

How hiring works in Atrix

Atrix is an all-in-one workspace for small teams, and hiring is one part of it. It is a simple ATS rather than an enterprise one:

• Roles. Each role has an engagement type (employee, contractor, part-time, intern or advisor), a pay range and basis, must-haves, nice-to-haves and your own screening questions. Drafts are unlimited.
• A public careers page. Open roles appear on your company page under /spaces, and each role has its own page with your questions. Applicants get a confirmation email and you get an alert.
• The applicant pipeline. Applied, screening, interview, offer and hired, with not proceeding and withdrew as exits. Moving someone to not proceeding asks for a reason. You can add notes and mark strong people to keep warm.
• AI that checks, never scores. The AI can draft the job ad from the project the role is for, and report whether each must-have is met in an application, with the evidence. It does not score or rank people. Each uses one AI run.
• Interviews on the calendar. Create an event and link it to the application. There is no separate interview scheduler.
• Hire to teammate. The accepted candidate becomes a workspace member with an employment record holding the start date and the agreed terms.
• Access. Hiring is its own permission. People without it do not see applicants.

Plans limit live roles, not drafts: Builder ($39 a month for 5 seats) allows 5 published roles at a time, and Studio ($149 a month for 15 seats) has no limit. There is no free plan; every workspace starts with a 7-day trial, and a card is required. Read more on the hiring feature page.

FAQ

What is the best free applicant tracking for a small business?

For one or two roles, a spreadsheet with the layout above is free and works. Most ATS tools that call themselves free limit the number of jobs or users, so check those limits against how many roles you will have open next quarter.

How many pipeline stages should a startup use?

Five ordered stages (applied, screening, interview, offer, hired) and two exits (not proceeding, withdrew). Put interview rounds in the notes rather than adding stages.

When should a startup switch from a spreadsheet to an ATS?

When applicants come from several places, more than two people interview, or candidates are waiting on you without anyone noticing. Three or more of the signs above is a good threshold.

Should I use AI to screen applicants?

Use it to check applications against written must-haves and show the evidence, and keep the judgement with people. Avoid tools that rank applicants with a score you cannot explain.

Does Atrix have a free plan for hiring?

No. Every workspace starts with a 7-day trial with a card. Hiring, the careers page and the pipeline are included on every plan.