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Kanban Pipeline View

The Kanban pipeline view presents your entire client portfolio as a visual board with columns for each pipeline stage. It is the fastest way to get an overview of your business development progress, move companies between stages, and identify where your pipeline needs attention. The visual format makes patterns and bottlenecks immediately apparent in a way that a list view cannot.

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What the Kanban View Shows

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Pipeline Statistics Cards

At the top of the Kanban view, a row of statistics cards gives you an instant numerical overview of your pipeline:

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Search and View Toggle

Below the statistics cards, a search bar lets you filter companies by name across all columns. Next to the search bar, a toggle button lets you switch between the Kanban board view and a list view of your pipeline.

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Board Columns

The board is organized into columns, one for each pipeline stage: Each column header displays the stage name and a count badge showing how many companies are at that stage. The columns are arranged left to right following the natural progression of the sales pipeline — from initial discovery (left) to final outcome (right).

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Company Cards

Each company in the Kanban view is represented as a card. These cards provide a compact summary of key information:

• Company name — The primary identifier, displayed prominently
• Favorite star — A star icon to mark the company as a favorite
• Industry — The company’s sector for quick context
• Employee count — The size of the company
• Active job count — Number of open positions
• New jobs badge — A badge showing the count of new jobs since your last visit (when applicable)
• Contact count — How many contacts are on file for this company
• Location — The company’s headquarters location
• Last activity — Timestamp of the most recent activity on this company
• Last viewed — When you last visited this company’s detail page
• Loss reason — For companies in the Lost column, the reason the deal was lost is displayed

Cards are designed to be scannable — you should be able to evaluate your entire pipeline at a glance without clicking into individual company pages. The most important information is visible on every card.

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Drag and Drop

The Kanban board supports drag-and-drop interaction for moving companies between stages:

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Valid Drag Targets

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Drop Zone Indicators

When dragging a card, valid target columns show a visual indicator (like a highlighted border or a “Drop here” message). Invalid target columns do not show this indicator, making it immediately clear which moves are allowed and which are not. This prevents accidental invalid transitions and makes the interface intuitive to use.

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Kanban View vs. List View

Recruitier offers two ways to view your client pipeline: the Kanban board and a traditional list view. You can switch between them using the toggle button next to the search bar. Each has its strengths:

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When to Use the Kanban View

The Kanban view is most valuable in these situations:

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Weekly Pipeline Review

Set aside time each week to review your Kanban board. In one glance, you can:

• See how many companies are at each stage — is the funnel balanced?
• Identify if your pipeline is top-heavy (too many Prospects, not enough further along)
• Spot companies that may need attention (e.g., companies that have been in Contacted for too long)
• Move companies whose status has changed since your last review
• Assess whether you need to add more Prospects from Client Discovery

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Team Stand-ups

If you work in an agency team, the Kanban board is an excellent tool for brief stand-up meetings. Walk through each column and discuss:

• Which companies are new Prospects this week?
• Who is following up with Contacted companies? Any responses?
• What meetings are scheduled or completed?
• Any recent Wins to celebrate? Lessons from Losses?

The visual board makes these conversations efficient because everyone can see the same picture simultaneously.

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Pipeline Health Assessment

A healthy BD pipeline typically has a funnel shape:

• Many Prospects — You are consistently adding new potential clients through Client Discovery
• Fewer Contacted — You have reached out to a subset of prospects and are waiting for responses
• Even fewer Meeting — A portion of contacted companies have progressed to real conversations
• Fewest Won — The natural conversion rate from meeting to active client

If your Kanban board shows an inverted shape (more companies at later stages than earlier stages), you need to increase your prospecting activity. If you see a bulge at Contacted (many more than at either Prospect or Meeting), your outreach approach may need refinement.

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Visualizing Your BD Pipeline at a Glance

The Kanban board answers several critical questions instantly:

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Handling Columns with Many Items

When a column has many companies (common for Prospect and Contacted stages), the cards stack vertically within the column and you can scroll to see all of them. The column header always shows the total count, so you know how many items are in the column even without scrolling through all of them. For very active pipelines, consider:

• Aggressively moving or removing companies — If a Prospect has been sitting for months without outreach, it should either be contacted or moved to Lost. Stale Prospects create noise.
• Using the list view for detailed work — When you need to work through 30 Contacted companies systematically, the list view with sorting by date may be more efficient.
• Prioritizing within columns — While the Kanban board does not offer sorting within columns, the order in which cards appear helps you scan. Use the list view to identify your highest-priority items, then return to the Kanban for the overview.

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Empty Columns

An empty column in the Kanban board shows a message indicating that no companies are at that stage. This is normal for certain columns at certain times:

• Empty Meeting — If you are just starting BD, you may not have any meetings yet. This is a signal to focus on converting Contacted companies through better outreach.
• Empty Won — Early in your BD process, you will not have Won clients yet. This is expected and motivating — every company in your pipeline is a potential first Win.
• Empty Lost — If you have been doing BD for a while and have no Lost companies, you may be either very successful or not recording losses honestly. Some loss is natural and expected.

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Best Practices for Kanban Pipeline Management

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Daily Quick Check (2 minutes)

Spend two minutes at the start of each day glancing at your Kanban board:

• Any new items in any column from colleague activity?
• Any companies that need immediate attention today?
• What is your BD focus for the day?

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Weekly Review Ritual (15-30 minutes)

Once a week, spend 15-30 minutes doing a thorough pipeline review:

1. Start from the right (Won/Lost) and move left
2. Review each Won client — any upsell or additional placement opportunities?
3. Review Meetings — are follow-ups needed? Any upcoming meetings to prepare for?
4. Review Contacted — who needs a follow-up? Who should be moved to Lost after prolonged silence?
5. Review Prospects — who is ready for outreach? Who should be removed as no longer relevant?
6. End by checking if you need new Prospects (go to Client Discovery and run your saved searches)

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Keep It Clean

A Kanban board only works if it accurately reflects reality. Remove or archive companies that are no longer relevant. Update statuses promptly after every interaction. Add notes when you have context. The board should be a living, accurate representation of your pipeline at all times. An inaccurate board is worse than no board — it gives you false confidence about your pipeline health.

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Advanced

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How the Kanban View Works Under the Hood

The Kanban view queries Company records (your personal/agency tracked companies) and groups them by the client_status field. Each column represents one status value:

• Prospect column: WHERE client_status = 'prospect'
• Contacted column: WHERE client_status = 'contacted'
• Meeting column: WHERE client_status = 'meeting'
• Won column: WHERE client_status = 'won'
• Lost column: WHERE client_status = 'lost' (often hidden by default or shown separately)

Each Company record is joined with its linked GlobalCompany to populate the card with company name, industry, employee count, and job metrics.

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Drag-and-Drop Status Changes

When you drag a card between columns, the frontend:

1. Validates the transition against the allowed transition map
2. Sends a status change request to the API
3. The API validates the transition again (server-side validation)
4. Creates a ClientCompanyActivity record with the status change
5. Updates the client_status and client_status_changed_at fields
6. Returns the updated Company record
7. The frontend moves the card to the new column

If the status change to Lost requires a loss reason, the frontend prompts for it before sending the request. This ensures all Lost transitions have recorded reasons.

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Connection to Other Features

• Status Pipeline: The Kanban board is a visual representation of the same pipeline that the status selector on the company detail page manages. All transition rules apply identically.
• Activity Timeline: Every drag-and-drop status change creates the same ClientCompanyActivity record as a status change made through the detail page. The timeline makes no distinction between the two.
• Company Detail Page: Clicking a card in the Kanban view navigates to the full company detail page.
• List View: The Kanban and list views share the same Company data. Switching between them shows the same pipeline from different perspectives.
• Client Search: The “saved” indicator in search results reflects whether a Company record exists, regardless of which view you use to manage the pipeline.

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Power User Tips

• Use the Kanban for weekly strategy, list for daily execution: The Kanban gives you the big picture of where your pipeline stands. The list view lets you efficiently work through a batch of follow-ups.
• Pay attention to column ratios: A healthy pipeline for most recruiters has roughly a 5:3:1 ratio (Prospect:Contacted:Meeting). If your ratio is severely off, adjust your activities accordingly.
• Screenshot your board weekly: Taking a screenshot of your Kanban board each week gives you a simple visual history of pipeline evolution. You can see growth, contraction, and conversion patterns over time.
• Move Lost companies quickly: Do not let the Contacted column become a graveyard of unresponsive companies. If you have sent 3+ follow-ups without response over 2-3 weeks, move to Lost. This keeps your active pipeline realistic and your metrics meaningful.
• The Won column is not the end: Companies in Won still deserve regular attention. Check in on Won clients monthly. Their hiring needs evolve, and maintaining the relationship leads to repeat business and referrals.

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Business Logic Rules

• The Kanban board displays only non-deleted Company records for the current user/agency.
• Drag-and-drop enforces the same transition validation as the status change API.
• Moving to Lost requires a loss reason (prompted after the drop).
• Column counts update immediately on status changes.
• All status changes are logged as ClientCompanyActivity records.
• The board shares data with the list view — changes in one are reflected in the other.

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Related

• Status Pipeline — Pipeline stages and transition rules
• Client Management Overview — Pipeline management fundamentals
• Company Detail Page — Detailed company view from card click
• Activity Timeline — Tracking status changes from drag-and-drop