Ready to bring candidates into your first assessment? This overview shows you how to invite applicants, keep track of their status, and nudge them when needed. It’s perfect for new users who want a simple, streamlined start.
Approx. read time: 3 minutes
Customizing candidate communications
Before you start inviting applicants, you can personalize the emails they’ll receive from TestGorilla — including invitations, reminders, results, and rejection messages. These emails use your assessment’s branding and can be customized to match your tone, style, and process.
You can adjust the wording of your invitation, results, and rejection emails, and (on the Plus plan) update your logo and color scheme for a more branded experience.
➡️ Learn more: Candidate communications through TestGorilla
Invite candidates
You can invite your candidates to your assessment through three methods:
- Email — invite one at a time, or in bulk via file upload (if your plan permits).
- Public link — add a link to your job post so candidates can self-invite.
- ATS — connect your applicant tracking system for a seamless process.
| 💡 Want to find new candidates directly inside TestGorilla? With TestGorilla Sourcing, you can search our network of over 2 million skills-tested job seekers and invite them straight to your assessments. ➡️ Learn more: Getting started with TestGorilla Sourcing |
Why can't I invite my candidates?
Once your assessment is finalized, you can begin inviting candidates. If you find you are unable to send an invitation, it is usually due to one of the following reasons:
- Incorrect email address — Check for typos, extra spaces, or missing characters in the candidate's email.
- Flagged by deliverability system — Our system may block emails that are flagged as high-risk or invalid to ensure high deliverability rates for all users. Using the Bulk invite feature (uploading a CSV) resolves this issue.
- Incomplete setup — Your assessment must be fully configured before invitations can be sent. Ensure all steps in the assessment builder are complete. If a popup modal appears when you try to invite, follow the specific instructions provided there to finalize your setup.
If you have verified these details and still cannot send invitations, please reach out to our support team.
Candidate status & stage
TestGorilla gives you two ways to track your applicants:
Status — updated automatically based on a candidate’s progress (Invited, Assessment started, Assessment completed, Disqualified).
Hiring stage — updated manually by you to reflect where the candidate is in your hiring pipeline (e.g., Evaluated, Interviewed, Offer sent, Rejected, Hired).
Statuses show progress through the assessment, while stages show progress through your hiring process.
These tools make it easy to understand where each candidate stands without affecting what they see — stages are internal only.
Remind candidates
Candidates don’t always complete their assessment right away. TestGorilla will automatically send them one reminder if they haven’t started within 48 hours or if they’ve been inactive for 48 hours.
If you want to nudge them again, you can manually send additional reminders or copy their unique assessment link to follow up from your own inbox. Just keep in mind that each link is tied to an individual candidate.
📊 Next step: Analyze your candidates’ results
Once candidates complete your assessment, learn how to review results, compare performance, and make confident hiring decisions.