Portal Templates
Last updated: October 5, 2026
Summary
Portal Templates let you create reusable portal configurations that can be applied across multiple jobs. Instead of building each job portal from scratch, you can define portal stages, content blocks, and settings once, then reuse them wherever needed. This ensures consistency in candidate experience and saves significant setup time.
What Are Portal Templates?
A Portal Template is a standardized blueprint for candidate-facing portals. It defines the stages candidates will see, how those stages map to your ATS stages, and what content appears at each step of the hiring process.
When you use a portal template:
Multiple jobs can share the same portal structure and content
Updates to the template can be applied to all connected jobs
Each job maintains its connection to the template unless you choose to detach it
Jobs using the same template provide candidates with a consistent experience
Why Use Portal Templates?
Consistency Across Similar Roles Portal templates ensure that candidates applying for similar positions—such as all software engineering roles or all sales positions—see the same stages, messaging, and content structure.
Faster Job Activation Instead of configuring portal stages and content for every new job opening, you can apply an existing template and make job-specific adjustments only where needed.
Easier Maintenance When you need to update portal content or add new stages across multiple jobs, you can update the template and re-apply it rather than editing each job individually.
Standardized Candidate Experience Templates help maintain your employer brand and communication standards across all candidate touchpoints.
How Portal Templates Work
Templates and Managed Portals
When you apply a portal template to a job, that job becomes a managed portal. This means the job's portal is governed by the template's configuration.
Key characteristics of managed portals:
The job references the template rather than storing its own independent copy of the portal stages
Portal stages and structure follow the template's definitions
You can see which jobs are using each template
Stage mappings connect your ATS stages to the template's normalized stage names
Stage Mapping
Portal templates use normalized stage names—standard labels that represent common hiring stages like "Application Received," "Interview Scheduled," or "Offer Extended."
When you apply a template to a job, you map your ATS stages to these normalized stage names. This allows:
Different jobs with different ATS stage names to use the same template
Consistent candidate-facing language even when internal stage names vary
Flexibility to adapt the same template across different roles or departments
Example: Your ATS might have stages called "Tech Screen," "Hiring Manager Call," and "Panel Interview," while another job uses "Phone Screen," "Initial Interview," and "Onsite." Both can use the same portal template by mapping their respective ATS stages to normalized names like "Interview - Round 1," "Interview - Round 2," and "Interview - Final Round."
Creating and Using Portal Templates
Prerequisites
Editor or Admin permissions
Access to Templates & Libraries → Portal Templates
At least one portal already configured (to use as a starting point)
Creating a New Portal Template
Navigate to Templates & Libraries → Portal Templates
Click New Portal Template
Enter a name for your template (e.g., "Engineering Roles Portal" or "Sales Pipeline Portal")
(Optional) Add a description
Click Create
The template is now created. You can edit it later to add candidate-facing stages, configure stage-specific content blocks, and set up all portal content.
Applying a Portal Template to a Job
For Jobs That Haven't Been Activated Yet
When activating a new job for the first time:
Navigate to the job you want to activate
Click Activate Portal
In the activation modal, select your template from the Portal Template dropdown
Click Activate
For Jobs with Existing Portals (Draft or Live)
If the job already has a portal configured:
Navigate to the job's portal settings
Click Select Portal Plan
A modal will open where you can choose your template
Select your desired portal template
Click Apply
Important: If the portal is already live, any updates will reflect to candidates immediately.
Using bulk actions:
You can also apply portal templates to multiple jobs at once. See the Bulk Actions with Portal Templates section below for more information.
Detaching a Job from a Portal Template
If you need to make significant customizations to a single job's portal that shouldn't affect other jobs using the template, you can detach the job from the template.
To detach a job:
Open the job's portal settings
Next to the selected template name, click the X button
An unlink/detach modal will open
Confirm that you want to detach the portal from the template
What happens when you detach:
The job's portal becomes independent and fully editable
All current portal stages, content, and settings remain on the job
Future changes to the original template won't affect this job anymore
The detach action itself doesn't make any live changes to the portal
Portal Templates and Interview Plans
Portal templates and interview plans work together but serve different purposes:
Interview Plans define the interview rounds, interviewer assignments, and scheduling automation for your internal hiring process
Portal Templates define what candidates see and experience through their candidate-facing portal
You can use both on the same job to standardize both internal workflows and external candidate communication.
Auto-Applying Portal Templates
You can configure interview plans to automatically apply a portal template when certain conditions are met. This is set up within the interview plan configuration and allows you to:
Automatically assign the correct portal template when an interview plan is applied to a job
Ensure consistency between your internal interview process and the external candidate experience
Reduce manual setup steps when activating new jobs
To set up auto-apply, edit your interview plan and specify which portal template should be automatically applied alongside it.
Bulk Actions with Portal Templates
You can apply portal templates to multiple jobs at once using bulk actions. This is useful when:
Rolling out a new standardized portal across existing jobs
Updating multiple jobs to a new template version
Activating several similar roles at the same time
For details on using bulk actions with portal templates, see Using Bulk Actions.
Best Practices
Start with a General Template Create a comprehensive general-purpose template that can serve as your baseline. You can always create specialized templates for different role types later. See Create a candidate.fyi General Template for a detailed guide.
Use Descriptive Template Names Name templates clearly to indicate their purpose, such as "Technical Roles - Full Portal" or "Sales Positions - Abbreviated Process."
Review Before Re-Applying When you re-apply a template to a job that already has a portal, the existing portal configuration will be replaced. Make sure this is your intent before proceeding.
Standardize Where Appropriate Use templates for jobs that share similar processes and candidate experiences. Detach and customize only when a job truly requires unique portal content.
Document Your Stage Mappings Keep clear documentation of how your ATS stages map to template stage names, especially if you have complex hiring processes or multiple ATS instances.
Troubleshooting
I can't remove an ATS stage or exposed stage from my template
This action may be prohibited while candidates are currently live in that ATS stage. You have two options:
Map the ATS stage to a different exposed stage - You can change the mapping to point to a different stage in your template
Confirm if candidates are in the stage - If there are candidates currently in that ATS stage, you'll be asked to confirm before making the change
This safeguard prevents accidentally removing stages that candidates are actively experiencing.