> Download a free candidate database with contact, skill, status, consent and next-action fields. Ready for Excel or Google Sheets.

Source: https://hice.ai/en/tools/candidate-database-template
# Free candidate database template

Start with ordered columns for a searchable candidate archive you can use in a spreadsheet.

## Template preview

| ID | Name | Email | Phone | Role | Skills | Seniority | Stage | Source | Consent date | Next action |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| C-001 | Julia Rossi | julia@example.com | +1 555 0100 | Data Engineer | Python; SQL; AWS | Senior | Technical interview | Referral | 2026-07-01 | Send scorecard |

## How to use it

Download the CSV and open it in Excel, Google Sheets or LibreOffice.

Adapt categories and stages without removing stable identifiers.

When the file becomes hard to maintain, create a free HICE workspace and manage the process directly there.

## Which columns matter, and why

A candidate database in a spreadsheet works if it answers questions, and that takes only a few well-chosen columns. A stable identifier stops two rows for the same person becoming two different candidates. Skills separated by semicolons can be filtered; written as prose, they cannot.

The two most commonly forgotten columns are the consent date and the next action. The first is what allows a retention policy to be applied without deleting blindly. The second is what stops a process sitting still without anyone noticing, which is the most common way to lose a good candidate.

- A stable identifier that is never reused
- Skills as a list, not as free text
- Consent date and source of the contact
- A next action with a date on every active row

## Signs the file has become too small for you

The template holds up well to a few hundred profiles and one person maintaining it. Beyond that, three symptoms appear: duplicates discovered when a client receives the same profile twice, CVs living in folders while the sheet only holds a name, and searches that can no longer be run because nobody wrote the skills the same way.

When that happens the template remains useful as a standalone tool for a one-off analysis, but the process needs somewhere else to live. On the HICE free plan you upload the CVs and the platform extracts the information to create structured, searchable profiles.

- Duplicates that are hard to spot by eye
- CVs separated from the candidate record
- A skills vocabulary that is no longer consistent
- Several people editing the same sheet at once

## When the spreadsheet is no longer enough

When you are ready to move beyond the sheet, create a HICE workspace and manage data, roles, approvals and history in one place.

## Frequently asked questions

### Do I need to register to download it?

No. Download the template without email or payment card.

### Does it work with Excel and Google Sheets?

Yes. The UTF-8 CSV works with mainstream spreadsheet tools.

### Is the template imported into HICE?

No. The template is a standalone tool. In HICE, add candidates by uploading CVs and configure the other workflows directly in the workspace.

## More free templates