Permissions: Job Admin and above

Product tier: Available for all subscription tiers

Offer forecast uses machine learning from the recruiting process to make a prediction for each job about when an offer might be accepted and when a new hire's start date might begin. Use offer forecast to hone your recruiting pipeline, communicate timelines, and engage your team towards a goal.

We’ve collected answers to a few commonly asked questions about offer forecast.

How does offer forecast work?

Offer forecast is powered by a machine learning model called LightGBM or Light Gradient Boosting Machine. This model is trained on input variables from filled jobs to derive an output called time to hire. Some of the data used to train the model include the following:

  • Number of candidates in each milestone
  • Steps in the hiring plan
  • Months an organization has been using Greenhouse Recruiting
  • Days a job has been open
  • Days since a job was last updated
  • Offer status, if any
  • Average hiring speed
  • Time to hire from previous jobs
  • Lots of other things

Learn more about how it works.

Why does offer forecast still say it's generating a forecast?

Because there hasn't been enough activity in the recruiting process for the forecast to generate.

How do I change the target start date?

On the offer forecast widget, click Set target date to choose a target start date for your new hire. You can also set a target start date on the opening under Job Setup > Job Info.

Note: Only Job Admins who can edit job info can set target start dates.

How does offer forecast handle multiple openings on a job?

Offer forecast will share a forecast for one opening at a time. When jobs have multiple openings, offer forecast shares a forecast for the opening with the soonest target start date. When this opening is closed or filled, the forecast will move to the next open opening with the soonest target start date.

How do evergreen jobs work with offer forecast?

Evergreen jobs, or pipeline jobs, are jobs that temporarily hold candidates until they’re moved to a hiring job. When you transfer a candidate to another job, the forecast will not transfer with them.

Who can see offer forecasts?

A Job Admin assigned to a job will see offer forecasts. However, only Job Admins who can edit job info will be able to set the target start date

Can you reset an offer forecast?

You can't.

What range is predicted for acceptance and start dates?

Offer forecast will share a prediction with a static range from 2 to 6 weeks.

Note: The start date prediction is not available for organizations with accounts in Silo 101. Learn more.

Can I deactivate offer forecast?

It isn’t possible to deactivate offer forecast.

Can I report on offer forecast predictions?

We don't store historical predictions over time in Greenhouse Recruiting. As a result, offer forecast data doesn’t appear in any reports. 

Why doesn't offer forecast provide a start date prediction for organizations with accounts in the European Union?

Offer forecast is based on US standards, which typically involve a fixed 2-week lead time from the moment an employee accepts a role to the actual start date. However, in the EU, the lead time for employee onboarding is often variable and can vary significantly.

Start date predictions in offer forecast are designed to be most effective in scenarios where a fixed 2-week lead time is the norm, making it less suitable for regions with diverse lead time requirements.

The same functionality as the US version is offered, except the widget will not include a start date prediction. The widget will only include a predicted offer acceptance date and target start date.

Learn more on using offer forecast in the EU