Plum integration for ATS: predictive assessments to speed screening and improve quality of hire

Plum integrates behavioral and cognitive assessments into Greenhouse to add predictive, objective talent signals directly into your applicant tracking workflow. By surfacing Plum job-match scores, talent profiles, and development recommendations in candidate records, hiring teams get faster, more consistent screening and better alignment between role requirements and candidate potential. This article explains how the Plum–Greenhouse connection works, which teams benefit most, practical implementation steps, and measurable outcomes you can expect. It also highlights common pitfalls, data flows, and recommended best practices so you can evaluate whether the integration fits your recruiting and talent planning strategy.

What the integration does: Plum creates structured assessments and job analyses outside of Greenhouse, then synchronizes results and recommendations into candidate records inside Greenhouse. Typical flows include sending assessment invites from Greenhouse stages, auto-updating scores and match-levels, creating tags or score-based statuses, and linking back to full Plum talent guides for onboarding and L&D. In practice this reduces reliance on resume signals alone: Plum’s predictive measures of on-the-job success (designed to outperform resume-only screening) feed into Greenhouse pipelines so recruiters and hiring managers see objective candidate fit alongside interview feedback and other ATS data.

Who should consider the Plum–Greenhouse integration

• Enterprise recruiting teams Large-volume hiring programs that need consistent, scalable screening and measurable quality-of-hire improvements.
• Talent acquisition leaders Teams aiming to reduce time-to-hire and improve interview-to-offer conversion with objective pre-interview signals.
• Hiring managers Managers who want clearer behavioral and cognitive indicators to inform structured interviews and selection decisions.
• Internal mobility and succession planners HR teams that want to identify internal candidates with leadership or role-specific potential using the same assessment framework.
• Learning & development teams Groups that want targeted development plans for new hires using Plum’s talent guides directly linked from the ATS.

Key benefits at a glance

How assessments map into Greenhouse workflow: You typically add Plum as an assessment that lives at a defined stage (e.g., Screening or Take Home Test). When a candidate reaches that stage Greenhouse sends an invite; Plum records completion, returns a composite match score and sub-scores, and posts a link to the candidate’s full Plum report in the candidate profile. Teams can use score thresholds to auto-advance, flag for interview, or mark as low-fit. Make sure to decide whether Plum scores are advisory (a tag) or gating (an automatic move/disposition) before launch; this influences candidate experience, compliance, and reporting design.

Implementation checklist

• Accounts and permissions Confirm admin access in both Plum and Greenhouse and generate API keys where required.
• Job mapping Map Plum job templates to Greenhouse job data so match-scores align with the correct role competencies.
• Stage placement Decide which Greenhouse stage will trigger the Plum assessment and whether the assessment is required.
• Privacy & consent Include assessment consent text in candidate communication and document storage locations for compliance.
• Pilot and calibration Run a pilot with a few roles to calibrate pass thresholds and measure initial impact.
• Stakeholder training Train recruiters and hiring managers on interpreting Plum scores and integrating them into structured interviews.

Common questions when integrating Plum with Greenhouse

Measuring impact and ROI: Track a small set of KPIs before and after the integration—time-to-hire, interview-to-offer rate, 90-day retention, and cost-per-hire. Example: if Plum screening reduces interviews per hire from 6 to 4 and lowers average time-to-hire by 10 days, the savings in recruiter and hiring manager time plus lower onboarding attrition can deliver a measurable ROI within the first 6–12 months. Use Greenhouse reports combined with Plum outcome measures (quality-of-hire and early performance indicators) to demonstrate business impact and refine pass-score thresholds by role.

Best practices for using Plum inside Greenhouse

• Position assessments early Use Plum at the top of funnel to reduce wasted interviewer time on low-fit candidates.
• Calibrate scores by role Different roles need different thresholds—configure per-job or per-job-family settings.
• Combine with structured interviews Use Plum insights to focus interview rubrics on high-value behaviors and capabilities.
• Use results for onboarding Link Plum talent guides to onboarding tasks to speed new-hire ramp.
• Monitor and iterate Regularly review correlation between Plum predictions and on-the-job performance to refine the model for your organization.

Typical data fields exchanged

Security, privacy, and compliance: Both Plum and Greenhouse maintain privacy documentation—confirm data residency, retention policies, and candidate consent workflows for your regions. Ensure assessment data is stored according to your company retention rules and that candidate-facing materials explain why assessments are used and how their data will be handled. For regulated hires, keep audit logs of invites, completions, and score-based disposition decisions.

Common implementation pitfalls and fixes

• Pitfall: Putting assessments too late Fix: Place Plum early to reduce interviewer time on unsuitable candidates.
• Pitfall: Not training hiring managers Fix: Provide quick interpretation guides and a calibration session with real candidate examples.
• Pitfall: Over-reliance on a single score Fix: Combine Plum scores with structured interviews and reference checks for balanced decisions.
• Pitfall: Poor job-template mapping Fix: Audit job templates with stakeholders so match-scores reflect true role needs.

Use-case scenarios — real examples