Chapter 30 — Offers and hiring
The last two steps of hiring are the ones with money and law in them: the offer, which is a promise in writing, and the moment a candidate becomes an employee, which is where the rest of Operentra takes over. This chapter is how an offer leaves, how the candidate answers, how the answer becomes a record with a joining date and an onboarding checklist, and every email the recruitment module sends along the way.
What this chapter covers
- 30.1 Extending an offer
- 30.2 The candidate's offer page: accept, decline, PDF
- 30.3 Converting a candidate to an employee
- 30.4 Recruitment emails
The concept
Chapter 25's rules for offers were: decide before you call, make it in writing the same day, give it an expiry, negotiate once, read a decline. Two more belong to the handover.
The offer is not the employee record. A candidate who has said yes is still a candidate: no employee number, no contract, no payroll. The conversion is a deliberate step where HR collects what hiring did not need (identity number, address, bank account, work email) and the record is created once, properly.
The hire closes the search. When the last headcount is filled, the advert should come down and the other applicants should hear. A system that leaves a filled role advertised produces candidates nobody will read.
How Operentra handles it
- An offer is extended from the application at Interview or Offer: a proposed monthly salary, a joining date, an expiry date and internal notes. Sending it moves the stage to Offer, renders an offer letter PDF and emails the candidate with the PDF and a link to respond. Revising edits the same offer; the link stays the same.
- The candidate answers on a public page: accept, or decline with a reason. Accepting makes the application Hired; declining makes it Withdrawn. An offer past its expiry date cannot be accepted.
- Whoever extended the offer is told of the answer by email, with the candidate's reason on a decline. A hiring manager named on the opening is told too, though the screens offer no way to name one.
- Convert to employee opens the Add Employee form pre-filled from the candidate and the offer. Saving creates the employee, links the candidate, marks the application Hired, and marks the opening Filled when the headcount is reached. Onboarding starts as for any new employee (Chapter 16).
- There is no "Move to Hired" while an offer is out and no "Move to Offer" at all; the offer flow is the only path.
- Ten emails cover the module, each a template on Settings › Email Templates.
Walkthrough
Northwind has six offers: four accepted (Mateo Restrepo for DevOps Engineer, Lucia Ferrero for Senior Software Engineer, Tobias Renfrew for Product Designer, Brigid Callaghan for Customer Support Executive) and two sent (Tamsin Everly and Noor Al-Amin). Of the four hires only Lucia Ferrero has been converted to an employee: NWL-0049, joining on 2 November 2026 and still pending activation (Chapter 18).
30.1 Extending an offer
Open the application and click Extend offer. The dialog, "Extend Offer", asks for:
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Proposed monthly salary (USD) | A number in the workspace currency, per month: the figure payroll will be built on, not an annual package. |
| Joining date | The date you propose; it pre-fills the employee record at conversion. |
| Offer expires | The date after which the candidate can no longer accept online. A week is reasonable. |
| Internal notes | Never sent to the candidate. |
The line under the fields says the candidate will receive an email. Send offer does the following:
- Creates the offer with status Sent (or updates the existing one when you re-extend after a negotiation; the candidate's link does not change) and moves the application to Offer.
- Renders the offer letter PDF on your letterhead: a reference number and date, the candidate's name and email, "Offer of Employment", an introduction naming the designation and department, a table of position, department, employment type, proposed salary, joining date, offer valid until and work location, the conditions the offer is subject to (documents, the identity document under its local name, references, the appointment letter to follow), and a closing. The designation, department and employment type come from the opening (Chapter 26).
- Emails the candidate "Offer of Employment: DevOps Engineer at Northwind Labs, Inc.": the monthly salary, the proposed joining date, "Please respond by" the expiry date, a Review & respond button, and the PDF attached.
The application now shows an Offer card: the status pill (Sent — awaiting candidate), links to the Candidate offer page and Download PDF, the proposed salary, joining date and expiry. The button now reads Revise offer: it opens the same dialog with the current terms, and sending updates the one offer, re-renders the letter, emails the candidate again and keeps their link. Use it for the one negotiation round Chapter 25 allows, and for a new expiry when the first one passes.
30.2 The candidate's offer page: accept, decline, PDF
The button opens a page under /careers/offer/ with its own secret
token: "Your offer of employment",
"Hi Tamsin, we're thrilled to extend the following offer for the DevOps
Engineer role", the monthly salary in large type, Download official
offer letter (PDF), the department, joining date and expiry, and two
actions.
- Accept the offer: the page turns to "Offer accepted — welcome aboard! Our team will reach out shortly with onboarding details." The offer becomes Accepted, the application Hired, and the person who extended the offer (and the hiring manager, if one is set) is emailed "🎉 Tamsin Everly accepted the DevOps Engineer offer" with the salary, the joining date and "Next step: click Convert to employee". A candidate who accepts twice is not counted twice.
- Decline offer: a reason is required; the hint says it is shared with the hiring team only. The page turns to "You've declined this offer"; the offer becomes Declined, the application Withdrawn (Chapter 28), and the same people are emailed "Offer declined: Tamsin Everly for DevOps Engineer" with the reason. Back on the application the Offer card shows the reason in red. A declined candidate can still change their mind on the page ("Accept the offer instead") as long as the offer is unexpired, and HR can extend a revised offer.
- Expired: past the expiry date the page says "This offer has expired" and accepting is refused; declining is still recorded. The Offer card on the application shows Expired; Revise offer with a new expiry reopens it.
Both of Northwind's sent offers have run past their expiry dates, so their pages read expired until the demo is refreshed; that is the demo's age, not a decision.
30.3 Converting a candidate to an employee
An application at Offer or Hired whose candidate has not been converted shows Convert to employee; a Hired one shows it in a green panel, "Next step: create the employee record". It opens the Add Employee form (Chapter 16) headed "Convert Candidate to Employee", with a banner: "Converting Tamsin Everly (…) for DevOps Engineer. On save, the candidate will be marked as hired and the onboarding pipeline will start automatically."
Pre-filled: first and last name, personal email (the address they applied with), phone, and the opening's department, designation and employment type, plus the offer's joining date. HR adds what hiring never asked for: the work email, the identity number, the address, the bank account, the shift and leave group, the probation end date, and the sign-in choice. Everything in Chapter 16 applies, including the address-and-bank requirement and the invitation.
Saving does five things: creates the employee; links the candidate (the candidate profile gains View employee profile, and the application reads "Hired on … — now employee, view profile"); moves the application to Hired with the date and the user if it was still at Offer; marks the opening Filled when the number of hires reaches its headcount, which takes the posting off the careers site; and starts the onboarding pipeline as for any new employee (Chapter 18). A candidate cannot be converted twice.
What conversion does not do: assign a salary or create a contract. The monthly salary on the offer is a proposal; payroll needs a salary assignment (Chapter 52), and the contract needs creating and signing (Chapters 31 and 18). Do both before the joining date.
Of Northwind's four accepted offers only Lucia Ferrero's has been converted, and Senior Software Engineer has two seats, so the DevOps and Senior Software Engineer openings are both still Open with a Hired column; converting Mateo Restrepo would fill DevOps Engineer (headcount 1) and unpublish it.
30.4 Recruitment emails
| Trigger on Settings › Email Templates | To | When |
|---|---|---|
| Application received | Candidate | On a public application or a manual add (Chapter 27) |
| Application rejected | Candidate | On Reject, with the reason (Chapter 28) |
| Interview scheduled | Candidate | On Schedule, with the calendar file and confirm link (Chapter 29) |
| Interviewer invited | Each interviewer | On Schedule, with the calendar file |
| Interview candidate confirmed | Each interviewer | When the candidate confirms |
| Interview reschedule requested | Each interviewer | When the candidate asks to move it, with their note |
| Interview reminder (candidate) | Candidate | A day before, once |
| Interview reminder (interviewer) | Each interviewer | A day before, once |
| Offer extended | Candidate | On Send offer, with the PDF and the respond link |
| Offer accepted by candidate | Whoever extended the offer (and the hiring manager when set) | When the candidate accepts |
| Offer declined by candidate | The same | When the candidate declines, with the reason |
Each is a per-workspace template with a switch; a switched-off trigger sends nothing and the action still succeeds. The candidate-facing ones go to the candidate's email in the workspace's default language; interviewer and HR ones follow the recipient's own language. Nothing in recruitment creates a bell notification; the emails and the application page are the whole signal.
What happens next
- The employee record exists with status New and an onboarding pipeline; activation follows the contract (Chapter 18).
- The candidate record stays as the hiring history, linked to the employee.
- The opening is Filled when its headcount is met, its posting unpublished, and its remaining applications untouched: reject them with a reason (Chapter 28).
- The offer stays on the application with its status, dates and reason, and the PDF stays downloadable.
What the employee sees
The candidate: the offer email with the letter, the offer page, and after accepting, the invitation to sign in that the Add Employee form sends (Chapter 16). The person who extended the offer: the accepted or declined email. Nobody else is told.
Common mistakes
- Typing an annual figure into "Proposed monthly salary". The letter and the email say "monthly". Divide first.
- Sending without an expiry. The offer stays acceptable for ever and the "respond by" line is blank. Set a date.
- Revising twice. Revise offer works as often as you like, and each send emails the candidate again. Chapter 25's rule stands: negotiate once.
- Leaving an expired offer sitting at Expired. The candidate cannot accept it. Revise it with a new expiry, or reject the application with a reason.
- Converting before the paperwork. Conversion needs the identity number, address and bank account that Add Employee requires. Collect them first.
- Thinking conversion sets pay. It does not. Assign the salary and create the contract before the joining date.
- Leaving the other applicants in Screening on a filled role. Filled unpublishes the advert but rejects nobody. Reject them with a reason.
- Waiting for a hiring-manager email that never comes. The opening has no hiring manager field on the screen; only the person who extended the offer is told. Tell the manager yourself.
Practice
Use your own trial workspace, not a customer's.
- On a test application at Interview, extend an offer with a monthly figure, a joining date next month and an expiry in seven days. Read the candidate's email and open the PDF.
- Open the candidate's link and decline with a reason. Read the Offer card and the email the issuer received. Open the link again and accept instead.
- From the application, click Convert to employee. Read the banner, note which fields are pre-filled, complete the rest and save.
- Open the candidate profile and follow View employee profile. Open the opening and read its status and the Posting column.
- Open Settings › Email Templates and find the eleven recruitment triggers. Read the offer extended template and decide whether its wording is yours.
Quiz
1. What does Send offer do beyond saving the terms?
Moves the application to Offer, renders the offer letter PDF, and emails the candidate with the PDF attached and a link to accept or decline. Re-sending updates the same offer and keeps the link.
2. What happens to the application when the candidate accepts, and when they decline?
Accept: the offer is Accepted and the application Hired. Decline: the offer is Declined with the candidate's reason and the application Withdrawn. Either way the person who extended the offer is emailed.
3. Why is conversion a separate step after acceptance?
The employee record needs what hiring never collected: identity number, address, bank account, work email, shift and leave group. The Add Employee form opens pre-filled so HR adds those once and the record is created properly, with onboarding started.
4. When does an opening become Filled, and what does that do to its posting?
When the number of hired applications reaches the opening's headcount at a conversion. The posting is unpublished and the role leaves the careers site; the other applications are left as they are.
5. Which of the recruitment emails reach HR?
Only the offer accepted and offer declined notices, sent to whoever extended the offer (and a hiring manager, if one is named through the API). Everything else goes to candidates and interviewers.