Notes & Scorecards

Getting deeper context about candidates in your ATS

What are notes?

A Note is some free-form text left against a candidate profile or their application.

Recruiters, hiring managers and others with access to the candidate can freely leave notes throughout the recruitment process.

In the Kombo product, we surface the notes related to the application, but not other workflow activities such as emails.

Ashby: Notes live on the candidate profile as free-form text.

Example note payload

// GET /ats/notes
{
  "status": "success",
  "data": {
    "next": null,
    "results": [
      {
        "id": "H77fDF8uvEzGNPRubiz5DvQ7",
        "remote_id": "32",
        "candidate_id": "26vafvWSRmbhNcxJYqjCzuJg",
        "application_id": "H5daSm8e85Dmvmne3wLeCPhX",
        "author_id": "5J7L4b48wBfffYwek9Az9pkM",
        "author": {
          "id": "5J7L4b48wBfffYwek9Az9pkM",
          "remote_id": "user_1",
          "first_name": "Jane",
          "last_name": "Doe",
          "email": "[e-mail]"
        },
        "title": "Screening call",
        "content_html": "Available from March, looking for a hybrid role in Berlin.",
        "is_private": true,
        "remote_created_at": "2022-08-07T14:01:29.196Z",
        "remote_updated_at": "2022-08-07T14:01:29.196Z",
        "remote_data": null,
        "changed_at": "2022-08-07T14:01:29.196Z",
        "remote_deleted_at": null
      }
    ]
  }
}

You can fetch notes from GET /ats/notes.

What are scorecards?

A Scorecard is structured feedback, filled via a form, that is most often completed after an interview.

Depending on the ATS, the hiring team can also submit scorecards without linking them to a specific interview.

Scorecards enable you to collect in depth feedback, and run a structured hiring process, while comparing the opinions of different hiring team members from a single perspective.

A lot of scorecards contain an overall summary, and a separate rating.

Where these are available, you will find them first in the array of answers found on the responses property of a scorecard.

Example scorecard payload

// GET /ats/scorecards
{
  "status": "success",
  "data": {
    "next": null,
    "results": [
      {
        "id": "H77fDF8uvEzGNPRubiz5DvQ7",
        "remote_id": "32",
        "candidate_id": "26vafvWSRmbhNcxJYqjCzuJg",
        "application_id": "H5daSm8e85Dmvmne3wLeCPhX",
        "interview_id": "5J7L4b48wBfffYwek9Az9pkM",
        "author_id": "6Wq4mDpYz3vBnh8Xk2Lr9TfA",
        "author": {
          "id": "6Wq4mDpYz3vBnh8Xk2Lr9TfA",
          "remote_id": "user_2",
          "first_name": "John",
          "last_name": "Smith",
          "email": "[e-mail]"
        },
        "responses": [
          {
            "remote_id": null,
            "label": "Overall rating",
            "description": "How you feel the interview went",
            "required": false,
            "type": "SINGLE_SELECT",
            "options": [
              { "remote_id": "1", "label": "Definitely not" },
              { "remote_id": "2", "label": "No" },
              { "remote_id": "3", "label": "Mixed" },
              { "remote_id": "4", "label": "Yes" },
              { "remote_id": "5", "label": "Strong yes" },
              { "remote_id": "6", "label": "No decision" }
            ],
            "answer": { "remote_id": "4", "label": "Yes" }
          },
          {
            "remote_id": null,
            "label": "Summary",
            "description": "Main notes about the interview",
            "required": true,
            "type": "TEXT",
            "answer": "Excellent system design, strong communication throughout."
          },
          {
            "remote_id": "8123",
            "label": "System design",
            "description": null,
            "required": null,
            "type": "SINGLE_SELECT",
            "options": [
              { "remote_id": "1", "label": "Definitely not" },
              { "remote_id": "2", "label": "No" },
              { "remote_id": "3", "label": "Mixed" },
              { "remote_id": "4", "label": "Yes" },
              { "remote_id": "5", "label": "Strong yes" },
              { "remote_id": "6", "label": "No decision" }
            ],
            "answer": { "remote_id": "5", "label": "Strong yes" }
          }
        ],
        "remote_created_at": "2022-08-07T14:01:29.196Z",
        "remote_updated_at": "2022-08-07T14:01:29.196Z",
        "remote_data": null,
        "changed_at": "2022-08-07T14:01:29.196Z",
        "remote_deleted_at": null
      }
    ]
  }
}

You can fetch scorecards from GET /ats/scorecards.

How are scorecards configured?

Scorecards are most frequently part of the interview setup process.

For a specific step, you will define questions that should be asked, or attributes you are checking for.

Ashby: Scorecard templates define the questions asked after an interview.

Interview scorecard

1. Configure interviews for a job

   Along with the job stages pipeline, configure interview templates for each job.

2. Set up the scorecard template for the interview

   Choose what are the essential questions that the interview should answer, so that each participant in the process has a clear understanding of their expected output.

3. Interviewer conducts interview or reviews it

   After the interview, the interviewer goes through the scorecard, and fills out their assessment of the candidate. A scorecard might also be filled out by someone who is reviewing a recording of the interview, and is not strictly an interviewer.

   In some ATS, a scorecard can be submitted by someone other than the person expressing their opinion. For example, this could be a recruiter following up with the interviewers, and collecting their feedback in an email.

   Where the API distinguishes between the submitter of the feedback, and the opinion-holder we always map the author of the scorecard to the person whose opinion it is.

Standalone scorecard

1. Configure the template

   Define the questions or attributes that hiring team members should fill in.

2. Submit feedback at any time

   A hiring team member can submit the scorecard without linking it to a scheduled interview.

What tools are supported?

You can find a detailed overview of supported ATS platforms in the ATS coverage grid on your dashboard.

If you need support for an additional ATS, please contact us to request coverage.