Kicking Off Greenhouse: ATS Basics for a Growing Team

When a company starts hiring in earnest, the applicant tracking system quietly becomes core infrastructure. Greenhouse is a strong choice, but a tool only works as well as the process you put into it. Here is the basic kickoff I run when standing one up.

Define the hiring process before you configure anything

Greenhouse is a mirror of your process. If the process is fuzzy, the configuration will be too. Map the stages a candidate moves through: application review, recruiter screen, hiring-manager screen, onsite or panel, and offer. Keep it as few stages as the role honestly needs.

Build structured interview kits and scorecards

The single biggest win Greenhouse offers is structured hiring. For each stage, define what is being assessed and give interviewers a scorecard tied to those attributes. This reduces bias, makes debriefs faster, and produces a defensible record of why a decision was made.

Set roles, permissions, and approvals

Decide who can see candidate data, who can move candidates forward, and who approves a job opening and an offer. Job and offer approval chains keep hiring aligned with headcount and budget without slowing recruiters down.

Wire the integrations early

Greenhouse gets far more useful when it is connected:

• Calendar and email for scheduling and candidate communication.
• SSO and SCIM so interviewer accounts are provisioned and de-provisioned with the rest of identity.
• HRIS handoff so a hired candidate flows cleanly into onboarding instead of being re-keyed.
• Job boards and your careers site so postings publish without copy-paste.

Start simple, then iterate

Resist the urge to model every edge case on day one. Launch with a clean, simple configuration, run a few real searches through it, and refine. A structured, well-integrated ATS turns hiring from a scramble into a repeatable system, which is exactly what a growing team needs.