This article explains how to create an offer of employment with a contract document. We’ll also cover how to send the offer to the candidate and confirm the offer in Personio.  

Before you start

• The first part of this process involves creating a contract document and uploading it to Personio. To do this, you need edit permissions for Documents.
• To create an offer and send it to a candidate, you need edit permissions for the Recruiting app. Other employees can also use the feature if they have a recruiting role with permissions for Offers. For example, the hiring manager for the relevant job.
• Before creating your template, check which placeholders auto-populate in offer templates.

Create a document template

To send a contract to a candidate, you first need to create a suitable document template with placeholders. Personio auto-populates some placeholders in the eventual contract document. We explain this in the section below.

When you create your template, keep in mind:

• The candidate can see the template name in the offer you send them, so name it appropriately. 
• If you want all parties to electronically sign the contract document, include signature placeholders in your document template. 
• You need to upload the finished template via Settings > Documents > Templates.

Placeholders that auto-populate

If you include any of the following placeholders in your template, Personio automatically populates them in the contract document:

• {{document_date}}
• {{first_name}}
• {{last_name}}
• {{gender}}
• {{position}}
• {{phone}}
• {{location}}

You might also include placeholders in your template that match existing employee profile attributes. For example, placeholders that match preset attributes like Email or custom attributes you create like “Occupation type”. 

When you move a candidate to the Hired stage, Personio automatically transfers the placeholder values to the new employee profile. If you use placeholders that don’t match an existing attribute, then Personio doesn’t transfer them.

Create an offer with a contract

Follow these steps to create an employment offer that includes a contract document:

1. Go to Recruiting > Applications. 
2. Click the relevant candidate to open their profile.
3. Go to the Offer tab and click New offer.
4. Select the option to create an offer with a contract document.
5. Select a document template.
6. Fill in the details. The fields are defined by the placeholders that you use in your document template.
7. Preview the contract template to make sure the details are correct.
8. Optional: Add another document if needed.
9. Save and continue.

You can now see an overview of the offer with the creation date and the status Created. You can also download the contract document as a PDF file. 
 

Send the offer to the candidate

Note:
When you send an offer to a candidate, it doesn’t automatically affect their current recruiting stage. You need to manually move their application to the Offer stage.

Before you send the offer to the candidate, make sure their candidate profile contains a valid email address. 

You have the following options:

• Send the contract document with an e-signature: With this option, all parties need to electronically sign the contract document. Select the relevant parties from the dropdown menus and send the offer. You can attach further documents to your offer, depending on how many signatures are included in your plan. The offer status appears as Pending. 
• Send the contract document as an email attachment: With this option, you send the contract document as a conventional email attachment. You can choose an email template to save time or write the message from scratch. Personio automatically attaches the contract document. The offer status appears as Pending.
• Don't send the contract document: With this option, you can create the offer in Personio and share the contract document in person. The candidate doesn't receive an email. Click Skip sending to move the offer to the stage Pending.

You can access the contract document from the candidate profile at any time. In the Offer tab, click Show offer details and download the respective PDF file. You can also view the contract in the Profile tab under Documents.

Accept the offer and create an employee profile

Once a candidate accepts the offer, you can complete the hiring process in Personio. Follow these steps:

1. Click the relevant candidate to open their profile.
2. Go to the Offer tab and click Offer accepted.
3. In the window that appears, fill in these mandatory attributes: Hire date, First name, Last name, Email, Employment type, and Weekly hours. Personio uses this information to create the new employee profile.
   • If the job has multiple openings, select whether you want to fill an opening. If you’ve completed all hiring for the job, you can archive it. Learn more about the consequences of these actions. 
4. Hire the candidate.

Personio automatically moves the candidate to the Hired stage. It also creates a new employee profile with the status Onboarding. Personio populates the profile with the attributes you just added, explained above. It also contains any placeholders that match an employee profile attribute (including custom attributes).

Personio doesn’t transfer any salary data from the job to the new employee profile. You need to enter this information manually after you confirm the hire. You can also fill in other missing attributes manually.

Other options

Create an offer without a contract 

To create an offer without a contract, visit our dedicated article. This is relevant if you want to create the offer in Personio but share the contract document with the candidate in person.

Hire a candidate without an offer

If you come to an agreement with a candidate and want to skip making an offer via Personio, you need to:

1. Move the candidate to the Hired stage.
2. Create an employee profile.

Once you move a candidate to the Hired stage, you can't create an offer afterward. Likewise, you can no longer accept pending offers. This can have an impact on the accuracy of your reports.