How Ghost Index and Trust Score actually work.

Only real job applications count toward an employer's Ghost Index or Trust Score. A candidate review left without an application, or a recruiter's cold outreach message, never factors into either number, they're shown separately.

Every tracked application earns points based on how the employer actually handled it. Lower is better, an employer with a Ghost Index of 0 has replied to everyone on time.

• Replied on time: 0 points
• Still waiting, inside the 7-day window: 20 points
• Went past 7 days with zero reply, then eventually responded: 50 points
• Still open, past 7 days, total silence: 100 points

An employer's Ghost Index is the average of these points across every application they've been tracked on.

Trust Score folds two things together: how fast an employer replies, and what candidates who actually went through the process say about it.

• 60% reply speed (the inverse of Ghost Index)
• 40% candidate-reported experience (communication, interview quality, offer transparency, 1-5 each)

If an employer has no candidate ratings yet, Trust Score is just the reply-speed number until real ratings come in.

An employer needs at least 5 tracked applications before we'll show a precise Ghost Index or rank them on the leaderboard. Below that, one or two applications could swing the number wildly, so we label it instead of publishing a misleading percentage.

We don't let employers pay to change their score, remove a real review, or buy a better tier. Ghost Index and Trust Score are computed the same way for every employer on the platform, free or paying. An employer can respond publicly to a specific review, that's the only way a rating changes without a candidate updating it themselves.