Question 1

Is Quaerent free?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Everything on Quaerent is free. Forever. No paywall, no review wall. You don’t need to submit a report to access the data. If you choose to contribute, it’s because you want to — not because you have to.

Question 2

Is my report anonymous? Can my employer find out?

Accepted Answer

Your report is fully anonymous — we only collect your email for login, nothing else. Companies can see aggregated scores based on all reports, but they never see individual reports or any information that could identify a candidate.

Question 3

How do you prevent false or abusive reports?

Accepted Answer

Every report goes through automated quality checks. Flagged reports are reviewed manually. Patterns that suggest abuse are detected and removed. The transparency score requires a minimum number of reports before it’s displayed — a single report cannot define a company’s reputation.

Question 4

What do the numbers on a company page mean?

Accepted Answer

Each company page shows three key metrics: the ghost rate (how often candidates are left without a response after being contacted), the average response time, and the transparency score (an overall measure of how a company treats candidates during hiring). All metrics are built from real, anonymous candidate reports.

Question 5

How accurate is Quaerent?

Accepted Answer

Quaerent scales with data. Company scores require a minimum of 5 reports before they’re displayed — we never show metrics based on a single experience. As more candidates contribute, patterns become clearer, visibility gets stronger, and guidance becomes more precise. Every report increases the value of the system for everyone.

Question 6

Is Quaerent an AI product?

Accepted Answer

No. Quaerent is a data platform. Every metric comes from real candidate reports — not predictions, not estimates, not generated content. We use AI in two places: the company page summary, which translates the numbers into plain language, and Clarity, which gives you a personalized diagnostic based on your situation. Both are optional — your tracker, your stats, and all company data work perfectly without them. The scores, the ghost rates, the response times — that’s math on real numbers, not AI.

Question 7

What is employer ghosting?

Accepted Answer

Employer ghosting is when a company stops responding to a candidate after establishing human contact: after a phone screen, an interview, or any direct communication. No rejection, no update, just silence. It’s different from simply not hearing back after submitting an application, which Quaerent classifies as silence. Both are tracked separately: the ghost rate measures silence after contact, and the silence rate measures non-response after application. Quaerent tracks these patterns across companies using real candidate data, so you can see how often it happens before you apply.

Question 8

How long should I wait to hear back after a job application?

Accepted Answer

It depends on the company. On Quaerent, the average response time across all tracked companies is visible on the homepage. Each company page when enough data is available display their own average response time. Some respond in days, some take weeks, some never respond at all. As a general benchmark, most companies that do respond take between 7 and 21 days after application.

Question 9

Is there a way to check a company’s hiring reputation before applying?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Quaerent shows you how companies actually treat candidates during their hiring process. Each company page displays a ghost rate (how often they go silent after contact), average response time, a transparency score, and process signals like whether they use take-home assignments or AI in their hiring. All numbers come from anonymous candidate reports.

Question 10

What is Quaerent?

Accepted Answer

Quaerent is a free platform where job seekers track their applications and see how companies treat candidates during hiring. You track your applications for yourself, and the data you generate builds a collective picture that helps every other candidate. Each company gets a page with real metrics. Reports are aggregated and anonymous. No reviews, no opinions, just what happened and how long it took.

Question 11

How is Quaerent different from Glassdoor?

Accepted Answer

Glassdoor collects subjective reviews, written opinions, interview experiences. Quaerent measures objective hiring behavior: did the company respond? How long did it take? Did they ghost after an interview? There are no star ratings, no written reviews, and no “give to get” wall. Quaerent is free with no restrictions. The data is structured, quantified, and updated in real time as candidates track their applications.

Question 12

What is a transparency score?

Accepted Answer

The transparency score is a metric unique to Quaerent that measures how a company treats candidates throughout the entire hiring process. It’s scored from 0 to 100, calculated over a rolling 90-day window, and factors in multiple dimensions: ghost rate, silence rate, response time, interview outcomes, and offer patterns. It’s designed to capture the full picture, not just one aspect. For example, a company that responds quickly and never ghosts but never makes offers would still have a lower score: because speed without outcomes isn’t real transparency. Extreme behaviors are penalized, and the score updates automatically as new candidate reports come in.

Question 13

What should I do if a company ghosts me after an interview?

Accepted Answer

First, know that it’s not uncommon, and it says more about the company’s process than about you. On Quaerent, you can check the company’s ghost rate to see if this is a pattern. You can also use Clarity, a free diagnostic tool that analyzes your situation and suggests concrete next steps: whether to follow up, how long to wait, or when to move on. Every application you track contributes to the data that helps the next candidate make a better decision.

Question 14

Can I track my job applications on Quaerent?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Quaerent includes a free job application tracker with timeline events, status tracking, and real-time signals that tell you if your wait time is normal or unusual for that company. Unlike spreadsheet trackers, Quaerent compares your situation to real data from other candidates. Your tracker also generates personal insights, like which application sources perform best for you, or how your response rates vary by job type. The tracker is the core of the product: everything else (company pages, ghost rates, transparency scores) is built from the collective data of people tracking their own searches.

Question 15

How does Quaerent make money?

Accepted Answer

Quaerent is free for candidates. Revenue comes from Hiring Silence — a separate product for companies that want to understand and improve their hiring transparency. Candidates are the source of the data, not the product.

Question 16

Can companies improve their score?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The score reflects real candidate experiences over the last 90 days. If a company improves its hiring communication, the score improves naturally as new reports come in. Companies can also claim their profile through Hiring Silence to track and respond to patterns. They cannot edit, flag, or remove candidate reports.

Question 17

What data do you collect?

Accepted Answer

The minimum needed to be useful. For reports: company name, job title, outcome, timing, and a few optional fields. No personal information is required or stored. We don’t track browsing behavior and we don’t sell personal data.

Frequently asked questions

About Quaerent

Understanding hiring data

More questions

Frequently asked questions

About Quaerent

Is Quaerent free?+

Is my report anonymous? Can my employer find out?+

How do you prevent false or abusive reports?+

What do the numbers on a company page mean?+

How accurate is Quaerent?+

Is Quaerent an AI product?+

Understanding hiring data

What is employer ghosting?+

How long should I wait to hear back after a job application?+

Is there a way to check a company’s hiring reputation before applying?+

What is Quaerent?+

How is Quaerent different from Glassdoor?+

What is a transparency score?+

What should I do if a company ghosts me after an interview?+

Can I track my job applications on Quaerent?+

More questions

How does Quaerent make money?+

Can companies improve their score?+

What data do you collect?+