Active & Passive Candidates
Active candidates are job hunting now; passive candidates aren't looking but could be persuaded.
Glossary · 75 terms
Recruitment Glossary
Plain-English definitions of the recruitment, staffing and AI-hiring terms your team uses every day. Search any term or browse A–Z.
A
AI Recruiter / Agentic Recruiting
An AI system that runs recruiting tasks on its own, from sourcing to first-round outreach.
AI Recruiting Software
Recruiting software that uses AI to source, screen, and engage candidates automatically.
AI Resume & CV Screening
AI that reads resumes and CVs and ranks candidates against a job's requirements.
AI Skill Assessment
AI-scored tests that measure a candidate's actual skills before you interview them.
AI Video Interview
Candidates record interview answers on video, on their own schedule, for later review.
AI Voice Screening
AI that calls candidates, asks screening questions out loud, and scores their answers.
AI-Based Candidate & Job Matching
AI that matches candidates to open roles, and roles to candidates, based on skills and fit.
Applicant Tracking System (ATS)
Software that manages every candidate through your hiring pipeline, from application to offer.
B
Bench Sales Recruiter
A recruiter who places consultants already on a staffing firm's bench onto new client projects.
Boolean Search
A search technique using AND, OR, and NOT to narrow candidate search results.
BPO Recruitment
Hiring at the volume and speed BPO/KPO call centers and back-office operations need.
C
C2C / C2H
Corp-to-corp and contract-to-hire, two common engagement models in IT staffing.
Candidate Engagement Platform
Tools that keep candidates informed and responsive throughout the hiring process.
Candidate Experience & Candidate Journey
Everything a candidate goes through, and how it feels, from application to offer.
Candidate Pipeline
The set of candidates currently moving through your hiring process for a role.
Candidate Rediscovery & Reactivation
Finding good-fit candidates already in your database and re-engaging them for a new role.
Candidate Sourcing
Finding and reaching out to potential candidates, before screening starts.
Client Brief
The requirements a hiring company gives a staffing agency for a role it needs filled.
Cloud vs. On-Premise Recruiting Software
Cloud recruiting software runs on the vendor's servers; on-premise runs on your own.
Compensation Package
Everything offered for a role: salary, bonuses, and other pay-related benefits.
Contingency & Perm/Contingent Recruitment
A recruitment fee model where the agency is only paid once a candidate is placed.
Conversion Rate
The share of candidates who move from one hiring stage to the next, like interview to offer.
Cost per Hire
The total cost of filling one open role, including agency fees and job ads.
D
Data Privacy & GDPR
Rules for how candidate and client data must be stored, used, and protected.
E
Employer Branding & Recruitment Marketing
Promoting your company, or your agency's clients, as a place people want to work.
F
Fuzzy Search
A search that finds close matches even with typos or slightly different spellings.
H
High-Volume Recruiting / Hiring
Filling a large number of roles quickly, common in BPO, retail, and seasonal hiring.
Hiring Manager
The person who owns a role and makes the final call on who gets hired.
I
In-House / Internal Recruitment
Recruiting done by a company's own team, not an outside staffing agency.
Inbound vs. Outbound Recruitment
Inbound is candidates coming to you; outbound is recruiters reaching out first.
Interview Scheduling Software
Software that lets candidates and interviewers book interview slots without back-and-forth emails.
J
Job Aggregators
Sites that collect job postings from many sources into one search, like a search engine for jobs.
Job Description
The outline of a role's duties, requirements, and expectations, used to attract candidates.
K
Keyword Proximity Search
A search that finds candidates whose resume keywords appear close together, not just present.
Knockout Screening
Quickly ruling out candidates who don't meet a role's must-have requirements.
N
NDA & Non-Compete Agreement
Legal agreements protecting confidential information and limiting where someone can work next.
O
Offer Acceptance Rate
The share of job offers candidates actually accept.
Onboarding
Bringing a new hire up to speed after they accept an offer and join.
P
Panel / Group Interview
An interview format where multiple interviewers meet with a candidate at once.
Placement
A successful hire made by a staffing agency on a client's behalf.
Proactive vs. Reactive Recruitment
Proactive recruiting sources candidates before a role opens; reactive starts once it does.
Psychometric Testing
Standardized tests that measure a candidate's cognitive ability or personality traits.
Q
Quality Hires
Candidates who succeed and stay in the role after being hired, not just fill a seat.
R
Radius Search
Finding candidates within a set distance of a job's location.
Recruiter
The person responsible for finding, screening, and placing candidates into roles.
Recruiting KPIs & Performance Metrics
The numbers used to track how well recruiting is working, like time-to-fill or offer-acceptance rate.
Recruitment
The end-to-end process of finding, attracting, and hiring candidates for open roles.
Recruitment Agency Software
Software purpose-built for staffing and recruitment agencies, not internal HR teams.
Recruitment Analytics
Reporting and dashboards that show how your hiring process is actually performing.
Recruitment Automation
Automating repetitive recruiting steps like scheduling, follow-ups, and status updates.
Recruitment Chatbot
An AI assistant that answers candidate questions and screens applicants over chat or WhatsApp.
Recruitment Costs
The total money spent to fill open roles across a period.
Recruitment CRM
Software for managing relationships with both candidates and the clients an agency places them with.
Recruitment Funnel
The stages a candidate moves through, from application to hire, and where most drop off.
Recruitment Software
Any software built to help find, screen, or hire candidates.
Recruitment Strategies & Goals
The plan and targets a team sets to hit its hiring numbers.
Remote Recruitment
Hiring for roles that work from anywhere, or running the hiring process itself remotely.
Resume Parser
Software that pulls structured data, like name and skills, out of a raw resume.
S
Seasonal Hiring
Hiring temporary workers for a short, predictable period, like holidays or harvest season.
Self-Service Portal (Client & Candidate)
A portal where clients or candidates can check status themselves, without calling a recruiter.
Semantic Search
A search that understands meaning and context, not just exact keyword matches.
Shortlist & Longlist
A longlist is broad early candidates; a shortlist is the few sent to the client for interviews.
Smart Search
Search that predicts and refines what a recruiter is looking for as they type.
Social Media Recruitment
Sourcing and engaging candidates through platforms like LinkedIn.
Staffing Agencies
Companies that recruit and place candidates into roles at other companies, for a fee.
T
Talent Community & Talent Pool
A curated group of past or passive candidates a company can draw from for future roles.
Talent Mapping
Identifying the best available talent in a market before a role even opens.
Talent Pipeline
Pre-qualified candidates being nurtured for roles that may open in the future.
Technical Hiring
Recruiting for IT and technical roles, which usually needs skill-specific screening.
Text Recruiting
Using SMS or WhatsApp to reach and engage candidates instead of email or calls.
Time to Hire
The number of days between a candidate entering the pipeline and accepting an offer.
V
Visual Pipeline
A visual, drag-and-drop view of where every candidate sits in the hiring process.
VMS (Vendor Management System)
The client portal bench-sales recruiters submit candidates through for IT contract roles.
Z
Zena AI
Hirin's AI voice screening agent, which calls and scores candidates in English or Hindi.
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