Knowledge base · Glossary

Recruitment terms, explained.

Recruitment is full of jargon. What is an ATS? Why is one person a ‘recruiter’ and another ‘talent acquisition’? Say you're a small company hiring for the first time — you just want to know what the words mean. Below, 57 terms in plain language. Search or filter by category.

Which model fits?

Permanent recruitment, secondment, or hiring a self-employed contractor — the difference drives your cost and your risk.

What will it cost?

Think of a placement fee, a margin or no cure, no pay. And know what a role is worth on the market.

What to look for?

Experience in your field, a demonstrable network, and a way of working that fits how you work.

The people — who does what 11

Recruiter

Someone who sources candidates and guides the selection process, from vacancy to hire.

Corporate / in-house recruiter

A recruiter on the company's own payroll; recruits solely for their own organisation.

Agency recruiter

A recruiter at an external recruitment agency, working for several clients at once.

Freelance / interim recruiter

An independent recruiter who works within an organisation temporarily — like Doesburg.biz. When hiring in the Netherlands, mind Dutch DBA law.

Headhunter

A recruiter who directly approaches experienced, often not-actively-looking candidates for specific (senior) roles.

Sourcer

A specialist who finds candidates and makes first contact, but leaves the rest of the process to the recruiter.

Talent Acquisition (TA)

A more modern, broader term for recruitment: not just filling vacancies, but attracting talent structurally and building a pipeline. Hence you see both ‘recruiter’ and ‘talent acquisition specialist’.

Recruitment consultant

Often the agency title for a recruiter who advises as well as recruits; ‘consultant’ stresses the advisory role towards the client.

Hiring manager

The manager the vacancy is for; ultimately decides on the hire.

Recruitment marketeer

Focuses on attracting candidates through marketing: campaigns, content and employer branding.

RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing)

An external party takes over (part of) your entire hiring process.

Types of service 10

Recruitment & selection

An agency sources and selects candidates; you hire the candidate onto your own payroll, for a placement fee. In the Netherlands this model is known as ‘werving & selectie’.

Executive search

A specialised, discreet search for board-level and top positions, usually on a retained basis.

Contingency search

No cure, no pay: the agency is only paid on a successful placement.

Retained search

You pay the agency (partly) up front for an exclusive, in-depth search — common for demanding or scarce roles.

Detachering (Dutch secondment)

A professional is employed by an agency and works at your company temporarily; the agency invoices for the deployment.

Detavast (Dutch secondment-to-permanent)

Secondment with the agreement that the professional joins your permanent staff after a period.

Uitzenden (Dutch temp agency work)

Flexible staffing via a temp agency, usually for short-term or less specialised work.

Payrolling

You recruit and manage the person yourself, but legal employership sits with a payroll company.

Self-employed / freelance

A self-employed person without staff who works on an assignment basis. When hiring in the Netherlands, Dutch DBA law comes into play.

MSP (Managed Service Provider)

A party that coordinates all flexible hiring for a larger organisation.

Systems & tools 7

ATS (Applicant Tracking System)

Software to manage vacancies, applications and candidates — the beating heart of recruitment. Hardly any outsider knows the term. Which ATS fits you?

CRM (Candidate Relationship Management)

A system to maintain relationships with (future) candidates, even when they aren't applying right now.

HRIS

Human Resources Information System: the personnel administration, sometimes linked to the ATS.

Multiposting

Posting one vacancy to several job boards at once, in a single action.

Job board

A vacancy platform such as Indeed or LinkedIn Jobs.

Boolean search

Targeted searching with operators (AND, OR, NOT) to find exactly the right profiles.

Career site

An organisation's ‘work with us’ page, often linked to the ATS.

The process 9

Intake

The kick-off conversation with the hiring manager to sharpen the profile and expectations.

Sourcing

Actively finding and approaching candidates, rather than waiting for applications.

Screening

The first assessment of CVs and candidates for suitability.

Longlist / shortlist

A broad first selection (long) narrowed down to the strongest candidates (short).

Assessment

A test or exercise to measure skills, knowledge or behaviour.

Reference check

Checking with previous employers or clients about a candidate.

Onboarding

Getting a new employee up to speed and settled in during the first period.

Candidate experience

How a candidate experiences the whole application process — decisive for your reputation.

Talent pool / pipeline

A collection of potential candidates you keep warm for future roles.

Measuring & KPIs 7

Time-to-hire

The lead time from a candidate coming into view to the hire.

Time-to-fill

The time from opening the vacancy to it actually being filled.

Cost-per-hire

The average cost per hire, including advertising, agencies and time.

Quality of hire

How well a hire performs and how long they stay — the hardest, but most important measure.

Funnel / pipeline

The funnel from applicants to hire, broken down by stage.

Conversion rate

The percentage of candidates that move from one stage to the next.

Offer acceptance rate

The share of your offers that candidates accept.

Employer branding & marketing 6

Employer brand

Your reputation as an employer — why people want to (keep) working for you.

EVP (Employer Value Proposition)

The core promise to employees: what your organisation offers that another doesn't.

Inbound recruitment

Letting candidates come to you through content, brand and findability.

Outbound recruitment

Actively approaching candidates yourself, through sourcing and headhunting.

Referral

The recommendation of a candidate by one of your own employees.

Candidate journey

The path a candidate travels, from first contact to hire.

Contract, money & legal 7

Placement fee

The fee for a successful placement, often a percentage of the gross annual salary.

No cure, no pay

You only pay the agency on a successful placement, not for the effort.

Exclusivity

The agreement that (temporarily) one agency works on a vacancy.

Margin

The difference between what the client pays and what the professional receives, in secondment or hiring.

Dutch DBA law / false self-employment

The rules around hiring self-employed contractors in the Netherlands and the risk that the tax authority treats the relationship as employment. Explained in detail.

Salary benchmark

A grounded estimate of what a role is worth on the market. How to set one.

CAO (Dutch collective labour agreement)

Collective labour agreement: sector-wide arrangements on pay and terms of employment, common in the Netherlands.

No term found. Try another search term or .