ATS (Applicant Tracking System)
An ATS is a candidate management software that centralizes, sorts and advances candidates through a recruitment process, from application to hire.
See definitionGLOSSARY
Recruitment & Staffing Glossary
Reference definitions for recruitment, staffing firms, recruitment agencies and AI applied to recruiting. 2026 updates.
Boolean Search
Boolean search uses AND, OR, NOT operators and quotation marks to filter candidates in an ATS or on LinkedIn. In 2026, it's largely replaced by AI semantic search.
See definitionBusiness Manager (BM)
A Business Manager (BM) is a staffing firm salesperson responsible for a client and consultant portfolio. They sell services, manage missions and bench time.
See definitionRecruitment CRM
A recruitment CRM centralizes the relationship with candidates (talent pool, history, scoring) and clients (missions, pipeline, renewal), unlike an ATS which focuses on application tracking.
See definitionCompetency File
The competency file (dossier de compétences / DC) is the commercial document of a staffing firm presenting a consultant to a potential client: enriched CV, key achievements, certifications, tech stack.
See definitionStaffing Firm / ESN (Entreprise de Services Numériques)
An ESN (IT staffing firm) is a French company specialized in IT services: it places consultants (employees or freelancers) at client sites for 3-month to 2-year missions.
See definitionExecutive Search
Executive search is headhunting for executive leaders (C-level, VPs, directors) performed by specialized firms. Long cycle (3-6 months), high fees (25-35% of annual package).
See definitionFreelance Management
Freelance management encompasses sourcing, contracting, onboarding and tracking practices for freelance consultants on short or long missions.
See definitionBench (Intercontrat)
The bench (intercontrat) is the period during which a staffing firm consultant is not placed on a client mission. They're paid but generate no revenue.
See definitionAI Matching (candidate-mission)
AI matching uses machine learning models to evaluate a candidate's relevance to a mission by crossing skills, experience, availability and cultural fit. It replaces Boolean search.
See definitionConsultant NPS
Consultant NPS (Net Promoter Score) measures satisfaction and likelihood a consultant recommends their staffing firm. NPS >40 indicates a healthy firm, <20 signals high turnover risk.
See definitionOffshore IT
Offshore IT refers to delocalization of IT services to lower-cost countries (India, Morocco, Portugal, Tunisia). Day rates 40-60% cheaper but limited fit on senior profiles.
See definitionCV Parsing
CV parsing automatically extracts information from a CV (contact, experiences, skills, education) to structure it in an ATS. Modern AI reaches >95% accuracy.
See definitionGDPR in Recruiting
GDPR applied to recruiting imposes strict rules on collection, processing, retention and deletion of candidate data. Max retention: 2 years after last contact.
See definitionRPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing)
RPO is the complete or partial outsourcing of a company's recruitment process to a specialized provider. Used mainly by large companies to scale recruiting.
See definitionSemantic Sourcing
Semantic sourcing uses AI to understand natural language queries (e.g., "DevOps AWS 5 years Paris available March") and retrieve relevant candidates without Boolean search.
See definitionTime-to-fill
Time-to-fill measures days between a position opening and a candidate's placement. Median 2026: 45 days for an IT consultant. Top 10% staffing firms: 18 days.
See definitionDay Rate (TJM)
TJM (Taux Journalier Moyen) is the price billed by a staffing firm or freelancer per day of service. In 2026, median IT consultant day rate in France: €580/day.
See definitionConsultant Turnover
Consultant turnover measures the annual % of consultants leaving a staffing firm (voluntary + involuntary departures). France 2026 median: 18%. 15-50 consultant firms: 23%.
See definitionTalent Pool
The talent pool is the qualified talent database a staffing firm or agency has already identified and maintains relationship with. 80% of placements at top firms come from it.
See definition