Lesson 4 of 4

Recruiting words, in plain English

CTC, notice period, sourcing, JD, Boolean search… a cheat sheet of the terms you'll see in Olibr.

3 minbeginner

Hiring has its own jargon. Here are the words you'll meet in Olibr and in conversations with candidates. Bookmark this page.

Most of these words are the stages you move candidates through in Olibr.
Most of these words are the stages you move candidates through in Olibr.
ATS
Applicant tracking system — software that stores your jobs and candidates and tracks where each candidate is in your process.
JD
Job description. The text that explains a role: what the person will do and what you need from them.
Candidate
Anyone you're considering for a role, whether they applied or you found them.
Applicant
A candidate who is attached to a specific job, either because they applied or because you added them.
Pipeline
The stages a candidate moves through for one job: applied, interviewed, hired and so on.
Sourcing
Actively looking for candidates instead of waiting for applications.
CTC
Cost to company — the full yearly salary package, usually written in lakhs per annum (LPA) in India.
LPA
Lakhs per annum. 6 LPA means ₹6,00,000 a year.
Notice period
How long a candidate must keep working at their current job after resigning. 0 days means they can join immediately.
Shortlist
The small group of candidates you want to interview.
Screening
The first check — reading CVs or a quick call — to decide who goes forward.
Dealbreaker question
A yes/no or number question on your job that automatically filters out people who don't qualify (for example, “Can you work from Pune?”).
Boolean search
A way to search using AND, OR and NOT, for example (sales OR telesales) AND Hindi NOT intern.
Talent pool
A collection of candidates you can search. Olibr's Search Talent is a shared talent pool.
Contribution
On Olibr, sharing candidate profiles from your database with the talent pool. It's how Olibr stays free.