Resources · Glossary

EuliAI Recruiting Glossary

Clear explanations of the concepts, methods and terminology used in modern hiring and talent acquisition.

65 terms

Hiring Process

Hiring Criteria

Definition: Hiring criteria are the predefined requirements and characteristics used to evaluate whether a candidate is suitable for a role.
Why it matters: Defining criteria before interviews reduces reliance on intuition and helps interviewers evaluate candidates consistently.
Example: Hiring criteria for a software engineering role might include TypeScript experience, system-design skills, collaboration and technical ownership.

Hiring Kick-off

Also find this under: Intake · Intake Meeting · Kickoff · Kick-off · Hiring Intake · Recruiting Intake

Definition: A Hiring Kick-off, often called an Intake Meeting, is the conversation in which recruiter and Hiring Manager clarify the hiring need before the search starts. Discuss expected outcomes, essential requirements, working conditions, the candidate market and assessment responsibilities. An existing Job Description is input to this discussion, not a substitute for it.
Example: Before opening a Product Manager role, the recruiter and hiring manager clarify the role's objectives, must-have skills, interview stages and target market.

Hiring Manager

Also find this under: HM · Hiring Mgr · Recruiter · Recruiting

Definition: The Hiring Manager owns the role being filled and defines the outcomes the new colleague should achieve. The recruiter organizes the search and selection process and advises on the candidate market. Agree who assesses which requirements and who makes the final decision; a job title alone does not settle those responsibilities.
Example: An Engineering Manager hiring a Backend Engineer works with Talent Acquisition to define the role and participate in candidate assessment.

Hiring Process

Also find this under: Interview Stage · Interviewphase · Hiring-Prozess

Definition: The Hiring Process is the sequence used to assess and select people for a role. Each interview or assessment stage should have a purpose, an owner and criteria for the evidence it collects. In EuliAI, planning this sequence is one part of a Hiring Kit. It is not the kit itself or an application-tracking system.
Example: A hiring process might include application review, recruiter screening, hiring manager interview, practical assessment and final interview.

Hiring Profile

Also find this under: Role Profile · Master Hiring Profile · MHP

Definition: A Hiring Profile turns a hiring need into agreed outcomes, requirements and assessment criteria. It is the internal reference for sourcing and selection; the Job Ad communicates the opportunity to candidates. In EuliAI, the approved profile, also called the Master Hiring Profile, provides the basis for the other Hiring Kit materials.
Example: A hiring profile for a Sales Manager might define expected outcomes, relevant experience, leadership competencies and essential market knowledge.

Must-have vs. Nice-to-have

Also find this under: Must-have · Nice-to-have · Must have · Nice to have · Trainable / Learnable · Trainable · Learnable · Erlernbar

Definition: A Must-have is necessary to perform the role; a Nice-to-have is useful but not essential. Also ask when a skill is needed: a requirement for day one differs from something that can be learned after joining with realistic time and support. Record that distinction before screening so a preference does not quietly become an exclusion rule.
Example: Experience building APIs may be a must-have, while experience in a specific industry could be a nice-to-have.

Interviews & Assessment

Biographical Interview

Also find this under: Biografisches Interview

Definition: A biographical interview is a structured or semi-structured interview that explores a candidate’s professional history, career decisions, responsibilities and development over time.
Why it matters: Biographical interviews help hiring teams understand patterns across a candidate’s career, including changes in responsibility, motivations for career moves and the context in which previous experience was gained.
Example: An interviewer might explore why a candidate joined or left previous organizations, how their responsibilities changed, which career decisions they made and what they learned from significant professional experiences.

Candidate Assessment

Definition: Candidate assessment is the systematic evaluation of a candidate's skills, experience, behaviours or potential against defined role requirements.
Why it matters: Assessment connects hiring decisions to evidence relevant to successful performance in the role.
Example: A candidate may be assessed through structured interviews, work samples and a practical exercise.

Competency-based Interview

Also find this under: Kompetenzbasiertes Interview

Definition: A competency-based interview evaluates candidates against specific skills or behaviours required for successful performance in a role.
Why it matters: It helps interviewers focus on relevant capabilities rather than conducting an unstructured general conversation.
Example: To assess conflict management, an interviewer asks candidates to describe a situation in which they resolved disagreement between stakeholders.

Evidence-based Hiring

Also find this under: Evidence-based Assessment · Evidence Based Assessment

Definition: Evidence-based Hiring connects a hiring decision to relevant information about the agreed role requirements. Evidence-based Assessment is the assessment work within that approach: document what someone did or explained and what it tells you about a criterion. Keep observation, interpretation and uncertainty separate so the team can examine the reasoning behind a recommendation.
Example: Instead of saying a candidate “felt senior,” interviewers document which behaviours and examples demonstrated the required level of seniority.

Interview Guide

Also find this under: Interview Plan · Interviewleitfaden

Definition: An interview guide is a structured plan that helps interviewers conduct a consistent interview. It typically includes questions, competencies, timing and follow-up prompts.
Why it matters: Interview guides help interviewers collect relevant evidence rather than improvising different conversations with every candidate.
Example: A 60-minute interview guide may allocate specific sections to motivation, role expertise, leadership and candidate questions.

Practical Assessment

Also find this under: Work Sample · Work Sample Test · Case Study · Practical Task · Assessment

Definition: A practical assessment asks candidates to demonstrate job-relevant skills through a task, exercise, simulation or work sample.
Why it matters: Practical assessments can provide direct evidence of how a candidate approaches work instead of relying only on how they describe previous experience.
Example: A developer might review a small codebase and discuss potential improvements rather than completing a generic algorithm test.

Definition: A screening interview is an early-stage conversation used to determine whether there is sufficient alignment between a candidate and a role to continue the hiring process.
Why it matters: A focused screening stage can identify fundamental mismatches early while avoiding unnecessary interview rounds.
Example: A recruiter discusses motivation, relevant experience, location expectations and compensation before inviting the candidate to the hiring manager interview.

Screening Questions

Also find this under: Screening-Fragen

Definition: Screening questions are predefined questions used early in the recruitment process to evaluate essential requirements or potential mismatches.
Why it matters: Good screening questions focus recruiter time on relevant information and help candidates understand important role conditions early.
Example: For a role requiring regular customer communication in German, language proficiency may be assessed during screening.

Structured Interview

Also find this under: Strukturiertes Interview

Definition: A structured interview uses predefined questions and evaluation criteria so candidates for the same role are assessed in a consistent way.
Why it matters: Structure improves comparability between candidates and can reduce the influence of irrelevant impressions and inconsistent interviewing.
Example: Every candidate for a leadership role receives the same core questions about stakeholder management and team leadership.

Active Sourcing

Also find this under: Sourcing

Definition: Active sourcing is the proactive identification and direct approach of potential candidates rather than waiting for applications.
Why it matters: It enables organizations to reach relevant people who may not currently be searching for a new role.
Example: A recruiter identifies potential candidates through professional networks and contacts selected individuals with a personalised message.

Applicant Tracking System (ATS)

Also find this under: ATS · Applicant Tracking System

Definition: An Applicant Tracking System is software used to manage recruitment workflows and candidate information throughout the hiring process.
Why it matters: An ATS provides a central system for applications, candidate stages, communication, interview activity and recruiting data.
Example: Recruiters may use an ATS to publish jobs, review applications, move candidates between stages and record hiring decisions.

Candidate Persona

Definition: A candidate persona is a structured representation of the type of candidate a recruiting team expects to target based on role requirements and candidate-market characteristics.
Why it matters: It can help teams choose appropriate sourcing channels and messaging, provided it remains grounded in job-relevant requirements rather than demographic assumptions.
Example: A candidate persona might describe likely professional backgrounds, relevant skills, motivations and preferred sourcing channels.

HRIS

Definition: A Human Resources Information System (HRIS) is software used to manage employee information and HR processes across the employee lifecycle.
Why it matters: While an ATS primarily manages candidates before hiring, an HRIS typically becomes central once someone joins the organization.
Example: After a candidate is hired, employee information may be transferred from the ATS into the organization's HRIS.

Sourcing Strategy

Definition: A sourcing strategy defines how and where an organization will identify and engage potential candidates for a specific hiring need.
Why it matters: Different roles require different candidate markets, channels and approaches. A sourcing strategy turns role requirements into a targeted search plan.
Example: For a specialised engineering role, the strategy might combine direct sourcing, employee referrals and relevant technical communities.

Talent Acquisition

Also find this under: TA · Recruiting

Definition: Talent acquisition is the strategic process of identifying, attracting, assessing and hiring talent to meet an organization's current and future workforce needs.
Why it matters: Talent acquisition goes beyond filling individual vacancies by connecting recruiting activity with longer-term business and workforce needs.
Example: A talent acquisition team may combine recruiting, sourcing, employer branding, talent intelligence and workforce planning.

Talent Acquisition Partner

Also find this under: TAP · TA Partner · Talent Partner

Definition: A Talent Acquisition Partner is a recruiting professional who combines operational recruiting with strategic advice to hiring managers and business stakeholders.
Why it matters: The partnership model positions recruiting as part of workforce and hiring decision-making rather than only vacancy administration.
Example: A Talent Acquisition Partner may challenge unrealistic requirements, advise on market conditions and help design an appropriate assessment process.

Recruiting Essentials

Assessment Relevance

Definition: Assessment relevance describes how closely an interview question or practical task reflects the capabilities and work required in the role.
Why it matters: It helps teams collect useful evidence without asking candidates to complete exercises that have little connection to the job.

Definition: Bias is a systematic influence on judgement that can distort how information is interpreted. In hiring, examine whether a judgement is based on job-relevant evidence or on something else, such as similarity to the interviewer. Naming a possible bias is a reason to check the decision, not proof that every disagreement is biased.

Candidate

Also find this under: Applicant · Bewerber:in · Kandidat:in

Definition: A Candidate is someone being considered for a role, including people approached through sourcing. An Applicant has submitted an application. The distinction matters when discussing a pipeline: someone contacted about a role has not necessarily applied or agreed to participate.

Candidate Drop-off

Also find this under: Candidate Withdrawal

Definition: Candidate drop-off describes candidates leaving the hiring process before it is complete. A drop-off rate needs a defined stage, period and group of candidates; distinguish withdrawals from employer rejections.
Why it matters: It shows where to investigate candidate concerns or process friction, but does not explain the reasons on its own.

Time-to-Hire Is Not a Quality Metric

Candidate Experience

Definition: Candidate experience is how candidates perceive and experience the hiring process and their interactions with an organization.
Why it matters: Candidate feedback can reveal unclear communication, irrelevant assessments or concerns about fairness. Conversations and written feedback can complement survey scores.

Related topics:CandidateHiring ProcessJob Ad

Definition: A Candidate Pipeline shows who is being considered and where each person is in the hiring process. Distinguish people identified through sourcing from those actively participating. A large list of names does not tell you how many people are interested, available or ready for the next stage.

Competency

Also find this under: Kompetenz

Definition: A Competency describes a capability needed for the work, such as diagnosing a technical problem or resolving a stakeholder conflict. Make it observable before assessing it. “Communicates well” is vague; “explains a technical trade-off so a customer can make a decision” gives an interviewer something specific to examine.

How to Build a Hiring Scorecard

Competency Coverage

Definition: Competency coverage describes whether the hiring process assesses the capabilities identified as important for the role, and where evidence for each is collected.
Why it matters: It exposes gaps that extra interviews or faster hiring will not necessarily solve.

Definition: Cost per hire is the recruiting expenditure included in a defined period divided by the number of hires in that period. Teams should specify which internal and external costs are included.
Why it matters: It helps teams understand recruiting effort and spending, but says little about the quality of a hiring decision by itself.

Time-to-Hire Is Not a Quality Metric

Decision Quality

Definition: Decision quality describes how well a hiring recommendation is supported by relevant evidence against agreed role criteria, with uncertainties made explicit.
Why it matters: It helps a team explain why it recommends someone rather than relying on a shared feeling or the speed of the process.

Evidence

Also find this under: Belege

Definition: Evidence is the information behind an assessment, such as a specific example from an interview or an observed approach in a work sample. Record the situation, the person’s own contribution and the result where known. “Seems senior” is an interpretation, not evidence. Missing evidence means you still have a question, not that the person lacks the capability.

Evidence Quality

Definition: Evidence quality describes how relevant, specific and sufficiently detailed the information collected about a candidate is for assessing the requirements of the role.
Why it matters: It helps interviewers distinguish an observable example from a vague impression or an unsupported rating.

Related topics:EvidenceHiring CriteriaScorecard

Definition: Funnel conversion rate is the share of candidates in a defined group who move from one hiring stage to the next. Name the stages, period and candidate group used.
Why it matters: It highlights changes and possible bottlenecks, while further investigation explains why candidates progress or leave.

Time-to-Hire Is Not a Quality Metric

Hiring Need

Definition: A hiring need describes why a company wants to fill a role and what the person should achieve. In EuliAI, it is the starting point for a Hiring Kit.

Hiring Team Alignment

Also find this under: Hiring Team

Definition: Hiring Team Alignment means the people involved in a hiring decision agree on the role, criteria and assessment responsibilities. Include the Hiring Manager, recruiter and relevant interviewers. Resolve conflicting expectations before interviews, for example whether a skill is essential on day one or can be learned after joining.

Related topics:Hiring Kick-offHiring Criteria

Impostor Phenomenon

Also find this under: Impostor Syndrome · Imposter Syndrome · Hochstapler-Syndrom

Definition: The Impostor Phenomenon, more commonly known as Impostor Syndrome, describes doubting your abilities and fearing being exposed as a fraud despite evidence of your competence. It is not a clinical diagnosis. In applications, this may mean downplaying achievements, leaving ownership vague, or choosing titles or wording that understate your actual responsibility. You might dismiss measurable impact as “just part of the job” or hesitate to apply because you do not meet every job requirement. These examples alone do not establish that someone experiences the phenomenon.
Why it matters: A CV helps recruiters understand what you can do. Confidence means stating your contribution clearly and backing it with evidence. Exaggeration means claiming skills, responsibility or results you cannot substantiate. Keep official job titles accurate and explain the scope of your work. Distinguish essential requirements from nice-to-haves when deciding whether to apply. EuliAI’s candidate-side principle is simple: neither invent experience nor make yourself smaller than you are.
Example: Hypothetical CV example. Underselling: “Helped with monthly reporting.” More accurate, if supported by the facts: “Owned the monthly reporting process for a team of 12 and automated data checks, reducing preparation time from two days to one.” Use only your own verified scope and results, and credit shared work appropriately.

APA: How to overcome impostor phenomenon

Interview Consistency

Definition: Interview consistency describes whether candidates for the same role receive comparable questions, evaluation criteria and opportunities to demonstrate their capabilities.
Why it matters: It makes evidence easier to compare. Consistency can be reviewed through interview records or measured against an agreed interview plan.

Job Ad

Also find this under: Job Advert · Job Description · JD · Role Description

Definition: A Job Ad is written for potential candidates: it explains the work, requirements and offer so people can decide whether to apply. A Job Description describes the role and responsibilities, often for internal use. Some organizations use the names interchangeably. In EuliAI, an existing Job Description can inform the Hiring Profile; the Job Ad is the candidate-facing material created from that context.

Related topics:Candidate ExperienceHiring Profile

How to Choose a Good Job Title

Knockout Criterion

Also find this under: Knockout Criteria · Knock-out Criterion

Definition: A Knockout Criterion is a genuinely non-negotiable requirement that stops further consideration if it is not met. Agree why it is essential and how it will be checked before using it. “Not stated in the CV” is different from “does not meet the requirement”; a missing detail may need a question rather than an automatic rejection.

Offer Acceptance Rate

Definition: Offer acceptance rate is the proportion of formal job offers accepted within a defined group and period. State how withdrawn, pending and declined offers are counted.
Why it matters: It helps teams examine the offer stage, provided the offer count and earlier candidate withdrawals remain visible.

Time-to-Hire Is Not a Quality Metric

Quality of Hire

Definition: Quality of hire is a broad metric or set of metrics intended to evaluate outcomes after someone joins, such as performance, retention or hiring-manager satisfaction. There is no single universal definition; the role, timeframe and outcomes must be specified.
Why it matters: It helps teams examine later outcomes while recognising that onboarding, management and working conditions also influence them.

Time-to-Hire Is Not a Quality Metric

Scorecard

Also find this under: Score Card · Evaluation Scorecard · Interview Scorecard

Definition: A Scorecard records the criteria used to assess someone, the evidence for each criterion and the resulting judgement. An Interview Scorecard applies this to one interview. An Interview Guide helps you ask the questions; a Scorecard helps you assess the answers. In EuliAI, the Master Scorecard holds the role-wide criteria and Stage Scorecards assign a subset to each assessment stage. A rating without supporting evidence is still just an opinion.

How to Build a Hiring Scorecard

Screening

Definition: Screening checks the essential requirements and working conditions before investing in more detailed assessment. It may use an application review, written questions or a short conversation. Separate an unconfirmed requirement from a confirmed mismatch, and avoid treating every Nice-to-have as a reason to reject someone.

Source of Hire

Definition: Source of hire identifies the channel credited with bringing a successful hire into the recruiting process, such as a referral, sourcing outreach or a job board.
Why it matters: It informs channel decisions. Attribution rules matter when candidates interact with several channels before joining.

Time-to-Hire Is Not a Quality Metric

Structured Hiring

Definition: Structured Hiring starts with agreed role requirements, assigns suitable ways to assess them and uses consistent criteria when discussing the evidence. A fixed interview timetable alone is not enough. The team also needs to know what it is assessing and how it will judge the answers.

Time-to-Fill

Definition: Time to fill measures the time from a defined vacancy starting point, such as approval to recruit, to a defined filled-position endpoint, such as offer acceptance.
Why it matters: It helps plan vacancies and hiring capacity. Specify the clock: it usually starts earlier than the candidate-focused Time to Hire.

Time-to-Hire Is Not a Quality Metric

Time-to-Hire

Definition: Time to hire is a recruiting metric describing how long it takes to move a candidate through a defined portion of the hiring process. Its start and end points should always be specified.
Why it matters: It helps teams identify delays and improve process efficiency. It does not measure whether the hiring decision was good.

Time-to-Hire Is Not a Quality Metric

EuliAI Product Language

Assessment Mapping

Definition: Assessment Mapping assigns assessment criteria to appropriate hiring stages and identifies gaps, unnecessary duplication or weak assessment methods.

Explicit Information

Also find this under: Explizite Informationen

Definition: Explicit Information is information directly stated by the user or contained clearly in supplied source material.

Gap Analysis

Definition: Gap Analysis is EuliAI's analysis of important missing, unclear or contradictory information in the hiring requirements.

Hiring Kit

Also find this under: Connected Hiring Kit · Abgestimmtes Hiring Kit · Hiring Project Workspace · Hiring Kit Workspace · Hiring-Kit-Arbeitsbereich · Guided Kick-off · Guided Intake · Geführter Kick-off · Start with what you already have · Upload Existing Material · Existing Hiring Information · Mit vorhandenen Informationen starten

Definition: A Hiring Kit is the EuliAI workspace for one role, from the first draft to the materials used in hiring. You can start with existing information or a guided kick-off. The approved Hiring Profile connects the Job Ad, screening questions, scorecards and interview guides. Review and edit these materials in the kit. Hiring-process planning belongs here; managing applications and candidate pipelines belongs in an ATS.

Related topics:Hiring NeedHiring Profile

Inferred / Suggested Information

Also find this under: Inferred Information · Suggested Information · Abgeleitete / vorgeschlagene Informationen

Definition: Inferred or Suggested Information is information EuliAI believes may be implied by the available material but which the user has not confirmed.

Master Scorecard

Definition: The Master Scorecard is the complete set of observable assessment criteria derived from the approved Hiring Profile.

Missing Information

Also find this under: Fehlende Informationen

Definition: Missing Information is important hiring information that cannot be determined from the available input.

Process Health

Definition: Process Health describes whether important requirements are covered appropriately across the hiring process, including potential assessment gaps, duplication or weak evidence.

Requirements Analysis

Also find this under: Anforderungsanalyse

Definition: Requirements Analysis structures the information needed to understand a hiring need, including outcomes, responsibilities, capabilities and constraints.

Stage Scorecard

Definition: A Stage Scorecard is the subset of assessment criteria assigned to a particular interview or assessment stage.

AI & Modern Hiring

AI Bias

Definition: AI bias refers to systematic patterns in an AI system's outputs that can create or reinforce unfair or inappropriate differences between people or groups.
Why it matters: Recruiting decisions affect people's opportunities, making bias identification, human oversight and appropriate AI governance particularly important.
Example: Historical hiring data may contain patterns that should not automatically be treated as indicators of future candidate suitability.

AI in Recruiting

Also find this under: KI im Recruiting

Definition: AI in recruiting refers to the use of artificial intelligence to support activities such as requirements analysis, sourcing, content creation, candidate communication or hiring-process design.
Why it matters: AI can reduce repetitive work and help structure information, but its use requires appropriate human oversight, data protection and attention to potential bias.
Example: An AI system might turn notes from a hiring kick-off into a structured hiring profile for a recruiter to review.

AI-assisted Hiring

Also find this under: KI-gestütztes Recruiting

Definition: AI-assisted hiring describes hiring processes in which artificial intelligence supports human users without replacing human responsibility for hiring decisions.
Why it matters: The distinction makes clear that AI can help structure, analyse or generate information while accountable people remain responsible for consequential decisions.
Example: AI proposes interview criteria based on role requirements, and the recruiter and hiring manager review and approve them before use.

Explainable AI

Definition: Explainable AI refers to approaches that make it easier for people to understand how or why an AI system produced a particular output or recommendation.
Why it matters: In hiring-related contexts, users should be able to review AI-supported outputs and understand the information behind them rather than relying blindly on automated suggestions.
Example: Instead of only suggesting that stakeholder management should be assessed, an AI hiring tool shows which role requirements led to that suggestion.

Human-in-the-loop

Definition: Human-in-the-loop describes a system in which human review, judgement or approval remains part of an AI-supported process.
Why it matters: In hiring, human oversight is particularly important when AI-generated information could influence decisions about candidates or recruitment processes.
Example: EuliAI may suggest a hiring profile, while the recruiter reviews and edits it before it becomes the basis for candidate assessment.

Interview Bias

Definition: Interview bias occurs when factors unrelated or insufficiently related to job performance influence how an interviewer evaluates a candidate.
Why it matters: Unstructured interviews can leave more room for first impressions, similarity preferences and other irrelevant influences to affect decisions.
Example: An interviewer rates a candidate more positively because they share similar interests, despite those interests having no relevance to the role.

Put it into practice

Turn your hiring need into a Hiring Kit.

Create a Hiring Kit

EuliAI Recruiting Glossary

Hiring Process

Hiring Criteria

Hiring Kick-off

Hiring Manager

Hiring Process

Hiring Profile

Must-have vs. Nice-to-have

Interviews & Assessment

Biographical Interview

Candidate Assessment

Competency-based Interview

Evidence-based Hiring

Interview Guide

Practical Assessment

Screening Interview

Screening Questions

Structured Interview

Talent Acquisition

Active Sourcing

Applicant Tracking System (ATS)

Candidate Persona

HRIS

Sourcing Strategy

Talent Acquisition

Talent Acquisition Partner

Recruiting Essentials

Assessment Relevance

Bias

Candidate

Candidate Drop-off

Candidate Experience

Candidate Pipeline

Competency

Competency Coverage

Cost per Hire

Decision Quality

Evidence

Evidence Quality

Funnel Conversion Rate

Hiring Need

Hiring Team Alignment

Impostor Phenomenon

Interview Consistency

Job Ad

Knockout Criterion

Offer Acceptance Rate

Quality of Hire

Scorecard

Screening

Source of Hire

Structured Hiring

Time-to-Fill

Time-to-Hire

EuliAI Product Language

Assessment Mapping

Explicit Information

Gap Analysis

Hiring Kit

Inferred / Suggested Information

Master Scorecard

Missing Information

Process Health

Requirements Analysis

Stage Scorecard

AI & Modern Hiring

AI Bias

AI in Recruiting

AI-assisted Hiring

Explainable AI

Human-in-the-loop

Interview Bias

Turn your hiring need into a Hiring Kit.