A recruitment agency presents a project controller to a client for a twelve-month interim assignment. The interviews go well and the client wants to proceed. Then the candidate says he is only looking for a permanent role and had assumed the assignment would turn into one. A week later another candidate from the same shortlist turns out to want four days a week, while the client needs five. Both points were mentioned in the first phone call, but they ended up in a free-text note that nobody read again. Contract type and working hours decide whether a match can work at all, yet they are often discovered at the offer stage. This article explains why every candidate in your Applicant Tracking System needs a recorded preferred contract type and working hours: what goes wrong without them, which details to record, how to describe what each vacancy offers, when to confirm the preference in the pipeline, how it differs per segment and how to check with your own data whether it works.
The question plays a role in every segment. Recruitment agencies fill permanent roles, fixed-term contracts and interim assignments for the same clients. Staffing desks work with temporary workers who want a fixed number of shifts or hours each week. Secondment firms need to know whether a specialist wants employment with the firm or prefers to work as an independent contractor. Executive search firms meet senior candidates who consider only permanent roles, or only interim mandates. In-house recruitment teams hire for full-time and part-time roles and need to know which applicants accept which. In every case the question is the same: can you see in one place what kind of contract and how many hours each candidate wants, and how firm that preference is?
What goes wrong without a recorded preference
- A candidate is submitted for an interim or fixed-term role while only open to permanent employment
- The hours per week a candidate wants differ from what the role offers, and this surfaces only at the offer
- The preference sits in a note or an email, so a colleague who takes over the vacancy never sees it
- Searches for candidates open to a certain contract type are impossible, so suitable people stay unnoticed
- A preference stated a year ago is treated as current, while the candidate’s situation has changed
The result is late withdrawals, wasted client interviews, frustrated hiring managers and candidates who feel nobody listened to them.
What to record for each candidate
Keep the record short and the same for every candidate:
- Contract types — chosen from a fixed list, for example permanent, fixed-term, temporary through the agency, secondment and independent contractor, with one marked as preferred and others marked as acceptable or not acceptable
- Hours per week — a minimum and maximum rather than one number, plus whether full-time is a must
- Working pattern — fixed days, shifts, evenings or weekends the candidate does or does not accept
- Firmness — whether the preference is a hard condition or open to discussion for the right role
- Date and source — when the preference was given and by whom it was recorded, so you know how current it is
Record the salary expectation, the notice period and the work location and travel radius in their own fields. Together they describe the conditions under which a candidate will say yes; mixed together in one note, none of them can be searched.
Describe what each vacancy offers
A preference only helps if you can compare it with the role. Record in the structured brief which contract type the role offers, the hours per week, the working pattern and whether there is room to deviate, for example part-time for the right candidate or a fixed-term contract with a view to a permanent one. Ask the client or hiring manager what is truly fixed and what is negotiable. A role described as “full-time” is sometimes open to thirty-two hours, and that answer can widen the pool considerably. Where the client’s answer changes the conditions, update the brief rather than a note.
Confirm the preference at the right moments in the pipeline
Ask for contract type and hours through short screening questions at application, so you can sort before the first conversation. Confirm the preference in the intake and record it in the fields, not only on the shared scorecard. Make a match between preference and role one of the written entry criteria before a candidate is submitted to a client. Check again before the offer, because circumstances change during a long process. When a candidate accepts a contract type outside the stated preference, record why, so the next recruiter understands the decision.
Keep it fair and transparent
Ask every candidate for the same role the same questions, and record only what the candidate states as their preference. Do not guess a preference from age, family situation or other personal circumstances, and do not ask why someone wants fewer hours. Tell candidates which details you record and why, in line with your own privacy statement. Which rules apply to a contract type, for example for temporary work or independent contractors, depends on the country and the situation; check this with your own legal or payroll advisers rather than in the candidate record.
Differences per segment
Agencies use the preference to decide quickly which candidates fit a permanent search and which fit an interim request from the same client. Staffing desks combine contract type with hours and working pattern, and benefit most from searching for workers who accept a given number of shifts on short notice; actual availability per week belongs in the confirmed availability record. Secondment firms record whether a specialist wants employment or an independent arrangement before proposing an assignment, and recheck it before each follow-on assignment. Executive search firms note discreetly whether a candidate would consider an interim mandate. In-house teams align with the hiring manager on whether part-time is possible before the vacancy is published.
Let the system help
Much of the work repeats and suits automation: a screening question that fills the contract and hours fields, a search on contract type and hours range, a warning when a candidate is moved to a submission stage for a role that does not match the recorded preference and a reminder to reconfirm a preference that is several months old. An artificial intelligence helper can suggest a preference from an application letter or intake notes and propose a draft entry. The recruiter checks the suggestion with the candidate; artificial intelligence does not replace recruiters and does not decide on its own which contract a candidate wants.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Free text only — a preference typed in a note cannot be searched or compared with a role
- One value for hours — a range says more than a single number and widens the matches
- No firmness — a hard condition and a mild preference look the same
- Never reconfirmed — a preference from the first contact is still trusted at the offer
- Vague vacancy conditions — the role says full-time without asking what is really fixed
Questions teams ask
- Which contract types should the list contain? — Only the types your organisation actually offers or places; a short list is used more consistently than a long one
- Can a candidate have more than one preference? — Yes; mark one as preferred and others as acceptable, so a search finds candidates who are open to a type
- How often should we reconfirm? — There is no fixed rule; reconfirm at every new submission and when the last confirmation is several months old
- Where do we record shift availability? — The pattern a candidate accepts belongs here; the concrete availability per week belongs in a separate availability record
- What if the client changes the contract type during the process? — Update the brief and check the preference of every candidate already in the pipeline before the next step
Check it with your own data
Count from your own records, per team and per segment: how many active candidates have no recorded contract type or hours, how many vacancies lack a stated contract type, how many submissions or offers ended because contract type or hours did not match and how many preferences were reconfirmed before the offer. Discuss these figures in your weekly pipeline review and report the number of candidates behind each figure. Do not compare with industry averages; your own trend is the number that matters.
A practical start
- Agree on one short list of contract types and record hours as a range
- Record contract types, hours, working pattern, firmness, date and source on every candidate record
- Describe the contract type and hours of every vacancy, including what is negotiable
- Confirm the match before submission and reconfirm it before the offer
- Ask every candidate the same questions and record only what they state
The right contract is part of a good match
Candidates, clients and recruiters all save time when the conditions are clear from the start. Record what kind of contract and how many hours each candidate wants, describe what each vacancy really offers, confirm the match at the stages where it matters and keep the approach fair and transparent. Explore the product or book a demo — we show how candidate records, vacancy conditions and the pipeline work together in BoldATS for your segment.