Recruitment Jargon – What Does it Mean?

For some reason, recruiters feel the need to abbreviate everything, and for someone starting out in the industry it can be quite confusing. In order to try and help out any newbies, or cast some light on what saying’s mean – here is a list of some common phrases and abbreviations used in the recruitment industry!

GYG – Good Young Guy

DGSM – Damn Good Salesman

PRC – Potential Recruitment Consultant

IMAV – Immediately Available

Send Out – Sometimes this is a CV sent out or an interview depending on the agency

CINT – Candidates Interview with Recruitment Consultant

Job Hopper – Someone who doesn’t stay at one job for very long

OTE – On Target Earnings

DOE – Depending on Experience

KSA – Knowledge, Skills and Experience

Offer Letter – The documentation formally confirming the offer of the job

Garden Leave – This is when an employee leaves and are told not to come back in the office during their notice period

Interim – Usually consists of at least a 3 month contract normally for project work

FTC – Fixed Term Contract, pre-arranged amount of time which could be between 3 months and 2 years

180 Consultants – Either fully focused on resourcing candidates or fully focussed on business development

360 Consultants – Full cycle consultant involving a combination of new business development and resourcing candidates

Canvassing – Making a client sales call

Closing – Process of gaining commitment and agreement from either client or candidate

Direct Resourcing – Companies co-ordinating their own talent attraction

Head Hunt – Approaching typically passive individuals regarding a specific opportunity

PSL – Preferred Supplier List

SLA – Service Level Agreement

EVP – Employee Value Proposition

KPI – Key Performance Indicator

We rarely use the common recruitment jargon at Bespoke, so let us know if you think we have missed any crucial ones off the list!