UK recruitment glossary

A recruitment CRM (Customer Relationship Management system) is software that recruitment agencies use to manage candidates, jobs, clients, and placements in one platform. Modern recruitment CRMs combine candidate tracking, client relationship management, AI matching, outreach campaigns, compliance documentation, and invoicing — replacing spreadsheets and disconnected tools. ATSpro is a UK-built example at £49 per user per month.

An applicant tracking system (ATS) is software that manages a candidate’s journey from application to placement. A modern ATS includes resume parsing, candidate profile management, job pipeline tracking (typically Kanban-style), interview scheduling, and offer management. The terms "ATS" and "recruitment CRM" are often used interchangeably; recruitment CRMs typically extend an ATS with client relationship management, outreach, and billing features.

Regulation 15 of the UK Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003 requires employment businesses to issue an Assignment Confirmation to temp workers before each assignment, confirming the rate of pay, hours, location, and key terms. ATSpro generates Regulation 15 documents automatically from configurable templates with built-in digital e-signature.

Regulation 17 of the UK Conduct Regulations requires agencies to provide a Key Information Document (KID) to agency workers before agreeing terms, summarising who pays them, the minimum rate, deductions, holiday entitlement, and other key facts. ATSpro generates Regulation 17 KIDs as part of the standard temp worker onboarding flow.

Right to Work (RTW) verification is the UK Home Office requirement for employers and recruitment agencies to confirm that a worker has the legal right to work in the UK before placement. ATSpro supports all Home Office List A and B document types — UK Passport, Irish Passport, EU Settlement Scheme, eVisa/Share Code, BRP, Skilled Worker, Student, Graduate, Global Talent visas, and more — with expiry tracking and automated chase sequences.

GDPR 5-state consent management tracks a candidate’s consent status across the five practical states recruiters work with: Contacted (first reached out), Consented (gave explicit GDPR consent), Active (consent currently valid), Expired (consent has lapsed and needs renewal), and Withdrawn (consent revoked). ATSpro tracks all five states with timestamps and triggers automated chase or anonymisation workflows as needed.

AI candidate matching scores how well candidates fit a job opening using machine learning. ATSpro uses vector embeddings (pgvector) combined with weighted scoring: skills 40%, vector similarity 25%, experience 20%, location 10%, salary 5%. The AI matching agent runs continuously and produces a match score with skill gap analysis for every candidate-job pair.

The MPC engine — short for Most Placeable Candidate — flips traditional sourcing on its head. Instead of finding candidates for a job, the MPC engine finds best-fit target companies for a specific candidate using Apollo company data. ATSpro then writes personalised speculative cover emails per target company, ready for one-click send.

Retained search is an executive recruitment model where the client pays the recruiter milestone fees (typically engagement, shortlist, and placement) rather than only on hire. It is commonly used for senior, board-level, and confidential searches. ATSpro supports retained search natively with configurable milestone billing and automatic invoice generation per milestone.

Blind recruitment hides a candidate’s personal identity (name, email, phone, photo) until a configurable pipeline stage to reduce unconscious bias in early-stage screening. ATSpro supports blind recruitment as a per-job setting with full audit trail of when and to whom identity was revealed. Equal opportunities data can be collected and reported separately for compliance.