What it means
A candidate integration handoff is the point where candidate data, decisions, status changes, or communications move from one recruiting system or team to another. Common handoffs include sourcing to ATS, ATS to assessment, scheduling to interview feedback, offer management to HRIS, background screening to onboarding, and CRM nurture to active requisition workflows.
Why buyers should care
Integration handoffs determine whether candidate context survives across systems. Poor handoffs can create duplicate profiles, missing consent records, stale statuses, incomplete feedback, or inaccurate reporting. Buyers should look closely at what data moves, which system owns each field, and whether teams can audit failures or overrides after the handoff.
Evaluation checks
Review field mappings, source-system priority, sync timing, error logs, retry behavior, permissions, audit trails, and rollback options. Ask whether candidate-facing communications are triggered by handoffs and whether recruiters can see where data came from. Strong handoffs preserve context and make failed or partial transfers visible before they affect candidate experience.
This glossary entry is buyer-oriented guidance, not legal, compliance, or financial advice.