What it means
Candidate vendor review is the structured evaluation of third-party tools, agencies, screening providers, assessment vendors, sourcing platforms, communication tools, or AI features that touch candidate workflows or candidate data. It covers what the vendor does, what data it receives, how decisions or recommendations are made, what records are retained, and how issues are escalated.
Why buyers should care
Candidate-facing vendors can directly affect applicant trust, process consistency, data privacy, reporting, and hiring decisions. A weak review can leave teams unclear about candidate consent, adverse process effects, data retention, integration failures, or who owns errors. Buyers should treat vendor review as part of candidate governance, not only procurement paperwork.
Evaluation checks
Review data fields, subprocessors, security documentation, retention settings, audit logs, candidate communication, accessibility, integration maps, decision support, and support SLAs. Ask how the vendor handles exceptions, disputes, failed syncs, and changes to workflow logic. Good review evidence should be usable by recruiting operations, HR, legal, security, and procurement owners.
This glossary entry is buyer-oriented guidance, not legal, compliance, or financial advice.