E-signatures for recruiters

What do recruiters need signed?

There are two sets of signers in recruitment: the client and the candidate. Clients sign terms of business that set the fee, often 15 to 25 percent of first-year salary for permanent roles, and the rebate period if the hire leaves early. Candidates sign the offer, and for contract roles, an agreement with the agency or the umbrella company.

Agencies placing contractors add timesheets, assignment schedules and confidentiality agreements on top. Some clients also ask candidates to sign a consent for background or reference checks before the offer is final.

• Client terms of business
• Offer letter for permanent hires
• Contractor agreement and assignment schedule
• Candidate consent forms for references and checks
• NDAs for confidential searches

Why timing matters so much in recruitment

A verbal yes is fragile. Counteroffers from the candidate's current employer usually arrive within a day or two of a resignation, and an unsigned offer is easy to walk away from. The faster the signature comes back, the fewer placements fall through.

Cross-border hiring makes it harder. The hiring manager in Dubai, the candidate in Manila and the recruiter in London are never awake at the same time. A process that needs a call to walk the candidate through signing will lose a day in each direction.

How a recruiter sends an offer with Sign PDF

The candidate's experience is the part that matters, and it is short: open the email, enter the code, sign.

• Upload the client's offer letter as a Word file or PDF. Sign PDF places the candidate's signature and date boxes, and the company signatory's if there is one.
• Set signing order so the hiring manager signs first and the candidate sees a countersigned offer.
• Add a personal message, set an expiry date to match the offer deadline, and switch on reminders.
• The candidate confirms a six-digit code from their email and signs in their phone browser.
• Both the client and the candidate receive the sealed PDF. The certificate shows the signing time in UTC alongside the candidate's approximate location and device.

Which plan fits a recruiter?

A solo headhunter making one or two placements a month could manage on Light at $5 a month, which covers 2 sent documents. Remember that the client's terms of business count as a document too.

Anyone working a full desk will want Full at $10 a month: unlimited documents, templates for your standard terms and offer layouts, signing order and reminders. One offer signed by the candidate and the hiring manager counts once.

What recruiters will not get from Sign PDF

We do not integrate with applicant tracking systems or CRMs, and we have no API, so signed offers will not flow back into your ATS automatically. We do not send by SMS or WhatsApp, which matters if your candidates live on messaging apps rather than email.

There is no identity verification. The certificate shows that the person who controlled the candidate's email signed, not that their passport matched. Right-to-work checks need their own process.