Optimal Recruitment Process: Complete HR Guide 2026

Recruitment is one of the rare corporate procedures where every step is governed by a specific legal text: drafting the job posting, the information that may be requested, evaluation methods, retention of applications, and the exact scope of the commitment made before the contract is signed. The last of these steps is also the most costly when poorly handled — a badly drafted promise binds the employer just like a contract.

The job posting

The posting may not contain any discriminatory reference, direct or indirect, based on prohibited criteria — origin, sex, age, family status, health condition, union activities, among others. A requirement that appears neutral but effectively excludes a protected category can constitute indirect discrimination.

Three practical obligations also apply: the posting must be written in French, be dated, and contain no false claims about the position, the compensation, or the company.

The employer may remain anonymous in an ad published through an intermediary, but the intermediary must be identified.

What can be asked of a candidate

This is the point most often violated, and the rule is strict.

The information requested may only be intended toassess the candidate's ability to fill the position offered or their professional skills. It must have a direct and necessary connection with the position.

Accordingly, unless justified by the nature of the job, questions about family status, plans to have children, health condition, origins, beliefs, or union membership are prohibited. Requesting a criminal record extract is only lawful for positions where the law specifically requires it.

The candidate is required to answer these legitimate requests in good faith. Conversely, a lie about a decisive element — a diploma required to practice — can justify voiding the contract or termination.

Evaluation methods

Recruitment assessment methods and techniques must be relevant to the purpose pursued, and the candidate must be informed beforehand. Results remain confidential.

Two practical implications:

• A personality test, a role-play exercise, or a structured interview are acceptable if they measure skills related to the position. Methods lacking established scientific validity can be challenged on relevance grounds.
• The use of automated tools to screen applications requires informing the candidate, and a decision producing legal effects cannot be based solely on automated processing.

The works council (comité social et économique) must also be informed and consulted beforehand on recruitment assessment methods or techniques, as well as on any automated processing used to manage applications.

Candidate data

Applications constitute personal data and are subject to a full data-processing regime: informing individuals, a legal basis, and a limited retention period.

The permitted retention period is two years from the last contact for keeping an application in a recruitment database, provided the candidate has been informed and can object. Beyond that, the data must be deleted.

Subjective comments made during interviews must remain measured and objective: the candidate has a right of access to all data concerning them, including these comments.

Contract offer or unilateral promise: the decisive distinction

This is where everyday vocabulary and the law diverge, with significant financial consequences.

A job offer is the proposal made to a specific candidate, specifying the position, the compensation, and the start date. It may be freely withdrawn as long as the candidate has not accepted it and the stated consideration period has not expired. A proper withdrawal does not trigger the employer's contractual liability.

A unilateral promise of employment is the act by which the employer grants the candidate the right to exercise an option to enter into the contract, whose essential terms are already determined. Withdrawing it during the option period does not prevent the contract from being formed: the contract is deemed concluded, and terminating it is treated as a dismissal, with the corresponding severance payments.

The difference lies in the drafting. A document that leaves the candidate the power to form the contract by acceptance alone is a promise. Caution therefore calls for explicitly drafting an offer, with a consideration period and a stated right of withdrawal, whenever the commitment is not final.

Hiring

Three formalities determine the validity of the start of employment:

• The pre-employment declaration, to be filed in the days preceding the hire. Failure to file it is heavily penalized and constitutes undeclared work.
• The written contract, mandatory for fixed-term contracts, part-time contracts, and apprenticeship contracts, and to be provided within a short deadline. A fixed-term contract that is not in writing or is provided late is deemed to be an open-ended contract — a topic covered in our article on the differences between open-ended and fixed-term contracts.
• The information and prevention medical visit, to be organized within the deadlines applicable to the position.

The probationary period must be expressly stipulated in the contract: it is never presumed. Its maximum duration and any renewal depend on the employee's professional category and the applicable collective bargaining agreement.

Two operational arrangements are better set out in the contract from the outset than adjusted later: the working-time tracking method, on which the treatment of overtime depends, and any use of remote work, whose reversibility must be provided for so that a return to the workplace does not amount to a modification of the contract.

Usage scenarios

Hiring an executive. The main risk is a poorly characterized job promise, often formalized in an enthusiastic email. Drafting an explicit offer, with a consideration period and a right of withdrawal, provides protection as long as the decision is not final.

Using tests. Inform the candidate beforehand, verify the tool's relevance to the position, and consult the works council on the method chosen.

Building a candidate pool. Inform candidates about retention, set a two-year period from the last contact, and actually purge the data at the end of that period. A database that is never purged is an easy violation to identify.

Frequently asked questions

Can you ask a female candidate if she plans to have children? No. The question has no direct and necessary connection with the job and constitutes discrimination based on family status or sex.

Can a candidate refuse a test? They must be informed beforehand of the methods used. A refusal may end the process, but the test must be relevant to the position for it to be enforced against the candidate.

How long should an application be kept? Two years from the last contact, provided the candidate has been informed and given the ability to object.

Can a job promise be canceled? A job offer can be withdrawn before acceptance. A unilateral promise cannot: withdrawing it does not prevent the contract from being formed, and terminating it is treated as a dismissal.

Is the probationary period automatic? No, it must be expressly provided for in the contract. Its duration depends on the employee's professional category and the applicable collective bargaining agreement.

What is the risk of failing to file the pre-employment declaration? Heavy penalties, as the situation constitutes undeclared work, with the associated criminal and financial consequences.

Key takeaways

Two moments concentrate the legal risk of a hiring process, and they frame everything else.

At the start, relevance: every piece of information requested and every method used must have a direct and necessary connection with the position. This is the single criterion, and it makes it unnecessary to memorize a list of forbidden questions — one simply needs to ask what the answer reveals about the ability to fill the job.

At the end, characterizing the commitment. An offer can be withdrawn; a unilateral promise forms the contract. The difference does not depend on the document's title but on how it is drafted, and the cost gap between the two is measured in severance payments. Explicitly drafting one or the other, rather than letting an email decide, is the most cost-effective precaution in the entire process — and it ties into the general obligations described in our article on labor law compliance.