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Certyneo
Recruitment firms & headhunters

Electronic signature for recruitment firms

Offer letter, search mandate, placement contract, candidate confidentiality agreement, personnel provision contract: coordinate tripartite signature firm ↔ client company ↔ candidate without mail or physical meetings. Compliant with the Labor Code, CNIL recruitment deliberations, eIDAS regulation and Article 1366 of the Civil Code.

Use cases in a recruitment firm

From search mandate to final placement, each step involves at least two parties to coordinate: the firm almost never signs alone.

Search mandate (exclusive or non-exclusive)

Mandate signed with the client company before opening the position: scope, fees, exclusivity, replacement guarantee. Signature in less than 24 hours to start the search without waiting for a mail return.

Tripartite offer letter

Synallagmatic offer signed by the client company, countersigned by the firm (as agent), then accepted by the candidate. Dual-channel OTP formally identifies each party and traces the acceptance date — enforceable under Article L1221-1 of the Labor Code.

Candidate confidentiality agreement (NDA shortlist)

Before sharing the confidential client brief with shortlisted candidates, an NDA protects the advertiser's identity and job conditions. Mobile signature in less than 2 minutes on the candidate's side.

Placement contract & fees

Placement contract signed between the firm and the client company: payment terms, replacement guarantee conditions (usually 3-6 months), termination terms. 10-year archiving with evidentiary value for Urssaf audits and fee disputes.

Personnel provision contract (temp work, business services, apprenticeship contract)

Personnel provision: tripartite contract firm ↔ user company ↔ employee, signatures coordinated in a single envelope with common timestamping. Compliant with requirements L1251-42 and following of the Labor Code.

RPO & sourcing engagement letter

For Recruitment Process Outsourcing or flat-rate sourcing missions: engagement letter specifying deliverables, KPIs and reporting. Advanced electronic signature for the client's formal commitment.

Why Certyneo for recruitment firms

Six garanties pensées pour la spécificité du recrutement : signature tripartite, mobilité candidat, GDPR strict et délais ultra-courts.

Native tripartite signature

A single envelope coordinates the client, the firm and the candidate. Configurable signature order (sequential or parallel), automatic follow-up notifications, unique audit trail for all three parties.

Mobile candidate signature without account creation

Candidates — often on international assignment or in current employment — sign from their phone in less than 2 minutes, without downloading an app or creating an account. Essential to respect the 10-day acceptance deadline for an offer letter.

Audit trail admissible at the Labor Court

Each signed offer produces a timestamped certificate: candidate identity (email + SMS OTP), acceptance date, SHA-256 fingerprint of the document. Admissible before labor courts in case of dispute over the offer or its acceptance.

Compliant with CNIL recruitment deliberation

Données candidats chiffrées (TLS 1.3 + AES-256), hébergement 100 % UE, suppression sur demande, traçabilité des accès. Conforme à la délibération CNIL n°2002-017 et au GDPR pour le traitement des données personnelles en recrutement.

10-year archiving for Urssaf audits

Placement contracts and mandates are kept for 10 years with evidentiary value, the recommended duration for Urssaf audits and fee disputes. Download the complete file at any time.

API & ATS integrations

Webhooks, Zapier and Make to connect Certyneo to your ATS (LinkedIn Talent Hub, Greenhouse, Lever, Teamtailor, Beetween, Flatchr). Automatic envelope creation when an offer is validated in your ATS, candidate status update upon signature.

Evidentiary value of the signed offer letter

Since the Court of Cassation ruling of September 21, 2017 (Cass. soc., No. 16-20.103), the unilateral offer letter no longer constitutes an employment contract until the candidate accepts it — but acceptance immediately binds the employer. The acceptance date thus becomes the triggering event for all rights: probation period, seniority, withdrawal.

Certyneo delivers for each signed offer an audit certificate integrated into the PDF, which compiles all technical evidence:

  • Candidate identity (verified email, phone confirmed by OTP)
  • Exact date and time of acceptance — qualified timestamping enforceable
  • SHA-256 fingerprint of the offer as accepted, proving the absence of subsequent modification
  • Consultation log (how many times the candidate opened the offer before accepting)
  • Identification of the offer author from the client company (countersigned signature)

This body of evidence protects the firm and the client company against common disputes ("I never accepted", "the offer was modified", "the acceptance date is later") and secures defense before the Labor Court.

Code du travail, CNIL recrutement et GDPR

Recruitment processes particularly sensitive data (CV, family status, mobility, salary expectations) requiring strict compliance framework.

Labor Code — placement & personnel provision

Article L5321-1 regulates paid placement activities, articles L1251-42 and following regulate temporary work and personnel provision. Certyneo enables coordination of tripartite signatures required by these regimes and preservation of documents with evidentiary value.

CNIL recruitment deliberation (No. 2002-017)

CNIL requires transparent candidate information, purpose limited to professional evaluation, retention period proportionate to the purpose. Certyneo hosts candidate data 100% in the EU (Germany), encrypted in transit and at rest, with deletion on request.

GDPR — base légale & droits du candidat

Base légale = exécution de mesures précontractuelles à la demande du candidat (article 6.1.b du GDPR). Droits du candidat (accès, rectification, effacement, portabilité) implémentés nativement. DPA standard disponible au signup pour formaliser le rôle de sous-traitant.

Replacement guarantee & fees

Advanced electronic signature formally traces the placement date of the hired candidate — start of the guarantee period (usually 3-6 months). If the candidate leaves during the guarantee, the signed contract proves coverage and supports the replacement service.

Frequently asked questions from firms

Is an electronically signed offer letter enforceable?

Yes. An offer letter can be signed on any medium (Article 1366 of the Civil Code: electronic writing has the same probative force as paper writing). Since the Cass. soc. ruling of September 21, 2017 (No. 16-20.103), it is the candidate's acceptance that forms the contract — Certyneo traces this acceptance with a qualified timestamping enforceable at the Labor Court.

How to manage tripartite signature firm ↔ client ↔ candidate?

A single Certyneo envelope coordinates all three parties. You configure the signature order (for example: client first, then firm as countersignatory, then candidate), each party receives their link at the right step, and a unique audit trail traces all three signatures with their respective timestamps.

How much time do we have to get an offer letter signed?

There is no legal deadline for signature on the client company's side, but once the offer is sent to the candidate, they must accept it within a reasonable time (in practice 7 to 10 days according to case law). Certyneo accelerates signature on the client side (often 2-4 hours) and candidate side (mobile, no account creation) to meet this deadline without pressure.

Les données des candidats sont-elles conformes au GDPR ?

Oui. Hébergement 100 % UE (IONOS Allemagne), chiffrement TLS 1.3 en transit et AES-256 au repos, isolation stricte des données par cabinet. La base légale du traitement est l'exécution de mesures précontractuelles à la demande du candidat (article 6.1.b GDPR). Une DPA standard est disponible et conforme à la délibération CNIL n°2002-017 sur le recrutement.

Can you sign a personnel provision contract (temp work, business services)?

Yes. Personnel provision contracts (articles L1251-42 and following of the Labor Code) require tripartite signature: firm/agency ↔ user company ↔ employee. Certyneo coordinates this signature in a single envelope with common audit trail, compliant with mandatory provisions of Article L1251-43.

What ATS integrations does Certyneo offer?

Native connectors via Zapier and Make for LinkedIn Talent Hub, Greenhouse, Lever, Teamtailor, Beetween, Flatchr. Our REST API allows automatic envelope creation when an offer is validated in your ATS, and candidate status update upon offer signature. Full documentation at certyneo.com/developers.

How long are offers and contracts archived?

Our plans include 10-year archiving with evidentiary value, recommended duration for Urssaf audits, fee disputes and labor claims. Documents and their audit trail remain downloadable at any time from the firm account, including after termination upon request.

Does the candidate need to create a Certyneo account to accept an offer letter?

No. The candidate receives a direct link by email, opens the offer letter on their phone, verifies their number via an SMS code (OTP), signs with their name and finger — no app download, no account creation, no credit card. From a UX perspective, the experience is designed to create no friction within 7-10 days of acceptance.

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