HR-XML's Candidate noun enables communication of a rich set of information about a prospective employee or human resource. Candidate is a key entity used within many recruiting processes and relied upon by multiple trading partners in the course of the recruitment lifecycle. For example, a resume parsing service may receive an unstructured source of candidate information (a word processing or .pdf file, for example) and return information extracted and formatted using the Candidate noun. That Candidate document may in turn be submitted to a job board or to an employer job portal connected to an applicant tracking system. As each exchange takes place, additional information may be collected or value added. For example, a job board might give a candidate an opportunity to add and enhance profile information that was initially extracted from a resume. That job board might use the Candidate document to submit the prospective resource to an employer's applicant tracking system where the results of interviews, assessments, and screenings may further enrich and expand candidate data.

This document broadly describes how the HR-XML Candidate document is used. However, there are many possible contexts. Separate profiles may be developed for specific applications. For example, a resume parsing profile might set out constraints and patterns applicable to resume parsing operations.