In Workday, people may be represented by three similar records. While these records may share some information, each has a different function within the system. Let’s illustrate this by following someone through the recruiting and hire cycle.

1. When an external or internal candidate applies for a job, Workday will create a candidate record for them containing basic information including contact information. You can find candidate records by using the search prefix, cand:. 
2. If the candidate is selected for hire during the recruiting process, Workday will use the existing candidate information to create a pre-hire record at the Offer step. Note: If the candidate already has a pre-hire, Workday skips this step. You can find these records using the search prefix, ph:.
3. Finally, when a hire (or contract contingent worker) is completed, Workday uses the pre-hire information to create a worker record. To find a worker’s record, search using the prefix, worker:.

Now, let’s discuss how you would typically interact with each of these records. A recruiter might go to a candidate record to view contact information. An HR Partner will need to find (or create) a pre-hire record when hiring an employee or contracting a contingent worker. You can view the associated ID on a pre-hire to see if it has the correct EID for the person you are hiring.  For active workers, HR Partners will interact with the worker record to perform tasks for that worker such as Start Job Change.