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Candidature reçue, retenue, acceptée: stages in French recruitment

Edited by Chris Lee · Updated · About the library

Follow five explicitly worded French application stages and distinguish receipt, interview selection, an offer and acknowledgement of your acceptance.

In short

Candidature retenue pour un entretien means selected for an interview. Candidature reçue only acknowledges receipt. Retenue or acceptée without a complement needs context: check what has been accepted, for which stage and under what conditions. The ladder below orders the explicit messages in the stated process.

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An envelope, closed navy folder, and handshake are shown in three adjoining panels.
Three scenes show an envelope handoff, a closed folder, and a handshake. Illustration: Atelier

Formal messages can sound equally positive while describing different stages. This example follows one application from arrival to acknowledgement of an accepted proposal. It is a reading sequence, not a promise that every recruiter uses these labels or steps.

What has progressed in this stated process?

Acceptance of the identified offer acknowledged

  1. Nous avons reçu votre acceptation de cette proposition.We have received your acceptance of this offer.The message acknowledges the applicant’s acceptance of the identified proposal, without supplying any unstated administrative detail.
  2. Nous vous adressons une proposition de poste, dont les conditions figurent en pièce jointe.We are sending you a job offer, with conditions in the attachment.A proposal exists and its conditions must be read; acceptance by the applicant is not yet stated.
  3. Votre candidature est retenue pour un entretien.Your application has been selected for an interview.Selection concerns an interview, not an unconditional job offer.
  4. Votre candidature est en cours d’examen.Your application is under review.The file is being considered; the outcome remains open.
  5. Nous avons reçu votre candidature.We have received your application.Receipt is acknowledged; no selection decision is stated.

Application received

Retenue for what?

The phrase pour un entretien limits the selection. If a message merely says Votre candidature est retenue, the surrounding text may explain whether it means an interview stage or a final selection. Do not replace that missing information with the most optimistic interpretation. Ask: Pourriez-vous préciser les prochaines étapes ?

Acceptée can describe several things

Votre demande de report est acceptée concerns a requested postponement; votre candidature est acceptée concerns an application in its stated context; nous avons reçu votre acceptation concerns the applicant’s reply to a proposal. The shared word family does not make these statements equivalent. Identify the noun whose status changes.

Question 1No account needed
What does candidature reçue establish?

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

Receipt of the application. No later selection is stated in a receipt acknowledgement.

Question 2No account needed
Which wording clearly limits selection to an interview?

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

Votre candidature est retenue pour un entretien.. Pour un entretien supplies the stage.

Question 3No account needed
Does an offer message prove the applicant has accepted it?

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

No, the reply is a separate action.. The fourth and fifth messages represent distinct actions.

Question 4No account needed
If retenue appears without context, what is useful?

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

Ask which next step it refers to.. A precise clarification can resolve the missing scope.

Read conditions before summarising the result

An attached offer may specify a role, hours, start date or conditions not repeated in the email. The final acknowledgement reports receipt of the applicant’s acceptance. Keep the offer’s actual conditions alongside that status when summarising it.

Keep a short note with three fields: the stage stated, the action requested from you and the unresolved detail. That is more useful than labelling every positive message “accepted” and losing the practical next step.

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