NDA templates

Candidate NDA template and interview NDA for hiring teams

A candidate NDA (interview NDA or pre-employment NDA) is a short one-way agreement a job candidate signs before seeing confidential material during hiring. Recruiting teams, hiring managers and founders use it before sharing real product specs, internal data, code or compensation structures in late rounds or take-home assignments.

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NonDisclosures is a software tool, not a law firm. Templates and AI analysis are not legal advice.

Non-Disclosure Agreement

12 sections

1.Definitions

Confidential Information, Discussions, Purpose, Representatives, Affiliate, Trade Secret
2.Exclusions from Confidential Information
3.Obligations of The Receiving Party

Use only for the Purpose, Non-disclosure, Standard of care, No reverse engineering, Notice of unauthorized use
4.Permitted and Compelled Disclosures

Representatives, Compelled disclosure, Disclosure with consent
5.Return or Destruction of Confidential Information

Return or destruction, Retained copies, Continuing confidentiality
6.No License and No Warranty

Ownership and no license, No warranty
7.No Obligation to Proceed

No commitment, Independent activities
8.Term

Term, Early termination
9.Survival

Confidentiality period, Trade Secrets, Other surviving terms
10.Remedies

Equitable relief, Remedies cumulative
11.Governing Law and Venue

Governing law, Venue
12.General Provisions

Entire agreement, Amendment and waiver, Assignment, Severability, Notices, Counterparts and electronic signatures, Independent parties, No third-party beneficiaries, Export compliance, Interpretation

Section outline as our generator builds it, with the optional clauses discussed on this page switched on.

In short

Use a candidate NDA before a take-home task or late-round interview that reveals confidential information. Keep it limited to interview materials and evaluating the role, with return or destruction duties and a stated term plus a separate confidentiality period. NonDisclosures generates the agreement, collects e-signatures without a candidate account and stores it in a register with its expiry date. Business and Company can automatically send it when a candidate reaches your chosen stage in Greenhouse, Lever or Workable.

When to ask a candidate to sign an NDA

Ask for a signature when the next hiring step needs confidential material. Conversations about experience, public products or advertised salary ranges usually need none. For private code or internal compensation structures, send the agreement before granting access.

Hiring stage	NDA needed	Practical approach
Recruiter screen	No	Discuss experience and public role details
Hiring manager call	Usually none	Keep questions outside confidential projects
Take-home with real data or code	Yes	Collect the signature before sharing files
Onsite with roadmap or unreleased product	Yes	Send before the confidential session
Executive or confidential search	Yes	Often before revealing the company name, with counsel arranging the parties
Offer stage	Change agreement	Switch to the employee confidentiality agreement

Explain what the candidate will see. If synthetic data tests the same skill, use it. An NDA does not replace permission to disclose personal data or justify production access.

What a candidate NDA should cover and what to leave out

Name your company as the Disclosing Party and the candidate as the Receiving Party. This page uses the one-way NDA structure with a narrow definition and non-solicitation disabled. Review the purpose and clause settings in your draft before sending.

Define interview materials narrowly. Mark files confidential. Under the narrow setting, identify oral or visual disclosures as confidential when shared and confirm them in writing within 30 days. Public information, prior knowledge, independent development and lawful third-party information are excluded. The template also covers the existence and status of discussions.
Limit the purpose to evaluating employment. Identify the role and exercise. Do not claim the candidate's general knowledge. The template restricts reverse engineering, so authorize any code inspection the assignment requires in writing.
Leave out a non-compete. Employment non-competes are generally unenforceable in California and restricted in several other states. Restrictions on future work also scare good candidates away. The NDA protects confidential information without barring another job.
Preserve protected activity and whistleblowing. Have counsel include appropriate carve-outs for lawful reporting and protected discussions. The one-way template has compelled disclosure language but does not automatically include the employee and contractor templates' Protected Activity section or DTSA immunity notice.
Address take-home ownership separately. The NDA covers confidentiality. Who owns the candidate's take-home work should be stated in the assignment brief. Paying candidates for substantial work is common, and the brief should explain payment and any intended commercial use.
Request return or destruction after hiring ends. The template requires this after a written request or when the term ends, with exceptions for certain backups and retained copies that remain confidential. Send the request when the process closes.
Keep the term short and explicit. This page uses a one-year term and a separate year of confidentiality afterward. Trade secrets remain protected while they qualify, and retained copies stay confidential while kept. Expiry does not erase every obligation.

Candidate NDA vs employee confidentiality agreement

At the offer stage, use the employee NDA template for workplace access and ongoing duties. Confirm how the agreements interact. The HR and recruiting workflow covers the handoff.

Point	Candidate NDA	Employee confidentiality agreement
Signer status	Applicant, no employment promised	Employee or incoming hire
Timing	Before confidential interview material	At offer or before workplace access
Scope	Materials shared to evaluate the role	Confidential information received through employment
Term	Short term with separate survival	Chosen term with separate survival, employment ending does not cancel duties
Notices	Compelled disclosure, add appropriate protected activity language	Protected Activity, DTSA immunity and local law clause included
Our template	One-way NDA	Employee NDA

Send candidate NDAs automatically from your ATS

Business and Company support stage-triggered sending. Have your talent acquisition lead approve the template and purpose. Choose the stage immediately before confidential access.

Create the connection, choose your one-way team template and confirm candidate name and email mapping, company details and the company signatory.
For Greenhouse NDA automation, configure the candidate stage change webhook and filter to the interview stage that needs the NDA.
For Lever NDA automation, enable the candidate stage change webhook, authorize candidate lookup and select the target stage ID.
For Workable NDA automation, register the candidate moved event and filter to the assessment stage using its stage slug.
Move a test candidate into that stage, inspect the generated agreement and signing email, then enable automatic sending for live candidates.

Candidates sign through a personal browser link without creating an account. Track completion in NonDisclosures before sharing materials. On Company, webhooks and the API can support writing the signed PDF back to the ATS record.

How much a candidate NDA workflow costs

Plans charge per workspace, with monthly sending limits. Count candidate NDAs alongside agreements sent by other teams. Starter suits manual sending. Choose Business when ATS automation matters, even if your candidate volume fits Starter.

Hiring volume	Plan and monthly price	Included limits and capabilities
Startup hiring a few roles, 20 NDAs a month	Starter, 49 USD a month	25 NDAs a month, 2 members, register and expiry reminders
Recruiting team, 100 candidate NDAs a month with ATS	Business, 149 USD a month	150 NDAs a month, 10 members, 25 templates, 10 integrations
Company-wide high volume with SSO and API	Company, 499 USD a month	750 NDAs a month, unlimited members, templates and integrations, SSO and API

Yearly billing costs about half the monthly rate. The published annual totals are 288 USD for Starter, 888 USD for Business and 2,988 USD for Company, equivalent to 24, 74 and 249 USD a month. Compare allowances on the pricing page.

Keep track of who signed what

Search the register by candidate name or email before the interview. Check its status, signer timeline and signed PDF before sharing materials. The signed PDF includes a certificate page and is emailed to the parties.

Expiry reminders arrive 60, 30 and 7 days before the term ends. Review whether a returning finalist needs another agreement, and check surviving confidentiality duties separately. Use NDA tracking to follow signatures and expiry, and the NDA repository to retrieve the actual signed document when a hiring manager needs it.

Questions and answers

Should candidates sign an NDA?

Only when the hiring process involves confidential material. A realistic exercise using private code, internal data or unreleased product plans can justify one. Routine screening usually does not. Keep the scope tied to what the candidate receives, and consider a synthetic exercise if confidentiality adds unnecessary friction.

Can you ask a candidate to sign an NDA before an interview?

Yes, generally, if the interview will reveal confidential information. Send the agreement before sharing access and explain which materials it covers. Give the candidate time to review it and ask questions. State rules and protected rights still apply, so have counsel review unusual restrictions or confidential searches.

Is an interview NDA enforceable?

An interview NDA can be enforceable when it satisfies applicable contract law and protects legitimate confidential information. Enforceability depends on the wording, consideration, circumstances and state law. A signature does not validate an unlawful restriction or override protected reporting rights. Ask an employment attorney to review the agreement.

Can a candidate refuse to sign an NDA?

Yes, a candidate can decline to sign or request changes. Ask what concerns them and consider narrowing the materials, shortening the duration or using a public exercise. Whether you may condition further interviews on signing depends on applicable law and circumstances, including protected rights and the agreement's terms.

What should a candidate NDA include?

Include the parties, defined interview materials, an employment evaluation purpose, confidentiality duties, standard exclusions, return or destruction requirements, term, survival and governing law. Preserve lawful reporting and protected activity. State take-home ownership separately in the assignment brief. The one-way template needs appropriate candidate-specific review before repeated use.

How long should a candidate NDA last?

A one-year term is a practical starting point for a hiring process, with a separately chosen confidentiality period afterward. Match the duration to how long the materials remain sensitive. Trade secrets and retained copies can carry longer obligations under the template, so review those exceptions before describing protection as ended.

Is this candidate NDA template legal advice?

No. NonDisclosures is software, not a law firm, and this candidate NDA template provides general information about US practice. An employment attorney should review the purpose, scope, protected activity language, governing law and take-home arrangements for the states involved before your team adopts it as a standard hiring document.

Send your first candidate NDA today

Generate a candidate NDA, review its scope and send it for e-signature before sharing confidential interview materials.