# Create Applicant

`POST /applicants`

Group: People Management › Applicants · Operation ID: `createApplicant`

Creates an applicant: a person and their first application to a recruitment, in one request. If the email already belongs to a person, that person is reused rather than created again. The application starts in status 'new', and the response is only the new application's id. An existing person applying to another recruitment uses POST applications instead.

[Open in the interactive reference](https://docs.api.lensing.ai/?op=createApplicant)

## Parameters

| Name | In | Type | Required | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `Api-Version` | header | `"v1"` | yes | The API version this request targets, named by its public identifier. Required on every request; omitting it, or naming a version this company does not have, is answered with 400. This document describes version `v1`. |
| `Idempotency-Key` | header | string | no | An opaque caller-chosen string (1-255 characters) that makes this request safe to retry. Repeating the same key with an identical request body replays the original response instead of re-executing - but only once that original request succeeded; a failed attempt re-executes on retry. Repeating the key with a different body is answered with 422. A key still in flight is answered with 409 - as is a key whose original request was interrupted before it finished, for a few minutes afterwards, until that attempt is presumed dead. A completed response stays replayable for 24 hours. The key is scoped to the caller, not to the action: reusing it for a different action is answered with 409 or 422 rather than treated independently. On read actions this header is ignored. On write actions that cannot offer the guarantee it is answered with `400 IDEMPOTENCY_NOT_SUPPORTED` rather than silently ignored. |

## Request body

Required, `application/json`: createApplicantInput.

| Field | Type | Required | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `person` | object | yes | The personal details of the applicant. |
| `person.firstName` | string | yes | The applicant's first name. |
| `person.lastName` | string | yes | The applicant's last name. |
| `person.email` | string | yes | The applicant's email address. If it already belongs to a person, that person is reused rather than created again. |
| `person.middleName` | string | no | The applicant's middle name. |
| `person.phoneNumber` | string | no | The applicant's phone number. |
| `application` | object | yes | The application details. |
| `application.recruitmentId` | string | yes | The identifier of the recruitment being applied to. See id on GET people/recruitments/:id. |
| `application.source` | string, one of `"appliedDirectly"`, `"sourcedInternally"`, `"sourcedExternally"`, `"employeeReferral"`, `"externalRecruiter"` | no | How the application arrived. Omit to leave it unset. |
| `application.sourceDetails` | string | no | Free-text detail about the source, for example the referring employee or the job board. |
| `application.expectedSalary` | string | no | The applicant's salary expectation, as free text. |
| `application.linkedIn` | string | no | The URL of the applicant's LinkedIn profile. |
| `application.shortIntroduction` | string | no | A short free-text introduction or motivation supplied with the application. |
| `address` | object | no | The applicant's home address. When you send it, line1, city, country and zipCode are all required. |
| `address.line1` | string | yes | The first address line: street number and name, or PO box. |
| `address.line2` | string | no | The second address line: apartment, suite, unit, building or floor. |
| `address.city` | string | yes | The city or locality. |
| `address.country` | string | yes | The country. Format ISO 3166-1 alpha-2, for example 'US'. |
| `address.stateProvince` | string | no | The state or province, as the code the platform's state and province list uses, for example 'CA'. Not a spelled-out name. |
| `address.zipCode` | string | yes | The postal or ZIP code. Required whenever you send an address. |

Example:

```json
{
  "person": {
    "firstName": "<firstName>",
    "lastName": "<lastName>",
    "email": "<email>",
    "middleName": "<middleName>",
    "phoneNumber": "<phoneNumber>"
  },
  "application": {
    "recruitmentId": "3fa85f64-5717-4562-b3fc-2c963f66afa6",
    "source": "appliedDirectly",
    "sourceDetails": "<sourceDetails>",
    "expectedSalary": "<expectedSalary>",
    "linkedIn": "<linkedIn>",
    "shortIntroduction": "<shortIntroduction>"
  },
  "address": {
    "line1": "<line1>",
    "line2": "<line2>",
    "city": "<city>",
    "country": "<country>",
    "stateProvince": "<stateProvince>",
    "zipCode": "<zipCode>"
  }
}
```

## Response

`200` Success

Under `data` (createApplicantOutput):

| Field | Type | Required | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `id` | string | yes | The unique identifier for the created application. |

## Response headers

- `Idempotency-Replayed` — Present and `true` only when this response replays a previously stored one for the same Idempotency-Key, rather than reflecting a live execution. Absent on a live response - never sent as `false`.

## Errors

| Code | Status |
| --- | --- |
| `RECRUITMENT_NOT_FOUND` | 400 |
| `DUPLICATE_APPLICATION` | 400 |
| `IDEMPOTENCY_KEY_CONFLICT` | 409 |
| `IDEMPOTENCY_PAYLOAD_MISMATCH` | 422 |

## Statuses

- `400` — Invalid request or business failure. Codes: RECRUITMENT_NOT_FOUND, DUPLICATE_APPLICATION
- `401` — Missing or invalid access token
- `403` — Not authorized
- `404` — Not found
- `409` — The Idempotency-Key is still being processed by another request.
- `422` — The Idempotency-Key was already used with a different request payload.
- `429` — Too many requests
- `500` — Internal server error