Record a confirmed start date separately from a statement about notice. A candidate may know what their contract says while still needing to agree a handover or arrange a move. Treat those as different pieces of information.

This guide is a conversation checklist. It does not provide a table of statutory periods by country. Information only, not legal advice. Check the applicable law and contract with a qualified local specialist when the answer matters to an offer.

Start with the situation

Ask which country and arrangement apply, whether the person is employed or providing services, and whether the question concerns resignation or another way of ending the relationship. Do not infer the answer from a job title, a LinkedIn location or the fact that the person works full time.

Write down what the candidate has confirmed and what they still need to check. If they are unsure about a clause, ask them to verify it rather than asking for an entire contract containing unrelated confidential information.

Do not assume that the law only sets a minimum

Romania's Labour Code, Article 81(4) and (7) illustrates why the old rule of thumb was wrong: resignation notice is subject to statutory maxima, and the employer can waive all or part of it. This is a Romanian example, not a rule for every European country or for service agreements.

The source was checked on 6 October 2026. We intentionally do not reproduce country-by-country figures. A contract excerpt alone is not a legal opinion about the date someone can leave.

Questions for the first conversation

  1. What arrangement are you working under, and which country's rules apply?
  2. What notice clause have you checked?
  3. Has the relevant departure process started, or is this an estimate before an offer?
  4. What start date could you commit to, subject to confirmation?
  5. Who needs to confirm a different release date?
  6. Are there personal arrangements that affect your earliest start?

These are prompts, not a script to force through every call. If the candidate says they do not know, preserve that answer.

Keep the qualification beside the date

An illustrative note is: "Candidate expects to start after handover; release date is not agreed." That is more useful than silently choosing a calendar date. When briefing the client, distinguish confirmed facts, the candidate's expectation and the next check.

Reconfirm when you prepare an offer. Avoid turning a provisional date from an earlier conversation into an unconditional promise.

Keep a usable candidate record

Deelbert has separate fields for notice and availability. Record the confirmed wording and update it when the candidate provides new information. Extraction is designed to preserve a stated notice period and leave an absent one empty; review the output yourself.

For related questions, read rate and salary expectations and AI extraction and its limits. The pricing page explains the recruiting plans.