What is Applicant ?
An ‘Applicant’ is the person applying for anything. In this sense, a person applying for an appointment or even a kid applying for college are ‘applicants’. However, in terms of HRs, it refers to the candidate applying for a vacant position in the company.
Another application of the word ‘applicant’, concerning HRs, is the ‘leave applicants’, who are applying for leaves.
There are multiple words, which can be used in place of ‘applicant’ in terms of HR. Some of them are ‘candidate’, ‘entrant’, ‘petitioner’, ‘job-seeker’, ‘job-hunter’, etc.