Linking & ownership
Every credential in Oho belongs to someone. That sounds obvious, but it's the idea that makes recruitment work: a credential can belong to an applicant before they're hired, and to a worker after — and the same card, with its whole check history, carries across at the hand-over.
This page explains who a credential can belong to, the rule that stops the same card being claimed twice, and what happens on the day you take someone on.
A credential has an owner, not a copy
A credential is a record of one real card or registration — a specific Blue Card number, a specific AHPRA registration. It isn't copied into a person's profile; it points at them.
That pointer is what Oho calls ownership, and it comes in two slots:
| Slot | Holds | Typical case |
|---|---|---|
| Worker | Someone you employ or engage | A card you hold for a current staff member or volunteer |
| Applicant | Someone you're still considering | A card submitted through a Recruitment Check |
Every credential fills at least one slot. It can fill both at once, and during a hire it usually does for a while — that's the point.
Because the credential is one record rather than a copy per person, its verification history is one history. When a credential moves from applicant to worker, nothing is re-collected and nothing is re-verified: the checks that already ran still count, and the next scheduled re-check carries on as if nothing happened.
One worker, one applicant
Each slot holds exactly one person.
A credential can't belong to two workers, and it can't belong to two applicants. If you try to attach a card to a worker when its worker slot already points at somebody else, Oho refuses rather than quietly reassigning it — the existing owner stays put and you're told the slot is taken.
That refusal is deliberate. Two workers holding the same Working With Children Check number means one of two things: a typo, or two people's records that have got tangled. Both need a person to look, and both get much harder to unpick if Oho has already overwritten the link. Reassigning is a separate, explicit action.
The same rule protects the other direction: a credential can never end up owned by nobody. Removing the last owner isn't allowed — if a credential genuinely shouldn't exist, delete the credential rather than orphaning it.
Compliance starts before day one. A candidate's Blue Card can be collected, verified and monitored while they're still a candidate, so by the time you decide to hire them you already know whether they're clear — rather than discovering a problem in their first week. Ownership by an applicant is what makes that possible.
What happens when you hire someone
When an applicant becomes a worker, their credentials come with them. There are two ways that hand-over can go, and the difference is whether the applicant record keeps its claim.
Link the worker, keep the applicant. The credential gains a worker owner and keeps its applicant owner. Both slots are filled and the recruitment record stays intact, which is what you want when you need to show later what was known at the point of hire.
Transfer to the worker. The applicant slot is cleared and the worker slot is filled. The credential now belongs only to the worker. This is the tidier end state once recruitment is finished with, and it's also how you correct a card attached to the wrong person.
The two routes, side by side:
Either way the credential itself doesn't change. Its number, its attachments, its verification history and its re-check schedule are all untouched — only the pointer moves. A worker hired on Monday has a card that was already verified last week, and the ongoing monitoring never stopped.
Where you'll see this
Most admins never do any of it by hand. Promoting an applicant to a worker in the app carries their credentials across for you, and a Recruitment Check that arrives after someone has already been hired attaches to the worker directly.
You'll notice ownership when something is wrong:
| What you see | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| A credential you expected on a worker sits on their applicant record | They were promoted, but this card wasn't carried across | Link or transfer it to the worker — the history comes with it |
| Oho won't attach a card to a worker | The card's worker slot already points at someone else | Check the number for a typo. If it's right, the two records need untangling before you reassign |
| The same person appears as both an applicant and a worker | Normal during and shortly after a hire | Nothing, unless credentials are stranded on the applicant side |
| A credential can't be unlinked | It's the last owner, and Oho won't leave a credential belonging to nobody | Delete the credential instead, if it shouldn't exist at all |
Related
- Workers — who a worker is, and active vs. inactive
- Applicants — where applicants come from, and promotion
- Credentials — what Oho can hold and verify
- Link a credential · Transfer a credential · Unlink a credential — the API behind this, for developers