Hirevue has a long history (and tons of practical knowledge) of using advanced technologies (e.g., AI) in its talent acquisition/assessment technologies. I've been covering the firm since 2013 and it had cutting-edge recruiting tools even back then.
The company's long-standing focus has been to help HR, especially Recruiting, expedite talent acquisition activities (e.g., automate the scheduling and data capture of interviews, provide smart video capabilities that utilize consistent interviewing questions, avoid bias, score results, etc.). The technology had a number of other capabilities, too, that included an assessment of the quality of an applicant's responses. Data was not only captured but key aspects of a candidate's response were highlighted for HR or operational hiring managers to review. The firm was years ahead of its competitors.
Recently, I spoke with Hirevue's Chief Science Officer, Mike Hudy, to see how the company and its solutions were holding up against an onslaught of citizen-AI powered capabilities used by jobseekers. In today's job market, recruiters and hiring managers are dealing with:
Hudy nailed the overarching issue though: companies are relying on "self-reported" data and all of the problems that this data brings. This means that the top of the recruiting funnel is getting piles of dubious, irrelevant, fraudulent and/or deceptive data. It's a GIGO problem (i.e., garbage in garbage out) through and through. AI is just making it easier for people to put more of this unvalidated, self-reported dreck into an employers' HR, recruiting, talent acquisition (TA) and applicant tracking systems (ATS).
Software vendors have to do a better job, folks!
Hudy indicated that Hirevue's customers (over one thousand) have indicated that resume fraud is top of mind for their recruiters. He added that self-reported data is one of those things "that has never been good". I'd concur.
Hudy maintains that 'cheating' is actually rare while the difficulty in assessing which applicants actually possess needed skills is universal.
Hirevue's overall focus seems to be to jump in after an applicant has submitted an application or resume to an ATS. It's at this juncture where Hirevue software will attempt to determine whether the applicant actually possesses the desired skills. Some of these tests can be administered electronically and take up no recruiter time (e.g., having a test determine whether a potential cashier can make change and/or calculate the change due correctly in their head). The testing software needs to also measure the speed with which the person answers (e.g., to make sure they aren't using a calculator or another (out of view) computer) and the accuracy of their responses.
Hirevue's approach, according to Hudy, isn't going to solve the self-reported data problem entirely but it has tools that can help employers determine whether the person actually possesses the reported or implied skills. Testing for skills is something I'd recommend for all levels of job openings as the hiring of "PUREs" (i.e., previously undetected recruiting errors) is incredibly expensive for employers.
The problem with PUREs and self-reported data is not new. I was burned a couple of times in my career with people claiming to have college degrees they didn't possess. More recently, I've become aware of people claiming to have passed all sections of the CPA exam and yet, when tested, couldn't even describe the basic debit and credit entries for simple accounts payable transactions.
Hudy also noted that customers must be diligent. He stated that employers must set expectations re: candidate provided data. If you don't want candidates to use AI, state that upfront. You may need to use AI detection tools to see that candidates are abiding by this requirement (a la Ronald Reagan's "Trust but verify" philosophy). Employers must also watch for and detect when candidates are relying on scripts.
Hudy sees the timing of these tests thusly:
Some companies, according to Hudy, may trigger over 5 million tests/skills assessments annually.
Hudy and I had a more free-flowing exchange about what the future for Recruiting holds if the current problems with recruiting fraud, AI-perfected resumes, lack of differentiation, huge and growing volumes of applications, etc. don't get solved. Hudy believes that the Recruiting process has to change/evolve. The old methods are now passé.
To date, Hirevue's attention has remained focused on the parts of the recruiting process that exist just after a jobseeker submits an application.
This discussion brought us back to the often poor quality, unreliable and sometimes fraudulent self-reported data issue. While we brainstormed some potential ideas, time was not on our side. What was clear though was that the 'democratizing' power of AI works two ways: it helps software vendors and jobseekers alike. Software vendors and their customers no longer have a technological advantage over jobseekers.
One major problem that Hudy highlighted occurs when employers do no skills testing before letting the ATS or humans score the applicants. This practice can permit very large numbers of unqualified/unskilled applicants into the recruiting workflow. That will swamp recruiters and operational leaders with time-consuming application reviews and interviews of sub-optimal personnel. Worse, the best potential hires may never be seen or interviewed.
To paraphrase Hudy, employers may not be facing a shortage of applicants but a shortfall in tools to adequately winnow the candidate pool to most qualified applicants. He's right there.
Now that 2025 is nearing a close, some HR technology vendors are finally starting to recognize the problems that citizen AI tools are creating. Those vendors are starting the development of countermeasures a few years too late. Hirevue has been ahead of the problem with its tools that assess skills.
Even some industry analysts have only recently come to realize the enormity of these problems. And, in the last year, I've had two major HRMS vendors only recently state that this might be a problem. AI is an equal opportunity technology for HR vendors and citizens - and I can't believe such large vendors only recently figured this out. It makes you wonder how good/poor their strategic planning and insights really are.
What the HR software market needs now are some completely rethought, reimagined and radically reengineered approaches to recruiting/talent acquisition. The old methods are simply obsolete and must be replaced. So far, we are lucky to have skills tests and other assessment tools like those Hirevue offers. But we'll certainly need new tools, traps, countermeasures, etc. if employers are to stand a chance with the ever clever, tech-powered applicant pool out in the world. Will your HR vendor deliver this future in time?
