VeraHire has completed an independent, third-party bias audit of its AI hiring tools, applying the standard set out in New York City’s Local Law 144 for automated employment decision tools. Reviewing real applicant data, the auditor found no conclusive evidence of disparate impact across race or ethnicity, sex, or their intersections in either VeraHire’s resume-screening tool or its interview-transcript analysis tool. A preliminary counterfactual analysis of the resume screener also found no material bias in how it scores otherwise-identical applications.

Why we did it

VeraHire scores each candidate against the specific requirements in a job description, one criterion at a time. Every score has to trace back to something the candidate wrote or said. We never ask the system whether a candidate seems good, because that is the question where bias hides.

So we asked an independent auditor to look closely at how our tools score real candidates, using the standards regulators and courts apply to employment decisions. We want hiring teams making consistent, evidence-based decisions, and every candidate getting a real chance to show what they can do.

What the audit examined

The core audit measured disparate impact: whether the scores led to different outcomes for candidates from different backgrounds, judged against the four-fifths rule used under NYC Local Law 144 and in federal Title VII enforcement. The auditor worked from real resume-screening candidacies and first-round interview transcripts, across race or ethnicity, sex, and their intersections, and found no conclusive evidence of disparate impact in either tool.

As a preliminary further step, we asked the auditor to run a counterfactual “name-swap” analysis of our AI resume screener. Holding each resume’s qualifications constant, the auditor changed only the applicant’s name, to see whether the tool reads the demographic signal a name carries rather than the candidate’s record. These early results found no material bias: the name made no meaningful difference to the score, and nothing that moved the outcome at the selection threshold.

We asked for that extra analysis because the hiring teams who rely on VeraHire carry real exposure on fairness, compliance and legal risk, and an independent review gives them something to stand on. A candidate’s name should have no bearing on the score, and we wanted someone outside the company to check that.

What the audit does not mean

The auditor reviewed the candidate assessment process. It is not a formal certification of VeraHire, its product, or its artificial intelligence, and it is not a guarantee that any hiring process is free of bias. The results are specific to the tools, system versions, and data examined. A person still makes every hiring decision.

A continuing commitment

One audit does not settle the question. What we do between audits is what the auditor measured: criteria tied to the job, scores traceable to evidence, and a person accountable for the decision.

Learn more about VeraHire’s approach to structured hiring at verahire.ai.

About VeraHire

VeraHire is an AI recruiting platform that screens resumes and runs structured first-round interviews, so hiring teams move faster and every candidate gets the same first round.

Press contact: press@verahire.ai