Why Recruitment Technology Needs Industry Standards: Inside the Work of ARTP

Recruitment technology now influences millions of hiring decisions every year. AI driven screening, assessment and matching tools are becoming embedded across enterprise hiring, yet the UK still lacks a clear standards framework for how these systems should be evaluated, governed or implemented responsibly.

That gap is becoming increasingly important as employers face growing pressure around fairness, transparency, automated decision making and candidate trust.

The Association of RecTech Providers (ARTP) was established to help address this challenge by supporting stronger standards, accountability and collaboration across the recruitment technology sector.

Its members span assessment providers, ATS platforms, AI hiring technology, screening tools and broader hiring infrastructure. The aim is not simply to promote recruitment technology adoption, but to help establish clearer expectations around fairness, transparency, governance and evidence based practice as these technologies become more influential in shaping employment outcomes.

As AI adoption accelerates, employers are increasingly being asked to evaluate systems that may directly influence who gets shortlisted, how candidates are assessed and how hiring decisions are made. Yet terms such as “AI powered hiring” or “predictive matching” often reveal very little about how systems actually work, what evidence supports them or what safeguards exist around bias, oversight and candidate protection.

According to ThriveMap CEO and Chair of the ARTP Standards Committee, Chris Platts, the industry is reaching a critical point:

“Recruitment technology influences the lives and careers of millions of people, but there is still very little consistency around what good looks like in practice. Employers are often expected to evaluate highly complex systems without shared standards around fairness, transparency or validation.”

ARTP is currently supporting work around more formalised standards and accreditation approaches for recruitment technology providers in the UK, including discussions around responsible AI implementation, transparency, validation, data governance and human oversight.

This work is becoming increasingly relevant as regulators begin paying closer attention to AI enabled hiring systems. Chris Platts will also be participating in an ICO roundtable on AI and automated decision making in recruitment, attending both as CEO of ThriveMap and Chair of the ARTP Standards Committee.

“The goal is not to slow innovation down,” says Chris. “It is to ensure innovation is implemented responsibly. The industry needs practical standards that reflect how these technologies are actually being used in real hiring environments.”

For employers, clearer standards support more informed procurement, stronger governance and greater confidence in the technologies shaping hiring decisions. For providers, they create a clearer benchmark for responsible practice in an increasingly crowded and rapidly evolving market.

Ultimately, the conversation around recruitment technology is no longer just about automation or efficiency. It is increasingly about trust.

As hiring technology becomes more influential in determining access to work and career opportunity, the organisations that build trust through transparency, evidence and responsible implementation are likely to shape the future of the sector most successfully.