The Institute of Hiring Sciences (IHS) has announced its establishment as a non-profit institution dedicated to improving how hiring technologies are evaluated. Through research, the Institute aims to develop guidelines and certification criteria for AI-powered hiring systems.
These will help determine whether such systems are fair, reliable, and suitable for their intended use.
AI is now being used at several stages of recruitment, from screening applications to conducting interviews and evaluating candidates. These tools can make recruitment faster and easier to manage. However, questions remain about how accurately they assess a candidate’s abilities.
Employers need to know whether the results genuinely reflect what a person can do for a particular job. They also need a reliable way to verify those results.
Unlike errors in routine business software, mistakes in hiring assessments can affect a person’s access to employment and an organization’s ability to build the workforce it needs.
“I have seen candidates score 90% or 95% in an assessment and then struggle to answer basic technical questions in the interview. How can we rely entirely on those scores?” says Ms. Jasneet Kaur, an IHS Council member, recalling an observation from her experience in recruitment.
IHS aims to address these gaps by developing a common scientific foundation for evaluating HR tech. The Institute will study how candidates are assessed and establish ways to measure the reliability of these methods.
Its research will also support the development of benchmarks and guidelines for independent evaluation.
A key aspect of this work is separating the product’s technical performance from assessment quality. A system may function smoothly and meet recognized information-security requirements. However, it may not reliably assess a candidate’s abilities or yield consistent results. IHS aims to establish ways to examine the quality of the assessment itself.
Ms. Khushboo Jain, IHS Council member, emphasized the importance of understanding the context behind someone’s abilities.
“We often assess competence without considering the context in which someone will work. What matters is what a person in a particular role, within a particular organization, will actually be able to do.”
The Institute intends to set clear criteria for evaluating AI-driven hiring tools. These will address whether assessments measure the right abilities and whether candidates are evaluated fairly. They will also consider how scores are calculated, whether the results can be explained and reviewed, and how candidate information is protected. Together, these requirements will provide a basis for independent audits and certification decisions supported by documented evidence.
Beyond AI-powered platforms, the institute’s broader research agenda extends to the methods and practices that underpin hiring itself, including how job requirements are defined, how candidates are assessed, and how assessment quality can be measured.
Through research publications, guidelines, and engagement with academic and industry experts, IHS aims to contribute to a shared body of knowledge that can support the continued development of Hiring Sciences as a discipline.
About the Institute
The Institute of Hiring Sciences (IHS) is a non-profit institution established to advance the scientific study and evaluation of hiring practices and technologies. Its work focuses on research, benchmarking methodologies, guidelines, and certification frameworks intended to make hiring assessments more measurable, reliable, and independently verifiable.
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Institute of Hiring Sciences (IHS)
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Website: https://ihsresearch.org
