At Colleva, we believe hiring technology should create opportunities, not close doors. Too often, automated tools focus narrowly on filtering out candidates, and in doing so, eliminating people who might have been excellent hires. That’s a loss for both the candidate and the organization.

That’s why we designed our talent acquisition platform with two guiding principles: fairness and candidate experience. Every feature, from competency-based resume screening to structured AI-led interviews, is built to help candidates show their skills and to help employers see them clearly.

But building for fairness isn’t enough on its own. It also has to be proven. That’s where bias audits come in.

What is a bias audit?

A bias audit is an independent evaluation that assesses whether an AI hiring tool treats candidates fairly across demographic groups such as gender and race. Think of it like a financial audit, but instead of validating numbers in a ledger, it validates equity in decision-making.

Regulators are taking this seriously. New York City’s Local Law 144 requires any automated hiring tool to undergo a bias audit before it can be used. And other jurisdictions are expected to follow. The message is clear: fairness in hiring technology isn’t optional.

Why bias audits matter for candidates

For candidates, a bias audit is more than a compliance check. It’s reassurance that they’re getting a fair shot. In our recent study of 667 job seekers across seven roles, 91% told us that avatar-led AI interviews gave them a fair chance to present their qualifications.

That sense of fairness wasn’t limited to one group. People of color, non-native English speakers, older candidates, and candidates with disabilities all reported feeling comfortable and respected during the process. When an independent audit confirms what candidates themselves are saying, it builds real trust.

Why bias audits matter for employers

For employers, bias audits provide three things:

• Compliance confidence: Meeting new and emerging regulatory requirements.
• Risk reduction: Avoiding reputational and legal risks tied to unfair hiring practices.
• Better outcomes: Expanding the pool of qualified candidates by reducing premature disqualification.

Put simply: bias audits aren’t just about mitigating risk. They help organizations make better hiring decisions by ensuring more qualified candidates are considered.

What we audited

Colleva’s platform includes two key stages of evaluation:

1. Resume screening: Rather than relying on keyword matching, our AI analyzes resumes against role-specific competencies approved by the hiring team. The goal is not to filter aggressively, but to move forward qualified candidates who might otherwise be overlooked.
2. Structured AI-led interviews: Candidates participate in conversational, competency-based interviews with an AI avatar. Each response is scored consistently on a 1–5 scale. The system generates an overall score as well as subscores across the specific competencies tied to the role. Importantly, the rationale behind each score is transparent — hiring teams can see how responses align with the scoring rubric, and where candidates demonstrated particular strengths.

In addition to overall and competency-level scores, hiring teams receive transcripts, recordings, and clear feedback on candidate strengths and development areas, along with suggested focus points for future interviews. This combination streamlines the early evaluation process and ensures that every candidate is assessed in a consistent, competency-driven way.

It’s important to note that human hiring teams remain ultimately responsible for all decisions. The resume scores, interview scores, and supporting materials are designed to provide structured, high-quality inputs, not to replace human judgment. The result is a process that enables employers to assess more candidates, more quickly, while giving them clear, consistent information to support better hiring decisions.

How the audit was conducted

We partnered with FairNow, an independent organization specializing in AI fairness assessments. Their audit used a methodology called situation testing: holding job-related qualifications constant while varying demographic indicators such as gender and race.

The audit evaluated performance across multiple job families spanning a variety of roles, from technical positions to client-facing and operational ones. Fairness was measured across gender, race, and combinations of the two, to ensure the system performed equitably across different groups.

This rigorous approach made it possible to test whether candidates were treated differently based solely on demographic attributes, rather than on their skills or experience.

The results

Behind the audit are the people who matter most: job seekers. A fair system means:

• Opportunities aren’t missed: Qualified candidates are advanced instead of filtered out by rigid or biased criteria.
• Everyone is assessed consistently: Structured, competency-based interviews ensure each applicant is evaluated on the same dimensions.
• The process is transparent: Scores, transcripts, and recordings give clarity to both candidates and hiring teams.

The audit confirmed that all demographic groups met the fairness thresholds defined by New York City’s Local Law 144, reinforcing that Colleva’s platform evaluates candidates equitably across different backgrounds.

For job seekers, this translates into confidence that they’re being evaluated on what matters most — their skills and potential.

What this means for candidates

Behind the numbers is what matters most: the candidate experience. A fair system means:

• Opportunities aren’t missed: Qualified candidates are advanced instead of filtered out by rigid or biased criteria.
• Everyone is assessed consistently: Structured, competency-based interviews mean every applicant is evaluated on the same dimensions.
• The process is transparent: Scoring, transcripts, and recordings give clarity to both candidates and hiring teams.

For job seekers, this translates into confidence that they’re being evaluated on what matters most — their skills and potential.

Our commitment going forward

At Colleva, our mission is to make hiring both more efficient and more equitable. Transparency is central to that mission. Completing independent bias audits is one way we demonstrate our commitment — not just to compliance, but to fairness and accountability.

Our audit results show what’s possible when AI is built with fairness in mind. If you’re evaluating talent acquisition platforms, ask your vendor this simple question: have you been independently bias-audited? Learn more about Colleva’s Talent Acquisition platform.