Field notes on hiring people for frontline work.
Hire smarter with our best articles, case studies, tips and tools.
The 8 priorities separating high-performing talent acquisition teams in 2026
Based on research with 200 talent acquisition leaders and analysis of more than 200,000 candidate assessment journeys. The hiring conversation in 2026 has been dominated by AI. But when ThriveMap surveyed 200 talent acquisition leaders, a more grounded picture emerged. The highest-performing teams aren’t chasing speed. They’re investing in hiring accuracy: improving quality of hire, […]
Why your pre-hire assessment isn’t working
Nobody invests in pre-hire assessments because they enjoy adding steps to the hiring process. They invest because they want better hires. Better retention. More confidence in decisions. Less of that sinking feeling six months in. And yet many organisations never stop to ask the most important question: is our assessment actually improving quality of hire? […]
Recruitment Assessment Tools: The Complete 2026 Guide (Based on Real Data)
Recruitment assessment tools are software platforms that help organisations evaluate candidates before hire. They range from cognitive ability tests and skills assessments to video interviews, situational judgement tests and realistic job simulations, and choosing the wrong one for your hiring objective is a costly mistake. So what actually makes a recruitment assessment tool effective? We’ve […]
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 […]
What is an Automated Decision Making tool: Article 22, GDPR
What is an Automated Decision Making tool? Article 22, GDPR and hiring technology Most discussions about AI in hiring tend to fall into two extremes. Either AI is positioned as a solution that removes bias and improves hiring quality, or it is framed as a threat replacing recruiters entirely. In reality, most automated decision making […]
The construction industry’s expectation gap and what to do about it
The conversation around construction talent in the UK has been remarkably consistent for over a decade. The industry needs more people. Skills shortages are holding back growth. More must be done to attract the next generation. A new report from the Home Builders Federation and The Careers & Enterprise Company reinforces that position, highlighting that […]
Why Integrate ThriveMap Assessment to the Cornerstone ATS
Integrating realistic job assessments into the Cornerstone hiring workflow Cornerstone helps organisations manage recruitment at scale. It gives hiring teams structure, workflow and a central place to manage candidates. What it doesn’t do on its own is show whether a candidate is actually likely to succeed — or stay — once hired. That’s where ThriveMap […]
GDPR Article 22 for hiring: Automated decision making explained
In March 2026, the UK Information Commissioner’s Office warned employers that many automated recruitment processes may already fall within the scope of GDPR Article 22. The concern is: hiring teams increasingly rely on AI and automation to reject, rank, and filter candidates before a recruiter ever reviews them. Under GDPR, that creates legal risk if […]
AI hiring tools FCRA compliance: why the Eightfold case changes everything
In January 2026, a class action lawsuit fundamentally shifted how organisations need to think about AI hiring tools for FCRA compliance. Not because it proved algorithms are biased, but because it argues they don’t need to be biased to be unlawful. The case redefining AI hiring risk In Kistler et al. v. Eightfold AI Inc., […]