Applied – Unbiased Recruitment Platform for Fair Hiring

Applied is a purpose-driven technology company that has created an innovative recruitment platform focused on removing bias from hiring processes. Founded on behavioral science principles, the company emerged from research at the UK Government’s Behavioral Insights Team (also known as the “Nudge Unit”) and operates with a clear mission: to help organizations hire the best talent fairly.

The platform works by implementing several key features designed to create a more objective evaluation process. Its anonymized applications hide personal details that could trigger unconscious bias. The system uses skill-based assessments rather than traditional CVs, allowing candidates to demonstrate their abilities directly. Work sample questions simulate actual job tasks, providing employers with relevant performance data instead of relying on potentially biased proxies like educational background or previous employers.

Applied also incorporates structured interviews with standardized scoring criteria and uses collective decision-making processes where multiple reviewers evaluate the same anonymized responses. This approach significantly reduces the impact of individual biases. By redesigning the entire recruitment funnel from job descriptions through to final selection, Applied delivers a comprehensive solution that addresses bias at every stage of the hiring process.

Applied operates primarily on a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) subscription model, offering different tiers of service based on company size and hiring volume. This approach provides predictable recurring revenue while allowing organizations of varying sizes to access bias-reducing technology.

The company’s core value proposition centers on three key benefits: increased hiring quality, improved diversity outcomes, and enhanced efficiency. By focusing on skills rather than backgrounds, Applied helps companies identify stronger candidates who might be overlooked in traditional processes. Their data shows that around 60% of top candidates would have been missed using conventional CV screening methods.

The efficiency gains come from structured processes that save time for hiring managers, with standardized assessments reducing the administrative burden of screening. Applied also brings data to recruitment, providing metrics and insights that help companies continuously improve their hiring processes.

Beyond the platform itself, Applied offers additional revenue streams through professional services like workshops on fair hiring practices and consulting on recruitment process redesign. They’ve positioned themselves not just as a technology provider but as thought leaders in the space of ethical, data-driven recruitment, publishing research and best practices that strengthen their brand while expanding market awareness of bias in hiring.

Applied serves a diverse range of organizations unified by their commitment to improving hiring practices. Their client base includes forward-thinking companies across multiple sectors, from tech startups to established corporations, government agencies, nonprofits, and educational institutions.

The platform particularly appeals to organizations actively working to improve diversity and inclusion metrics who recognize that traditional hiring processes may be undermining these goals. Companies facing talent shortages in competitive industries also benefit from Applied’s ability to discover overlooked candidates with the right skills.

Within these organizations, Applied addresses the needs of multiple stakeholders. For HR and talent acquisition teams, it offers tools to improve candidate quality and diversity while providing data to demonstrate progress. Hiring managers benefit from better-qualified candidates and time savings through structured processes. DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) leaders gain measurable improvements and actionable insights. Meanwhile, senior leadership receives both ethical and business benefits: stronger talent acquisition in a competitive market while advancing organizational diversity goals.

Interestingly, Applied also serves candidates themselves as secondary users who benefit from a fairer process. The platform creates a more level playing field where applicants from all backgrounds can demonstrate their actual abilities rather than being judged on potentially biased criteria like their name, education, or previous employers.

Applied has designed its operations around both technological innovation and behavioral science expertise. The company employs a cross-functional team of software engineers, data scientists, organizational psychologists, and recruitment specialists who collectively develop and refine the platform’s bias-reducing capabilities.

Customer acquisition follows multiple paths, with content marketing playing a significant role. Applied regularly publishes research on hiring biases and best practices, positioning themselves as thought leaders in equitable recruitment. This content strategy attracts organizations already concerned about diversity and fairness in hiring. They also leverage case studies from successful implementations, demonstrating proven results with metrics like increased diversity and improved quality of hires.

Technologically, Applied employs natural language processing to identify potentially biased language in job descriptions and application materials. Their platform uses algorithms designed specifically to avoid the pitfalls of AI bias that have plagued other recruitment technologies. Unlike many HR tech solutions that inadvertently encode existing biases into their algorithms, Applied’s technology is explicitly built to counteract these biases.

Onboarding new clients involves more than just technical implementation. Applied works closely with organizations to redesign their recruitment processes, training hiring teams on best practices for fair assessment. This consultative approach creates stronger client relationships while ensuring the technology delivers maximum impact. Their customer success team monitors implementation quality and outcomes, helping clients continuously improve their hiring practices.

In the increasingly crowded HR tech market, Applied distinguishes itself through several key differentiators. While many recruitment platforms claim to improve diversity, Applied was purpose-built from the ground up specifically to remove bias, rather than adding it as a feature to conventional recruitment software. This focus is evident in every aspect of the platform’s design.

A significant competitive advantage comes from Applied’s scientific foundation. Developed from rigorous behavioral science research at the UK’s Behavioral Insights Team, the platform incorporates evidence-based methods for reducing bias. This scientific approach extends to their ongoing operations, with Applied continuously collecting data on hiring outcomes to refine their methodologies—creating a virtuous cycle where their product becomes more effective over time.

Unlike competitors who offer point solutions addressing specific parts of the hiring process, Applied provides end-to-end bias mitigation across the entire recruitment journey from job descriptions through final selection. This comprehensive approach creates better results than piecemeal interventions.

Applied has also built entry barriers through their accumulated proprietary data on what works in bias-free hiring—information competitors can’t easily replicate. Their established client base provides testimonials and case studies demonstrating real-world effectiveness, creating social proof that’s particularly valuable in this space where organizations need confidence that interventions will actually work. As organizations increasingly face regulatory pressure and stakeholder expectations around diversity and fair hiring, Applied’s specialized expertise and purpose-built platform position them especially well against generic HR tech providers.

Applied’s success can be measured through multiple metrics. Beyond standard SaaS indicators like customer acquisition rates and retention, they track impact metrics showing improved diversity in client hiring outcomes and increased quality of candidates selected. Their business model benefits from robust client retention—once organizations see improved hiring results and integrate the platform into their processes, switching costs become high.

The company’s core success factors include its genuine mission alignment. In an era when many companies adopt superficial diversity initiatives, Applied’s authentic commitment to bias reduction resonates with like-minded organizations. Their evidence-based approach also creates credibility with sophisticated clients who demand proven results rather than just good intentions.

Timely market positioning has been crucial as well. Applied emerged just as many organizations began facing increased pressure—from employees, investors, and the public—to address systemic bias in their practices. The growing recognition that traditional recruitment methods are fundamentally flawed has created receptive conditions for Applied’s solution.

However, the company faces ongoing challenges. The recruitment technology sector is increasingly competitive, with larger HR tech companies incorporating bias-reduction features. Applied must continuously innovate to maintain its specialized advantage. They also face the challenge of quantifying their impact, as demonstrating causation between process changes and diversity outcomes requires sophisticated measurement. Perhaps most fundamentally, they must balance growth with maintaining their mission focus, ensuring that commercial pressures don’t compromise their commitment to evidence-based practices that genuinely reduce bias.

Entrepreneurs can draw valuable lessons from Applied’s business model and execution strategy. First, the company demonstrates the power of building a business that solves a genuine problem with measurable impacts. Rather than creating a generic HR platform with bias reduction as a feature, Applied focused exclusively on this specific challenge—allowing them to develop deeper expertise and more effective solutions than generalists.

Their approach to thought leadership marketing provides another important insight. By regularly publishing research and best practices around fair hiring, Applied establishes authority while educating the market about the problem they solve. This content strategy both attracts clients and expands awareness of the issue, potentially growing their total addressable market as more organizations recognize bias in their hiring processes.

Applied also shows how scientific foundations can create competitive advantages and defensible barriers. Their grounding in behavioral science research gives them credibility competitors can’t easily replicate. For entrepreneurs, this suggests the value of incorporating specialized expertise or academic research into product development, particularly for solutions addressing complex human behaviors.

The company’s business model balances purpose with profitability through a SaaS approach that makes their solution accessible to organizations of various sizes while providing predictable revenue. Their additional professional services offerings allow them to capture more value from enterprise clients while deepening relationships.

Entrepreneurs should note how Applied transformed a growing societal concern (workplace diversity and bias) into a business opportunity by creating practical tools to address the issue. This pattern—identifying emerging social priorities and developing solutions that help organizations respond effectively—offers a template for purpose-driven entrepreneurship that creates both impact and sustainable business models.

Applied demonstrates how technology can be harnessed to address persistent social challenges while building a viable business. Their success comes from recognizing that bias in hiring isn’t just an ethical issue but also a business problem that costs organizations talent and innovation. By creating a platform that improves both fairness and business outcomes, they’ve aligned social impact with commercial incentives.

The company’s evidence-based approach offers a counterpoint to the many diversity initiatives that lack rigorous measurement or proven effectiveness. Applied shows that meaningful progress on complex social issues requires more than good intentions—it demands carefully designed interventions based on behavioral science and continuous measurement of outcomes.

As organizations worldwide face increasing pressure to address systemic inequalities in their practices, Applied’s approach to recruitment represents just the beginning of potential applications for bias-reducing technology. Future opportunities may exist in extending these principles to other decision points beyond initial hiring, such as performance reviews, promotion decisions, and compensation setting.

The company’s evolution will be worth watching as they navigate the tension between growth and mission, and as larger HR technology providers incorporate similar features. Applied’s experience suggests that purpose-driven companies can maintain their edge through deeper expertise, authentic commitment to their mission, and continuous innovation based on outcomes data.

Ultimately, Applied’s most important contribution may be demonstrating that removing bias isn’t just the right thing to do—it’s also good business. By helping organizations access wider talent pools and make decisions based on actual capabilities rather than backgrounds, their technology creates value for both employers and candidates previously disadvantaged by traditional hiring practices.