The Job Application Integrity Project exists to improve transparency, accountability and trust in the online job marketplace.
You applied. The employer should know it.
Job seekers increasingly discover opportunities through search engines, job boards, aggregators, recruiting platforms, social media and other intermediaries. That broad distribution can create tremendous value. It can also create confusion when people cannot determine who is hiring, who receives their information, or whether an application actually reached the employer.
Our mission
Our mission is to protect job seekers and employers by promoting accurate job advertising, transparent application paths, verified application delivery, responsible job distribution, clear source attribution, employer control over jobs published in their name, and evidence-based standards for the online employment marketplace.
What we believe
We believe broad job distribution is good when it helps candidates discover legitimate opportunities. Job boards, aggregators, search engines, recruiters, ATS providers, recruiting firms and employers can all play valuable roles in the hiring process.
We also believe every job seeker should be able to understand:
- Who is hiring?
- Who is receiving my information?
- Did my application actually reach the employer?
And every employer should be able to understand:
- Where are our jobs appearing?
- Who is collecting applications in our name?
- Are those applications reaching us?
- Which sources actually produced our candidates?
Our approach
Help people understand the path
We help job seekers understand how online applications work and help employers understand how their jobs travel across the internet.
Trace what actually happens
We study the path from job discovery to Apply click to submission to employer receipt, and distinguish verified findings from assumptions.
Define accountable distribution
We are developing the Verified Application Path Standard to improve transparency without restricting legitimate job distribution.
What we are not
We are not opposed to job boards, aggregators, recruiting technology or broad job distribution. Our concern is the integrity of the connection between the job seeker and the employer.
The source gets credit. The employer gets the candidate. The candidate knows what happened.
Governance and independence
The credibility of our work depends on applying the same standards consistently. No employer, job board, recruiting company, technology provider, donor or sponsor should receive preferential treatment under our research or standards.
Funding and support
The organization may accept financial, technical, research or in-kind support from employers, recruiting firms, job platforms, technology companies, foundations, individuals and other organizations. Support does not provide control over research findings, methodology, published conclusions, audit classifications, standards, corrections or reporting decisions.
Material financial support should be disclosed publicly.
Standards apply to everyone
Our standards should apply equally to employers, job boards, aggregators, ATS providers, recruiting firms, staffing companies, search engines, recruiting technology providers, sponsors and supporters of the organization.
Evidence before conclusions
We will distinguish between verified facts, reported experiences, unresolved questions, reasonable inferences, allegations and confirmed findings. When evidence is incomplete, we will say so. When new evidence changes a finding, we should correct the record.
Right of response
Before publishing significant negative findings about an identifiable organization, the Project should make a reasonable effort to provide that organization an opportunity to explain or correct the issue. Responses may be incorporated into published research when relevant.
Corrections
Accuracy is more important than defending a prior conclusion. The organization should maintain a clear process for correcting factual errors in published materials.
Privacy
Research should minimize unnecessary collection of personal information. Job seekers should not have to disclose sensitive information merely to report an application-path problem. Personally identifiable information should not be published without appropriate permission.
Transparency
Published research should explain what was tested, how it was tested, when it was tested, what evidence was collected, what could and could not be verified, and any material limitations.
Our standard for ourselves
The Job Application Integrity Project should be willing to test its own assumptions. If evidence does not support a claim, we should not make it. If a job board or aggregator is delivering candidates correctly, we should say so. If an employer-controlled path is broken, we should say that too.
The mission is not to prove that one side is right. The mission is to improve the integrity of the system.
Our goal
Jobs are real.
Employers are identifiable.
Application paths are transparent.
Applicants reach the people they intended to reach.
Distribution sources receive appropriate credit.
Employers can measure what actually works.
And job seekers no longer have to wonder: Did anyone ever receive my application?