HireVue
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Artificial intelligence, Human resources management |
| Founded | 2004 |
| Founder | Mark Newman |
| Headquarters | South Jordan, Utah , United States |
Key people | Jeremy Friedman (CEO, 2024–present) |
| Products | Digital interviewing tools, AI-based candidate evaluation software |
Number of employees | 400 (2023) |
| Website | hirevue |
HireVue is a company specializing in artificial intelligence (AI) and human resources management, with its headquarters located in South Jordan, Utah. Established in 2004 by entrepreneur Mark Newman, the firm provides digital interviewing tools that allow clients to conduct asynchronous interviews, where candidates respond to AI rather than live interviewers.
The organization has attracted considerable attention for leveraging AI technology to evaluate candidates’ facial expressions and speech during interviews, establishing itself as an innovator within the human capital management sector.
Founding and early development
HireVue was created by Mark Newman, a 20-year-old student at Westminster College (Utah) who also took on the role of CEO. Based near Salt Lake City, the company initially enabled remote interviewing by supplying webcams to candidates. Its platform offers clients the ability to administer standardized one-way interviews, optimizing recruitment processes by minimizing scheduling conflicts and allowing recruiters to concentrate on candidate evaluation.
By 2012, HireVue’s clientele included prominent companies such as Nike, Starbucks, Walmart, Geico, and Hasbro, all utilizing annual subscription plans. Typical interview sessions lasted approximately 12 minutes and included four questions, providing an efficient method for assessing applicants while giving candidates the chance to preview questions and practice responses.
In August 2012, HireVue expanded its offerings by acquiring CodeEval, integrating coding challenges tailored for developer recruitment. At that time, David Bradford held the CEO position. Later that month, the company raised $17 million in Series C funding led by Investor Growth Capital, bringing total capital raised—including previous debt financing—to $28 million. These funds supported continued growth and market penetration.
Artificial intelligence implementation and expansion
Starting in 2013, HireVue incorporated AI technology into its screening process through its HireVue Insights program. This system utilized proprietary voice recognition combined with licensed facial recognition software to assess candidates’ verbal and non-verbal signals, including tone, vocabulary usage, and measures of "candidate empathy," producing an employability score benchmarked against other applicants. The AI system enhanced its predictive capabilities over time via machine learning algorithms.
By 2013, HireVue employed around 140 staff members and provided software compatible across desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones. In October of that year, the company secured $25 million in Series D funding led by Sequoia Capital and integrated its solutions with platforms such as LinkedIn and Salesforce.com. The volume of interviews conducted surged from 13,000 in 2010 to three million by 2015.
Kevin Parker assumed the role of CEO by 2017. CTO Loren Larsen explained that various interview formats were trialed before settling on a model allowing candidates unlimited attempts to answer questions. Due to concerns surrounding facial analysis technology, HireVue discontinued this feature in early 2020 despite asserting no evidence of bias; Parker acknowledged that public apprehensions outweighed the advantages. Later that year, the company enhanced its offerings by integrating with Microsoft Teams and acquiring chatbot developer AllyO.
Anthony Reynolds replaced Parker as CEO in 2022. In May 2023, HireVue merged with competitor Modern Hire, uniting their shared expertise in industrial-organizational psychology. At that time, HireVue served about 700 clients with a workforce of roughly 400 employees; Modern Hire had approximately 450 clients and 200 employees. Jeremy Friedman succeeded Reynolds as CEO in January 2024.
Reception
HireVue's platform has attracted criticism from both job applicants and AI specialists, particularly concerning its evaluation of subtle facial cues and the anxiety it may provoke. In 2015, Fortune described HireVue's video interview technology as an "innovation that could be quite intimidating." According to Business Insider, although HireVue’s AI can be tailored to minimize bias, it relies extensively on human oversight and the quality of input data.
By 2019, The Washington Post referred to HireVue as "a significant gatekeeper for several leading American employers," underscoring its expanding role in transforming talent assessment and candidate screening. This growing influence has prompted academic institutions to prepare students specifically for success in HireVue interview formats.
Organizations adopting HireVue report a notable reduction in their recruitment timelines. Bloomberg News highlighted the cost efficiencies gained since HR personnel can evaluate recorded interviews at their convenience without the need for travel. Similarly, CNBC pointed to the accelerated pace of hiring as a primary reason recruiters favor HireVue’s AI-powered solutions.
Conversely, Meredith Whittaker, co-founder of the AI Now Institute, condemned HireVue’s AI as "pseudoscientific" and a "tool enabling discrimination." In defense, HireVue’s CEO Larsen asserted that all candidates are given fair consideration regardless of their demographic or background. He also suggested that many critiques arise from misinterpretations of employee psychology. Industrial psychologist Nathan Mondragon noted that clients never rely exclusively on the algorithm when making hiring decisions.
Legal challenges
In November 2019, the Electronic Privacy Information Center lodged a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, accusing HireVue’s technology of harming U.S. workers by gathering biometric information, showing bias against various gender identities, racial groups, sexual orientations, and neurological conditions, and failing to comply with AI guidelines established by the OECD.
A lawsuit filed in 2023 by a Massachusetts resident targeted CVS Health for utilizing HireVue and Affectiva software to generate an "employability score" for candidates based on characteristics such as "conscientiousness" and "integrity." This case was resolved through an out-of-court settlement in July 2024.
In March 2025, the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado submitted complaints to both the Colorado Civil Rights Division and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, alleging that HireVue’s software discriminated against a deaf Native American employee at Intuit during a promotion evaluation.
See also
Further reading
- 2004 establishments in Utah
- American companies established in 2004
- Artificial intelligence organizations
- Companies based in Salt Lake County, Utah
- Human resource management software
- Job interview
- Privately held companies based in Utah
- Recruitment software
- South Jordan, Utah
- Companies of the United States by year of establishment