AN INDEPENDENT STANDARD FOR RECRUITMENT
Most organisations say they hire fairly. Few can prove it.
Recruitment Without Bias® assesses and certifies whether your recruitment is fair, accurate and defensible across the whole process: sourcing, screening, tests, interviews and the AI tools behind them.
Assessed by a licensed psychologist
No ties to any tool vendor
Built on ISO 30405 and ISO 10667
Why Now
Fair and accurate hiring is no longer optional.
The Discrimination Act, today
Swedish employers must continuously investigate and address risks of discrimination in recruitment. Employers with 25 or more employees must document that work every year.
The EU AI Act, from 2 December 2027
AI used to screen, rank or evaluate candidates is classified as high-risk. Organisations using it must ensure human oversight by people with the competence to judge what the tool is doing.
Your supplier can't be your auditor
Vendors vouch for their own tests and tools. An independent review checks whether they measure what matters for the job, whether they score consistently, and whether they disadvantage anyone they shouldn't.
How It Works
Certification is built step by step, at your pace.
You share evidence for one area at a time, when it suits your organisation, and receive a written, scored verdict. The points add up toward certification. The whole process is fully digital, with no unnecessary meetings along the way.
Clear requirements for every area
The standard covers 23 areas across the recruitment lifecycle: how roles are defined, how candidates are assessed, which tools support the decisions, and how outcomes are reviewed. Each area comes with a requirement sheet setting out what is assessed, what evidence satisfies it, and the documentation most organisations find they are missing.
Documented assessment
Share your evidence digitally. Within five working days it is scored and returned in writing by a licensed psychologist, with each gap identified and the means to close it. The record is dated and yours to use in your documentation of active measures under the Discrimination Act, in sustainability reporting, in procurement, or wherever proof is asked for.
Certification that means something
Certification requires 147 of 184 points, roughly 80% of the standard. Points are banked as areas are completed, so progress holds even when priorities shift. Certification is re-verified annually, which keeps it meaningful.
Bias and noise don't disappear with good intentions. They are reduced by better structure.
Bias is systematic error that pushes judgements in the same direction. Noise is unwanted variability: two recruiters, or the same recruiter on different days, rating the same candidate differently. Bias undermines validity; noise undermines reliability. Both are reduced through decision hygiene: structured criteria, independent assessments and consistent scoring.
The Standard
The standard has six modules, 23 areas and 184 points.
It follows the recruitment process, from the competence of the people involved to how outcomes are reviewed. Each area is worth up to 8 points. The standard is built on ISO 30405 and ISO 10667 and has been reviewed by experts in behavioural science, employment law, HR and sustainability.
Competence & Fair Treatment
Module 1 of 640 points available in this module
147 of 184 points certifies your organisation to the Recruitment Without Bias standard.
We are independent by design.
Recruitment Without Bias has no commercial ties to any recruitment or assessment tool vendor. We don't sell, recommend or take commissions.
Here is what one of our clients says.
"Our partnership with Recruitment Without Bias has pushed us to reflect, challenge assumptions, and make meaningful changes across our recruitment process — from strategy to execution. We have moved from not really knowing if we are doing the right things to actually knowing that we are. Fair hiring isn't a checkbox, it's a mindset we're building into our future."
Precis Digital
Pricing
Where would you like to start?
Tool review
From SEK 25,000
An independent review of the tests, platforms and AI tools you use in recruitment.
- What each tool measures, how consistently, and whether it matters for the role
- What evidence of validity and fairness your supplier can show, and what is missing
- Where human oversight is missing or exists only on paper
- The questions to put to your supplier
- A report you can use in your active-measures documentation and in procurement
Joining the Certification Programme later? A completed tool review counts as your assessment of the AI & Automated Selection Tools area.
Certification Programme
SEK 2,000 per month
Your whole recruitment process, assessed area by area at a pace that fits your organisation, then re-verified annually.
- Access to the full standard and its requirement sheets
- A written verdict within five working days for each area you submit
- Templates for the documentation the standard expects
- Your own direct line to a licensed psychologist for questions outside the standard, with priority response and a reduced hourly rate
- The RWB mark from the day you enrol
- Full certification when you reach 147 points
About
I started RWB because fair hiring needs to be recognised.
Richard Hede
Licensed Psychologist
I'm a licensed psychologist with 15 years in work and organisational psychology, as a consultant, CHRO, COO and head of research and development, and most recently in clinical neuropsychology. I've seen recruitment from both sides. On one side, I've built psychometric tools, assessments and people-analytics methods. On the other, as an HR executive, I've been accountable for the full HR function: recruitment, compensation and benefits, policies, employment law compliance, and the HR systems behind it all, including selecting and procuring ATS and HRIS. That's why RWB checks both whether recruitment is fair and whether it works.
FAQ
Here are the most common questions.
We haven't documented any of this. Is that a problem?
No. Most organisations start there. Each area comes with a requirement sheet showing what counts as evidence, and templates for what is missing. Undocumented practice is the most common gap and usually the quickest to close.
Do you deliver the training and write the policies for us?
No. We assess, identify gaps and provide templates, and the work itself is yours. Keeping assessment separate from delivery is what keeps it independent.
How long does certification take?
That depends on where you start and how quickly you can gather evidence. From the first assessment, each written verdict is documentation you can use: in your active-measures work, in procurement, and in conversations with suppliers. Points are banked, so progress holds even if you pause.
What happens once we're certified?
The status on your RWB mark changes from "Enrolled" to "Certified", with the year, and you may state that your recruitment is certified to the Recruitment Without Bias® standard. Certification is re-verified annually, and the programme continues at the same price.
Is the RWB mark a certification?
It shows your status. From the day you enrol, the mark reads "Enrolled", which recognises that you are working toward the standard. It reads "Certified" only once you reach 147 points.
What information do you need from us?
Documentation of how you recruit: role profiles, process descriptions, assessment templates, policies, and aggregated data where an area requires it. We don't need personal data about individual candidates.
How does this relate to the Discrimination Act and the AI Act?
The written verdicts document that you investigate and address discrimination risks in recruitment, as the Discrimination Act requires. The AI & Automated Selection Tools area covers what the AI Act will require of organisations using AI in recruitment from December 2027, including competent human oversight. This is not legal advice. It gives your legal team the psychological and technical evidence they can't produce themselves.
Do you have ties to tool vendors?
None. We don't sell, recommend or take commission on any recruitment or assessment tool.
How is this different from a diversity audit?
A diversity audit looks at outcomes: who you ended up hiring. The standard assesses the structure producing those outcomes, and whether your selection methods actually predict performance in the job. Fair and accurate go together: a structured method that measures what matters for the job leaves less room for both bias and noise.
Every organisation starts from a different place.
Send a short message about how you recruit today, and you'll get a written answer on where you would start.