How recruitment agencies can sell data to AI companies

The asset most agencies think of first, the candidate database, is the hardest to license. A resume database is mostly personal information, and background checks are regulated consumer reports. The records that show how recruiters work, from briefs to shortlisting reasons to outcomes, carry far less risk.

What recruitment data do AI companies buy?

AI companies buy recruitment data that shows matching and judgment. micro1's brief asks for workflows, templates, CRM records and internal communications, and an agency's ATS and CRM hold all of these.

Can recruitment agencies sell candidate resumes?

Recruitment agencies should not sell identifiable candidate resumes. The California Attorney General said in July 2023 that, since January 1, 2023, covered businesses must comply with the CCPA for employee data, and the Act treats a transfer of personal information for monetary or other valuable consideration as a sale.

Your privacy promises to candidates also bind you. The FTC warned in February 2024 that it may be unfair or deceptive to adopt more permissive data practices, such as AI training, through a quiet retroactive change to a privacy policy. Whether de-identified records still count as personal information is a question for your lawyer, so take advice before licensing anything derived from candidate files.

Which candidate data must always be excluded?

Background check reports and self-identification data must always be excluded. Under 15 U.S.C. section 1681b(f), a person shall not use or obtain a consumer report for any purpose the Fair Credit Reporting Act does not permit, and a consumer reporting agency may furnish a report for employment purposes only under the conditions in section 1681b(b).

Daniel Goldberg of Frankfurt Kurnit Klein and Selz recommends excluding high-risk data entirely rather than relying on de-identification. For an agency, that means background and criminal record checks, voluntary self-identification forms, work authorization documents and any health or accommodation information.

AI buyers care about recruitment data provenance because hiring tools are regulated. New York City's Local Law 144 bars employers and employment agencies from using an automated employment decision tool unless it has had a bias audit within one year of use, the audit results are public and candidates get notice, and the city began enforcing it on July 5, 2023.

A buyer selling into that market will ask where every record came from, how candidates were told and whether the data reflects biased past decisions. Our data provenance guide explains what they look for.

If you hold UK or EU data

UK agencies face a sector rule. Regulation 28 of the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003 says an agency must not disclose information about a work-seeker without prior consent, except to provide work-finding services, for legal proceedings or to the work-seeker's professional body. The ICO lists diversity data such as ethnic origin and health as special category data.

Buyers serving the EU face the EU AI Act, whose Annex III, point 4 lists AI systems for recruitment or selection as high-risk, and whose Article 10 requires training data governance, including examination for possible biases.

How do you sell recruitment data through Sell My Data To AI?

We start with a consultation. Our eight-point vetting standard checks contract restrictions, privacy notices and the de-identification method, with a re-identification test run on a sample.

Buyers see redacted samples under a mutual NDA, and you approve every buyer and every license term. Read whether selling company data to AI is safe, or book a consultation.