How do Virginia agencies use tech to hire workers? Published August 21, 2026 at 5:00 AM EDT A vendor for the DMV has been accused of collecting data without applicants' consent. Artificial intelligence and other new technology is reshaping how employers - including states - find and hire applicants, offering them tools to scan resumes and conduct one-way interviews from a large pool of candidates. This technology has also provoked privacy fears and concerns that some applicants won't get a fair shot because of biases found in the tools. VPM News reviewed state procurement records and found examples of such tools being used by state agencies and offices, including the Department of Motor Vehicles and the attorney general's office. Records show that in fiscal years 2024 and 2025, the AG's office had yearly subscriptions with the AI hiring company TestGorilla B.V. According to an official in the AG's office, the contract was not renewed in 2025. The press office of Attorney General Jay Jones, who took office in January, said it didn't have information about how TestGorilla was used. The DMV screens applicants for front-line customer service roles using an interview tool from HireVue, a Utah-based company that has previously faced lawsuits and scrutiny over accusations of bias and improper data collection. HireVue recently agreed to pay $3.75 million to settle a class action lawsuit that claimed the AI company collected "biometric voice and facial data" without getting proper consent from applicants in Illinois. DMV said its use of HireVue's Virtual Job Tryout tool doesn't collect any biometric data from applicants. "The department's contract includes data privacy and security provisions that prohibit collection outside the contracted use case, and the information collected and analyzed is limited to what's provided in the applicant's resume," a spokesperson wrote in an email. Applicants are asked DMV questions through HireVue's virtual interview platform, recording answers that are scored using a qualifications rubric from DMV. "Candidates whose scores meet the established threshold advance to one or more interviews - all of which are conducted with DMV employees, not automated review," the DMV spokesperson said. The spokesperson added: "DMV does not use any AI with the Virtual Tryout feature. Also, DMV does not use AI to conduct interviews. Every interview is with a DMV employee and there is no AI review of the interview answers." According to procurement records, the DMV has spent a total of $300,000 ($150,000 in both FY25 and FY26) to use HireVue's interview platform over the last two years. In 2019, HireVue faced accusations that it didn't follow basic AI decision-making standards, and that it used secret algorithms and facial recognition to screen applicants. In 2020, HireVue said it stopped a feature that used visual analysis to evaluate applicants' facial expressions. Jai Jaisimha, a Seattle-based tech entrepreneur, co-founded an AI-centered nonprofit called The Transparency Coalition. The organization researches AI to educate the public about its risks and opportunities, and also advocates and lobbies for policy changes to ensure guardrails are in place. "It needs to be something that the tools actually assist the human in doing the review and ensuring that qualified candidates aren't missed," Jaisimha said about AI hiring tools. "That's something I think that's super important." Under its contract, HireVue is required to have a third party conduct annual audits and report back to DMV, per the agency. The DMV spokesperson said the "reports are protected under NDA and can't be shared publicly." Jaisimha told VPM News that independent audits like the ones DMV says are done for its use of HireVue are "essential prerequisites" before using new technologies. Another crucial feature is being able to monitor any potential harms with the product. "The state needs to have the ability to have those issues corrected, or if the performance is so defective, they need to be able to turn things off if they don't perform as expected," he said. Since DMV started using HireVue in January 2025, the agency has had "faster time-to-hire," and candidates "come into the process with more realistic expectations of what the role actually involves," the spokesperson wrote. The department has also seen higher retention rates among the applicants who are hired through the process, the spokesperson said. Surveys completed by applicants who go through the process "have been very positive with an average combined positive rating of 98%," DMV's spokesperson said. With concerns about AI bias leading to discriminatory results, Jaisimha said states need to be prepared for potential liability exposure with any new technology they use. Jaisimha said states are in a unique role when it comes to AI use because they're not just any other employer - they're also "the guardians of our rights." "They have a special responsibility to ensure that they receive appropriate assurances from the makers of these tools that the tools have been properly tested," he said. "And they need to verify that the testing has actually performed to their level of interest." Employers also use automated screening systems to review people's resumes, Jaisimha said, and that some states include laws and policies to ensure a human remains in the loop. Under Virginia's AI standards, agencies and suppliers are required to have a human in the loop whenever the systems are "integrated into Mission Essential and Business Critical business processes." But, Jaisimha said, "My understanding is that these tools also make it really easy for people to sort of bulk reject large numbers of applications without careful review." Ben Marlin is an instructor in the information systems department at Virginia Commonwealth University's School of Business who primarily teaches business AI courses. Marlin said ever-evolving AI tools, such as Claude and ChatGPT, have altered the hiring process because they now have the ability to "infer what somebody's going to be." "It can read the entire resume, and put 'summarize the person's potential' to not just look for keywords, not just look for key skills, but actually read the entire package and determine if somebody could be a good fit based on what it read about the job description," he told VPM News. One other major shift that new technology has had in hiring practices is the emergence of more interview tools, such as the one HireVue and other companies offer. "You're getting interviewed by a bot, and it can take your audio and your video and infer as well," Marlin said. "It's not limited to just words." Employers aren't the only ones using AI, Marlin said - job seekers are too. "The problem now is somebody's using AI to write the cover letter, somebody's using AI to write the resume, and then AI's reading it," he said. In one 2026 survey, 92% of the 998 employers who participated said AI-generated resumes are commonplace. Among other issues, respondents raised concerns that this can mask an applicant's true abilities. According to a 2026 Resume Genius survey, 71% of the 1,000 US hiring managers who responded said they screen resumes using applicant tracking software. State records show that in FY25, the DMV contracted with HireVue for its applicant tracking system, which came with a cost of $180,000.

Hirevue momentum accelerates as employers emphasize skills based hiring. Aug 18, 2026, 07:00 ET New customer bookings more than triple as employers shift to validated skills and trusted, science-backed AI; Hirevue launches AI Interviewer and Assessment Builder and earns FedRAMP Certification SALT LAKE CITY, Aug. 18, 2026 /PRNewswire/ - Hirevue, a global leader in skills validation, today shared strong results for the first half of the year. Growth was fueled by significant new customer acquisition, continued demand for skills-based hiring and assessments, expansion across U.S. and international markets, and the launch of new AI-powered products. This first half of the year has been marked by a broader shift in the industry: Teams are looking to move from traditional hiring signals towards validated skills, hiring science, and data that identifies the candidates with capabilities to succeed. And as AI floods the hiring process, employers increasingly need technology they can trust and defend - technology that is transparent, science-backed, and validated to predict real-world performance. Hirevue has: * More than tripled bookings from new customers in the first half of the year. * Seen accelerating demand for its science-backed skills assessments, which more than doubled assessment bookings year-over-year. * Earned FedRAMP Certification for its next generation platform strengthening its ability to serve federal agencies with secure, enterprise-grade hiring technology. * Deepened momentum in the Middle East with new and expanded deployments at leading organizations across the region. "Our first-half performance shows that organizations are fundamentally changing how they think about identifying talent," said Jeremy Friedman, Chief Executive Officer at Hirevue. "The growth we're seeing across new customers, assessments, and global markets tells us the shift to validated skills is durable and accelerating. Employers want AI they can trust and stand behind, and that is exactly what we build." Hirevue's H1 momentum was further supported by the launch of two new products: * Assessment Builder offers teams the ability to create assessments backed by validation research in minutes. * AI Interviewer brings Hirevue's decades of hiring science and validation expertise to voice-based conversational AI, helping enterprises uncover qualified talent at scale while maintaining the rigor, transparency, and governance required for high-stakes hiring decisions. "By leveraging AI-powered platforms and integrated data, TA teams can identify, attract, and engage top talent - often before competitors even know those candidates are available. This proactive, data-driven approach enables organizations to respond quickly to changing business needs, seize new opportunities, and fuel growth from within," said Stella Ioannidou, Senior Research Director at The Josh Bersin Company. Hirevue also strengthened its leadership team during the first half of the year with the addition of Samir Gulati as Chief Marketing Officer and elevating Matt Foggett to Executive VP of Worldwide Sales. The appointments bring additional expertise to the company as Hirevue scales its technology and expands into new markets. "We have a strong core business, an expanding global footprint, and new products that significantly increase the markets and hiring challenges we can address," Friedman added. "Adding Samir Gulati and Matt Foggett to our leadership team gives us even greater depth as we deliver on that for our customers." As organizations increasingly turn to skills-based hiring and validated AI to make faster, more confident talent decisions, Hirevue will keep investing where it always has - in the science and products that make those decisions possible. About Hirevue Hirevue is redefining how organizations make hiring decisions. As the leader in skills validation, Hirevue helps employers move beyond resumes and interviews alone to understand what candidates can actually do. Combining decades of selection science with intelligent interviewing technology, science-backed assessments, agentic AI, and workflow automation, Hirevue delivers the evidence organizations need to hire with greater speed, confidence, and fairness. Hundreds of organizations worldwide - including over 40% of the Fortune 100 - trust Hirevue to improve quality of hire, reduce turnover, and create exceptional candidate experiences. Hirevue has powered more than 180 million assessments, 80 million video interviews, and over 200 million candidate engagements. Media Contacts: SOURCE Hirevue