Since the EU AI Act (Article 86) came into force, candidates have the right to request clear explanations about the role of AI in the hiring process and the main elements behind any decision that significantly affects them. This article gives you the information and ready-to-use response templates you need to handle these requests with clarity and confidence.
1. Why candidates may contact you
A candidate may reach out to ask questions such as:
"How was my score calculated?"
"Did an AI decide to reject my application?"
"What role did artificial intelligence play in my assessment?"
"Can you explain why I was not selected?"
These are legitimate questions. Answering them clearly builds trust with your candidates and strengthens your employer brand.
💡 Good to know
You are not required to share your internal selection criteria or scoring benchmarks. You simply need to explain the role of AI and confirm that the final decision was made by a human.
2. What you need to know before responding
What AI does in Maki assessments
Depending on the assessment type, AI may be involved in:
Conducting the conversational screening interview
Transcribing candidate voice or video answers and retrieving information from their answers,
Calculating scores for open-ended answers, based on predefined scoring grids
Measuring spoken language proficiency, including fluency and pronunciation
Identifying signals that may suggest irregularities during an assessment (candidate proctoring)
Providing recruiter guidance by generating interview plans and recommending interview structure & format (Tomo agent)
Generating personalized candidate answers and feedback, if this feature has been enabled
What AI does not do
AI does not make recruitment decisions. The scores and results produced by Maki are indicators designed to support your decision, not replace it. You remain free to weigh them alongside other criteria: availability, languages spoken, interview impression, or any other factor relevant to the role.
💡 Tips
Always take the time to review your candidates' detailed results before making a decision. Maki scores are valuable indicators, but they do not replace your own judgement. A candidate may have scored below your usual threshold while still presenting a highly relevant profile for the role. Never reject an application based solely on an automated score.
❗️ Important
A low score does not automatically disqualify a candidate. You can always decide to move a candidate forward based on your own assessment of their overall profile.
3. What Maki has put in place to help you
Communicating your decision to the candidate
That the decision always belongs to you. When a candidate asks about their rejection or the outcome of their application, always start by explaining your decision in your own words, based on the criteria that matter for the role.
💡Good to know
You are not required to share your internal scoring benchmarks or selection thresholds. A clear, human, and transparent explanation is enough.
Sharing the candidate assessment report
In order to help and guide the candidate with full transparency when they have questions about their score, you can share their results by following these steps:
Open the candidate's page in Maki.
Click on the three dots at the top right of their overall score.
Select "Copy link to assessment report" and share the link directly with the candidate.
⚠️ Warning
Make sure you are copying the candidate scorecard (the assessment report), not the hiring manager scorecard. The hiring manager scorecard contains additional internal information that is intended for recruiters, not for candidates.
To make transparency easier for you, Maki has created a dedicated article in the candidate Help Center, available here: https://help.makipeople.com/en/articles/659390-how-is-ai-used-in-my-maki-assessment
This article explains to candidates, in plain language:
How AI is involved in their assessment
Why recruitment decisions are always made by humans
Their rights under the EU AI Act
You can share it directly with any candidate who asks these questions: it is often the quickest and clearest way to respond.
💡 Good to know
This article is automatically included in the scorecard sent to each candidate at the end of their assessment. In many cases, the candidate will already have access to this information before reaching out to you.
4. Suggested responses to send to candidates
Below are ready-to-use templates. Adapt them to your tone and the specific context of the request.
If the candidate asks why they were not selected
If the candidate asks why they were not selected
"Thank you for reaching out.
The decision was made by our recruitment team, taking into account several criteria relevant to the role.
[OPTIONAL if Maki assessment results contributed to your decision : Your Maki assessment results were one of the elements considered, among others. ]
[EXPLAIN YOUR DECISION HERE].
AI was not involved in the decision itself: it only contributed to processing and scoring your answers during the assessment.
For more information, on how AI is used by MakiPeople, we invite you to visit Maki People’s dedicated article by clicking on this link: https://help.makipeople.com/en/articles/659390-how-is-ai-used-in-my-maki-assessment"
💡 Good to know
You are not required to share the specific thresholds or benchmarks you used to compare candidates. A clear, human, and transparent response is sufficient to meet your obligations under the EU AI Act.
If the candidate disagrees with their assessment scores and claims they were unfairly rejected
If the candidate disagrees with their assessment scores and claims they were unfairly rejected
"Thank you for reaching out.
Your assessment results were carefully reviewed by our recruitment team as part of the hiring process, prior to any decision being made.
No abnormality was detected in your scores. The final decision was made by our team, taking into account several criteria relevant to the role, of which your assessment results were just one part.
[EXPLAIN YOUR DECISION HERE]
For more information, we invite you to visit our dedicated article by clicking on this link: https://help.makipeople.com/en/articles/659390-how-is-ai-used-in-my-maki-assessment"
If the candidate asks who made the recruitment decision
If the candidate asks who made the recruitment decision
"Recruitment decisions are always made by our team, and not by an automated system.
The Maki assessment platform provides us with objective indicators to support our evaluation.
The final decision takes into account several criteria specific to the role, of which your assessment results are just one part.
For more information, we invite you to visit our dedicated article by clicking on this link: https://help.makipeople.com/en/articles/659390-how-is-ai-used-in-my-maki-assessment"
If the candidate wants to know their detailed scores
If the candidate wants to know their detailed scores
"Thank you for your request.
Please find below a link to your personal assessment report, which summarizes your performance across each assessment you completed as part of our recruitment process: https://help.makipeople.com/en/articles/659390-how-is-ai-used-in-my-maki-assessment"
To generate and share the candidate scorecard, follow these steps:
Open the candidate's page in Maki.
Click on the three dots at the top right of their overall score.
Select "Copy link to assessment report" and share the link directly with the candidate.
⚠️ Important
Always make sure you are sharing the candidate scorecard (the assessment report), and not the hiring manager scorecard. The hiring manager scorecard contains additional internal information that is not intended for candidates.
If the candidate asks how AI was used in their assessment
If the candidate asks how AI was used in their assessment
"Thank you for your question.
Maki uses AI at several stages of the assessment process: to transcribe voice or video answers, to calculate scores based on predefined evaluation grids, and in some cases to conduct the conversational interview.
All assessment content has been reviewed and validated by humans before being used.
AI does not take into account personal information such as your name, age, or gender when calculating your results.
For more information, we invite you to visit Maki People’s dedicated article by clicking on this link: https://help.makipeople.com/en/articles/659390-how-is-ai-used-in-my-maki-assessment"
5. Keeping a record of your exchanges
We recommend keeping a record of any candidate requests related to AI or recruitment decisions, along with the responses you provided. This is good practice and supports compliance with applicable regulations.
💡 Good to know
If a candidate's request seems complex or raises specific legal concerns, do not hesitate to involve your legal or HR team before responding.
Need more help?
⚠️ Need more help?
Contact us at [email protected] or use the chat widget in the bottom-right corner.