§ The result
1 point separates Handshake and Versant by Pearson.
Handshake (Screening) edges Versant by Pearson (Assessment) by 1 point under rubric v1.0, 50 to 49. Handshake leads 4 of the 7 criteria, including Bias Audit Transparency, while Versant by Pearson leads 2, including Article 11 Technical Documentation, and 1 is level. The widest raw gap and the heaviest weighted swing are the same criterion, Article 11 Technical Documentation, and Versant by Pearson holds it (Handshake 48, Versant by Pearson 63, 20% weight), worth 97% of the weighted advantage Versant by Pearson builds across the 2 criteria it leads.
Vendor profile
Handshake
Handshake is an early-career recruiting network whose employer tools use AI to rank applicants against employer-set criteria, find and message matching students and graduates, and target job promotions.
Vendor profile
Versant by Pearson
Versant by Pearson is a suite of AI-scored English proficiency tests (plus spoken Spanish, French, Arabic and Dutch) that automatically score candidates' spoken and written responses on Pearson's Global Scale of English within minutes, used by employers such as contact centres and BPOs to screen applicants and benchmark staff through the ScoreKeeper dashboard.
§ The record
Handshake is filed under Screening AI, Versant by Pearson under Assessment AI. They record no secondary category in common.
Both are in scope of EU AI Act, NYC LL 144, Colorado AI Act and Illinois HB 3773. Only Versant by Pearson is in scope of Mobley v. Workday.
| Record | Handshake | Versant by Pearson |
|---|---|---|
| Price tier | Mid | Mid |
| Headquarters | US | GB |
| Founded | 2014 | 1844 |
§ What decides it
The criteria that move the gap, heaviest swing first.
20% weight · 47% of the movement so far
Article 11 Technical Documentation
Handshake 48 · Versant by Pearson 63
3.0 weighted points to Versant by Pearson
18% weight · 76% of the movement so far
Bias Audit Transparency
Handshake 52 · Versant by Pearson 42
1.8 weighted points to Handshake
15% weight · 85% of the movement so far
Data Governance Disclosure
Handshake 57 · Versant by Pearson 53
0.6 weighted points to Handshake
12% weight · 95% of the movement so far
Post-Market Monitoring
Handshake 48 · Versant by Pearson 43
0.6 weighted points to Handshake
12% weight · 99% of the movement so far
Human Oversight Design
Handshake 58 · Versant by Pearson 56
0.2 weighted points to Handshake
8% weight · 100% of the movement so far
Customer Documentation
Handshake 60 · Versant by Pearson 61
0.1 weighted points to Versant by Pearson
Weighted delta is the raw difference times the criterion weight, so the 6 figures above sum to +0.2 — the difference between the two totals before either is rounded. Shares are of 6.3 points of movement counted without direction. The table below rounds each side to a whole number first, so its Δ raw total reads +1 beside that +0.2.
§ Category-by-category
Raw score per criterion, with weighted delta.
Δ is Handshake minus Versant by Pearson.
| Category | Weight | Handshake | Versant by Pearson | Δ raw | Δ weighted |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Article 11 Technical Documentation | 20% | 48 | 63 | -15 | -3.0 |
| Bias Audit Transparency | 18% | 52 | 42 | +10 | +1.8 |
| FRIA Support | 15% | 30 | 30 | - | - |
| Data Governance Disclosure | 15% | 57 | 53 | +4 | +0.6 |
| Human Oversight Design | 12% | 58 | 56 | +2 | +0.2 |
| Post-Market Monitoring | 12% | 48 | 43 | +5 | +0.6 |
| Customer Documentation | 8% | 60 | 61 | -1 | -0.1 |
| Total | 100% | 50 (F) | 49 (F) | +1 | +0.2 |
§ Evidence
Cited sources and documented absences, criterion by criterion.
An absence is a finding, not a blank: the reviewer looked for a named artefact and recorded that it is not located. Where a source sits is a fact about hosting only.
| Criterion | Weight | Handshake | Versant by Pearson | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cited | Absences | Audit / hosting | Cited | Absences | Audit / hosting | ||
| Article 11 Technical Documentation | 20% | 4 | 1 | Audit reportSources on the vendor's own domainSources on a separate domain | 3 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| Bias Audit Transparency | 18% | 5 | 1 | Audit reportSources on the vendor's own domainSources on a separate domain | 4 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domainSources on a separate domain |
| FRIA Support | 15% | 3 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 2 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| Data Governance Disclosure | 15% | 4 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 3 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| Human Oversight Design | 12% | 4 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 5 | 0 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| Post-Market Monitoring | 12% | 3 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 2 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| Customer Documentation | 8% | 4 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 4 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| All criteria | 100% | 27 | 7 | Audit reportSources on the vendor's own domainSources on a separate domain | 23 | 6 | Sources on the vendor's own domainSources on a separate domain |
Handshake has 34 evidence rows across 7 of 7 criteria — 27 with a source URL, 7 documented absences; Versant by Pearson has 29 evidence rows across 7 of 7 criteria — 23 with a source URL, 6 documented absences; some documentation or audit rows for Handshake and Versant by Pearson sit on a domain separate from the vendor's own site.
Provenance
The scores above are documented by 63 evidence rows on file for these two vendors: 34 for Handshake, across 2 distinct source domains, and 29 for Versant by Pearson, across 2 distinct source domains.
- Rubric
- v1.0
- Handshake last reviewed
- September 25, 2026 · HireAIScore editorial team
- Versant by Pearson last reviewed
- September 25, 2026 · HireAIScore editorial team
HireAIScore scores are editorial research, not legal advice, and no vendor pays for placement, scoring or removal — see the methodology, conflicts policy and terms.
§ Where next