§ The result
4 points separate Spark Hire and Versant by Pearson.
Spark Hire holds a 4-point edge over Versant by Pearson under rubric v1.0, 53 to 49, across the Video interview and Assessment cohorts. The 7 criteria split 4 to 2 in favour of Spark Hire, with 1 level: Spark Hire is ahead on Bias Audit Transparency and Versant by Pearson on Article 11 Technical Documentation. Bias Audit Transparency is both the widest raw gap and the heaviest weighted swing — Spark Hire 62, Versant by Pearson 42 — and at an 18% weight it carries 64% of the weighted advantage Spark Hire holds across the 4 criteria on that side of the table.
Vendor profile
Spark Hire
Spark Hire is a hiring platform combining one-way (async) and live video interviewing with an applicant tracking system (via its Comeet acquisition), and adds AI features that score and rank candidates' resumes and one-way video responses to help recruiters prioritize submissions.
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
Spark Hire is filed under Video interview AI, Versant by Pearson under Assessment AI. They also share 1 secondary category: Screening.
Both are in scope of NYC LL 144, EU AI Act, Illinois HB 3773, Colorado AI Act and Mobley v. Workday.
| Record | Spark Hire | Versant by Pearson |
|---|---|---|
| Price tier | Mid | Mid |
| Headquarters | US | GB |
| Founded | 2012 | 1844 |
§ What decides it
The criteria that move the gap, heaviest swing first.
18% weight · 50% of the movement so far
Bias Audit Transparency
Spark Hire 62 · Versant by Pearson 42
3.6 weighted points to Spark Hire
15% weight · 64% of the movement so far
Data Governance Disclosure
Spark Hire 60 · Versant by Pearson 53
1.1 weighted points to Spark Hire
20% weight · 78% of the movement so far
Article 11 Technical Documentation
Spark Hire 58 · Versant by Pearson 63
1.0 weighted points to Versant by Pearson
12% weight · 88% of the movement so far
Human Oversight Design
Spark Hire 62 · Versant by Pearson 56
0.7 weighted points to Spark Hire
12% weight · 97% of the movement so far
Post-Market Monitoring
Spark Hire 38 · Versant by Pearson 43
0.6 weighted points to Versant by Pearson
8% weight · 100% of the movement so far
Customer Documentation
Spark Hire 64 · Versant by Pearson 61
0.2 weighted points to Spark Hire
Weighted delta is the raw difference times the criterion weight, so the 6 figures above sum to +4.0 — the difference between the two totals before either is rounded. Shares are of 7.2 points of movement counted without direction. The table below rounds each side to a whole number first, so its Δ raw total reads +4 beside that +4.0.
§ Category-by-category
Raw score per criterion, with weighted delta.
Δ is Spark Hire minus Versant by Pearson.
| Category | Weight | Spark Hire | Versant by Pearson | Δ raw | Δ weighted |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Article 11 Technical Documentation | 20% | 58 | 63 | -5 | -1.0 |
| Bias Audit Transparency | 18% | 62 | 42 | +20 | +3.6 |
| FRIA Support | 15% | 30 | 30 | - | - |
| Data Governance Disclosure | 15% | 60 | 53 | +7 | +1.1 |
| Human Oversight Design | 12% | 62 | 56 | +6 | +0.7 |
| Post-Market Monitoring | 12% | 38 | 43 | -5 | -0.6 |
| Customer Documentation | 8% | 64 | 61 | +3 | +0.2 |
| Total | 100% | 53 (F) | 49 (F) | +4 | +4.0 |
§ 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 | Spark Hire | Versant by Pearson | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cited | Absences | Audit / hosting | Cited | Absences | Audit / hosting | ||
| Article 11 Technical Documentation | 20% | 2 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 3 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| Bias Audit Transparency | 18% | 3 | 0 | Audit reportSources on a separate domain | 4 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domainSources on a separate domain |
| FRIA Support | 15% | 1 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 2 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| Data Governance Disclosure | 15% | 3 | 0 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 3 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| Human Oversight Design | 12% | 3 | 0 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 5 | 0 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| Post-Market Monitoring | 12% | 2 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain | 2 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| Customer Documentation | 8% | 2 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domainSources on a separate domain | 4 | 1 | Sources on the vendor's own domain |
| All criteria | 100% | 16 | 4 | 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 |
Spark Hire has 20 evidence rows across 7 of 7 criteria — 16 with a source URL, 4 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 Spark Hire and Versant by Pearson sit on a domain separate from the vendor's own site.
Provenance
The scores above are documented by 49 evidence rows on file for these two vendors: 20 for Spark Hire, across 2 distinct source domains, and 29 for Versant by Pearson, across 2 distinct source domains.
- Rubric
- v1.0
- Spark Hire last reviewed
- June 7, 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