A test for disparate impact. The selection rate for any protected group should be at least 80 percent of the selection rate for the highest-selected group. Originally from the US Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures (1978); now the de facto fairness baseline globally. Picked applies it per protected group per role family per stage.

Account executive. A salesperson who carries a quota and closes deals. The AE is the load-bearing seller in most B2B sales orgs; everything upstream feeds the AE's pipeline.

Automated employment decision tool. NYC Local Law 144 (2023) requires that any AEDT used to hire or promote NYC-based candidates passes an annual bias audit by an independent auditor and that candidates are notified the tool is in use. Picked ships AEDT conformity with the US region launch.

Annex III of the EU AI Act. The list of high-risk AI use cases. Hiring AI sits in Annex III section 4; the conformity-assessment requirements under Articles 9 through 17 apply.

GDPR Article 22. Gives every data subject the right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing that produces legal or similarly significant effects. Picked surfaces a human-review path on every non-advancement decision; the candidate is told this at the point of decision.

Applicant tracking system. Software that organises candidate applications, traditionally as a Kanban-style pipeline. Picked is not an ATS; we replace the manager-facing pipeline view with three vetted finalists rather than 200 cards. See also: pipeline view.

The structured, retrievable record of every decision in a hiring funnel: who decided, when, on what evidence, with what override reason. Six-year minimum retention under FCA SYSC 9; ten years for SMCR senior-manager records.

Business development representative. An outbound salesperson who books meetings; sits earlier in the sales funnel than an AE. Often paired with an inbound counterpart (SDR) at scale.

An interview that asks the candidate about specific past situations, not hypothetical ones. "Tell me about a time you" beats "what would you do if". Higher predictive validity than unstructured interviews; correlates with on-the-job performance at r=0.49 in the Picked held-out cohorts.

EU Blue Card. A multi-jurisdiction EU work permit for highly qualified non-EU candidates. Each EU member state issues its own under a harmonised framework. Minimum salary thresholds vary by country (roughly 45,000 to 60,000 EUR). Timeline 6 to 12 weeks. See also: Skilled Worker visa.

Baseline Personnel Security Standard. UK government standard required for any role accessing classified information at OFFICIAL or above. Covers identity, nationality, employment history (3 years), criminal records. Timeline 4 to 8 weeks. See also: SC, BS7858.

British Standard for security screening of personnel. Most FCA-regulated firms screen to BS7858 for all hires regardless of SMCR classification. Covers identity, right to work, 5-year employment and address history, credit history, criminal records, professional-regulator history. Timeline 5 to 25 working days.

See finalist card. The candidate card is the manager-facing artefact for a single vetted candidate: score, evidence, transcripts, override controls.

Under SMCR, roles that perform a function significant enough to require annual fitness-and-propriety certification but not significant enough to be a Senior Management Function. The hiring SMF attests the candidate is fit and proper; the firm certifies annually. See also: SMCR, SMF, fitness and propriety.

Anthropic's family of AI models. Picked uses Claude for all reasoning: Opus 4.6 for ranking and decisions, Sonnet 4.6 for conversation in the AI screen, Haiku 4.5 for triage. Anthropic does not transcribe; that is Whisper.

FCA SMCR rules of conduct. Five Tier 1 (individual) rules apply to all certified-function and SMF staff: act with integrity, due care, openness with regulators, regard for client interests, proper market conduct. Three Tier 2 rules add senior-manager responsibilities. Breach reporting to the FCA within 7 working days.

EU AI Act Article 43. The structured assessment a high-risk AI provider must complete before placing the system on the market. Covers technical documentation, risk management, data governance, human oversight, accuracy and robustness, post-market monitoring. Picked's conformity assessment is published on /trust/compliance.

In sales, the early-cycle conversation where the seller uncovers the buyer's pain, urgency, decision process, budget, and competing initiatives. In product, the parallel research process where a PM learns what users actually need before scoping a solution.

Data processing agreement. Contract between a data controller and a data processor governing how the processor handles personal data on the controller's behalf. Picked is the processor on candidate data; the hiring company is the controller. Picked's DPA template is on /trust.

US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Enforces Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination on protected characteristics. Picked ships EEOC conformity with the US region launch. See also: AEDT, Illinois AIVIA.

Employer of record. A provider (Deel, Remote, Oyster, others) that employs the worker on your behalf in a jurisdiction you do not have a registered entity in. They handle payroll, tax, social charges, statutory benefits. Typical fee 350 to 800 USD per worker per month. Useful for the first 1 to 5 hires in a new jurisdiction.

The EU's comprehensive AI regulation. In force February 2026. Classifies AI systems by risk level; hiring AI is high-risk under Annex III section 4. High-risk providers must complete conformity assessment (Article 43), publish technical documentation (Article 11), provide human oversight (Article 14), monitor post-deployment (Article 17). Picked is built to spec.

A small label above a page hero or section, typically in mono-uppercase. Used across Picked.ai to mark the section the user is in. Editorial: every page has an eyebrow.

The single-page artefact a hiring manager reads when three vetted finalists arrive. Covers headline, competency breakdown, evidence spans from the transcripts, structured-reference report (sales only), audit-trail manifest (compliance only), next-step buttons. Reading three cards takes 10 to 25 minutes depending on the role family.

FCA standard for SMCR roles. Three pillars: honesty, integrity, reputation; competence and capability; financial soundness. The hiring SMF signs an attestation citing the audit trail before the candidate starts. Annual re-certification for Certified Function holders.

Fundamental rights impact assessment. EU AI Act Article 27 requirement for public bodies and certain private deployers of high-risk AI. Covers the deployer's purpose, period of use, categories of natural persons affected, risks of harm, mitigation measures. Picked provides an FRIA template aligned with the EU AI Act guidance.

The EU General Data Protection Regulation. Picked operates as a data processor for hiring companies (the controllers). Lawful basis for candidate data is typically Article 6(1)(b) (necessary for pre-contractual measures). Right-to-be-forgotten at Article 17; automated-decision-making rights at Article 22. UK GDPR mirrors EU GDPR after Brexit, with adequacy decisions in both directions.

Anthropic's smallest, fastest Claude model. Picked uses Haiku for triage at the top of the funnel: right-to-work check, salary-expectation check, deal-breaker check. Fast, deterministic, cheap.

EU AI Act classification for AI systems likely to cause significant harm to health, safety, or fundamental rights. Hiring AI is high-risk under Annex III section 4. High-risk providers must complete conformity assessment; deployers must complete FRIA.

A background-screening provider used by Picked customers. Triggers BS7858, BPSS, or enhanced DBS checks from the offer-accepted state. The screen output is logged in the Picked audit trail.

Ideal customer profile. In sales, the named description of the buyer the team is best positioned to serve. A specific ICP ("HR software for 200 to 2000 person companies in financial services and healthcare") beats a generic one ("SMB to enterprise") at every stage of the funnel.

Illinois Artificial Intelligence Video Interview Act. Requires that any employer using AI to analyse video interview content notify the candidate, obtain consent, and provide explanation of how the AI works. Picked's voice-first model with no facial recognition lands cleanly inside the constraint. See also: AEDT, EEOC.

An integration or feature with a committed milestone. On the Picked integrations directory, "In progress" means: ships in the first 90 days post-launch or with the V2 enterprise tier. Distinct from "Planned" (committed, no timing) and "Requested" (users have asked).

Item Response Theory. A family of psychometric models that scores a candidate against the difficulty of the items they correctly answer, rather than against the count of correct answers. More precise than classical-test-theory scoring; standard practice in modern assessment.

The pool of assessment items (questions or scenarios) calibrated against on-the-job performance for a given role family. Picked's item bank is sourced from the Neuroworx psychometric battery, validated against over 40,000 hires since 2018. Items are deployed by Item Response Theory; difficulty is calibrated per item.

Job description. The candidate-facing document describing the role. Picked recommends 200 to 320 words; specific first project; posted compensation band; three to five must-haves; no degree requirement unless legally required; no hype vocabulary. See also: rubric.

On the Picked integrations directory and the playbooks hub, "Live" means: available today, in production, no caveats. Distinct from "In progress", "Planned", and "Requested".

The voice-and-video infrastructure Picked uses for the AI screen and the behavioural interview. EU-resident, low-latency. The conversation runs through LiveKit; Whisper transcribes; Claude reasons.

NYC Local Law 144 (2023). Requires that any AEDT (automated employment decision tool) used to hire or promote NYC-based candidates passes an annual bias audit by an independent auditor and that candidates are notified the tool is in use. See also: AEDT.

A structured document describing an AI model's intended use, training data, performance characteristics, limitations, and known biases. Picked publishes a model card for every role-family rubric on /trust/model-cards; required under EU AI Act Article 11.

NHS Digital Technology Assessment Criteria. A clearance framework for healthtech suppliers to the NHS. Covers clinical safety, data protection, technical security, interoperability. Picked supports DTAC-relevant compliance posture for healthtech customers.

An identity-verification and right-to-work-check provider. Used by Picked at the offer-accepted stage for compliance roles. EU-residency-aware.

On-target earnings. The total compensation a salesperson would earn if they hit 100 percent of quota: base salary plus commission at target. Picked role briefs and offers post OTE explicitly, with accelerator structure where applicable.

When a hiring manager changes a rank or advancement decision from the one Picked surfaced. About 15 to 25 percent of finalist ranks are overridden depending on role family. Every override is logged in the audit trail with the captured reason.

On the Picked integrations directory, "Planned" means committed but without a specific milestone. Distinct from "Live" (available today), "In progress" (committed with a milestone), "Requested" (users have asked).

A long-form, prescriptive guide to one role family or one scenario. Picked publishes six playbooks: engineering, sales, product, founder's-first-ten, cross-border, compliance. Each is 8 to 15 sections; 30 to 40 minutes to read end-to-end.

Product manager. The role that owns a product area: discovery, scoping, prioritisation, partnership with engineering and design and GTM. Three common variants: spec-runner, analytical, portfolio. Picked's product hiring playbook covers all three.

Product-market fit. The point at which a company's product is good enough that a meaningful share of the target market actively pulls it. Hiring before PMF differs from hiring after PMF; the founder's-first-ten-hires playbook covers the early-stage case.

Product marketing manager. The role that owns positioning, launch narrative, sales enablement, and competitive intelligence. Different rubric from a product manager; Picked's product hiring playbook describes both.

A demographic attribute protected from discrimination under employment law. UK Equality Act 2010 names nine: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation. The 4/5ths rule applies per protected characteristic.

The period during which a new hire is brought to full productivity. Engineering ramp is short (productive in weeks); sales ramp is long (productive at 90 days, peak at 6 months for AE roles). Ramp expectations should be in the offer letter, not negotiated later.

The structured set of competencies, weights, and behavioural anchors against which a candidate is scored. Picked proposes a default rubric per role family; the hiring manager tunes the weights per specific role. The rubric drives the AI screen, the assessment, and the behavioural interview.

Security Cleared. UK clearance for sustained access to SECRET-classified information. Conducted by UKSV (UK Security Vetting). Timeline 6 to 12 weeks; up to 6 months for complex cases. Portable across UK government contractors for 24 months between sponsoring employers.

Sales development representative. An inbound salesperson who qualifies leads and books meetings for AEs. Typically a 12 to 24 month role before promotion to AE; high turnover by design.

UK work permit. The post-Brexit replacement for Tier 2. Employer holds a sponsor licence; role meets a minimum salary threshold (currently GBP 38,700 for most professional roles in the 2026 framework); candidate scores on a points-based system. Total sponsorship cost over a typical three-year visa: roughly GBP 12,000 to 15,000.

Senior Managers and Certification Regime. FCA framework for the regulation of individuals at financial-services firms. Classifies roles as Senior Management Functions (SMF), Certified Functions, Conduct Rules staff, or unregulated. Personal liability sits with the SMF holder for the work in their function.

Senior Management Function. Under SMCR, the highest classification of regulated role. Specific functions are listed in the FCA Handbook; the SMF holder carries personal regulatory liability. Fitness-and-propriety attestation is signed by the SMF (or by another SMF if the role being filled is itself an SMF).

Anthropic's mid-tier Claude model. Picked uses Sonnet for the AI screen conversation: fast enough for real-time voice, smart enough for adaptive probes. Opus handles ranking; Haiku handles triage.

A specific quoted excerpt from a candidate's transcript used as evidence for a score. Picked's finalist card surfaces transcript spans against each competency score, so the hiring manager can see what drove the score and override on disagreement.

To post a role across multiple job boards from a single source. Picked syndicates every role by default to LinkedIn, Indeed, Otta, plus role-family-specific channels (Mind the Product, RepVue, Honeypot, etc.). The hiring manager does not configure the syndication; it follows from the role brief.

FCA Handbook SYSC chapter 9. Specifies record-keeping requirements for FCA-regulated firms. Six-year minimum retention for general records; ten years for SMCR senior-manager records. Picked retains the hiring audit trail to this standard by default.

An asynchronous work-sample exercise given to a candidate to complete on their own time, typically over a weekend. Picked does not use take-homes for engineering roles; they select for candidates with weekend free time and reward thoroughness over judgement. The behavioural interview plus the on-site half-day produce higher predictive validity.

The first stage of the Picked funnel. Confirms work eligibility, salary expectations, must-have deal-breakers. Runs at intake; about 40 percent of applicants pass and reach the AI screen. Powered by Haiku 4.5 for speed and cost.

UK Security Vetting. The government body that conducts SC and DV clearances. Operates from UKSV centres in Newport and elsewhere; the candidate completes the eSecurity Questionnaire and UKSV runs the checks.

On Picked, a vetted candidate has been through four checks: triage, AI screen, role-fit assessment, behavioural interview. The CV is not one of them. We do not keyword-filter, we do not rank by school, we do not score on tone of voice. The four checks produce a structured score sheet and the evidence spans behind every score.

OpenAI's speech-recognition model. Picked uses Whisper for transcription only: the voice from LiveKit becomes text via Whisper, then Claude reasons over the text. OpenAI does not see candidate data beyond the audio stream for transcription; no Claude-equivalent role.