Effective Date: August 25, 2026
Last Updated: August 25, 2026
Top Applicant uses automated processing to help job seekers find relevant openings and to help employers find relevant candidates and to allow individual users to see unique & postive attributes about their profile. This page explains exactly how that works, what it does and does not do, what information it uses, and what rights you have. It also sets out information that employers using Top Applicant may need in order to meet their own legal obligations.
We publish this because we think you’re entitled to know how a system that touches your career actually works — and because a growing number of laws require it.
In plain terms: we use your location, job title, experience, skills, and the personal and workplace values you enter to suggest jobs and surface candidates. Employers read profiles, résumés, and assessment results themselves and make every hiring decision. Our system does not recommend nor make any hiring decisions nor any applicant or individual rejections. Our system never sees your race, gender, age, disability status, or any other protected characteristic, because we don’t collect that information at all.
| If you are… | Read |
| A job seeker using Top Applicant | Sections 2 through 8 |
| An employer using Top Applicant to recruit | Sections 2 through 5, then Sections 9 and 10 |
We use automated processing to generate compatibility and matching results. These results suggest jobs that may fit an applicant and surface candidates who may fit an employer’s opening.
The automated portion of matching uses exactly these inputs:
| Input | Where it comes from |
| Location and location preferences | Provided by the applicant; job location provided by the employer |
| Current or most recent job title | Provided by the applicant |
| Experience | Provided by the applicant |
| Skills | Provided by the applicant |
| Comparison of workplace values and rankings | Selected and ranked by the applicant, compared against those selected and ranked by the employer |
| Bruder Index | Input provided by the Applicant and it is utilized as a bonus adder to matching results based on index Results as it relates to jobs listed |
Every one of these inputs is information you or the employer chose to provide. Nothing is inferred from outside sources or purchased from a data broker.
The following are read and evaluated by human beings at the employer. They are not filtered or limited or used by our automated system to discriminate nor make recommendations for hire or rejection of any individual or applicant:
This split is deliberate. The automated portion handles the narrow, mechanical question of whether stated requirements and stated preferences line up. The judgment call(s) on any applicant or individual stays with human beings at each specific employer / organization.
Our matching does not use — and structurally cannot use — any of the following, because Top Applicant does not collect this information anywhere in the platform:
There are no fields, forms, or database columns for these categories. See our Privacy Policy for the full list of what we do and do not collect.
On location and ZIP codes
Location is used only to compare where you want to work against where a job is located. We do not use ZIP code, census tract, neighborhood, or any other geographic unit as a stand-in or proxy for a protected characteristic. This is both our policy and, in some states, the law.
On video and voice
We do not analyze video interviews, audio recordings, facial expressions, tone of voice, or any similar signal. We do not use emotion recognition or personality inference from media.
What they do
What they don’t do
Top Applicant is not an employer and does not participate in employment decisions. See Section 3 of our Terms of Use.
The Bruder Index is an assessment available within Top Applicant.
Need an accommodation? If you need a reasonable accommodation to complete an assessment or any part of an application, email privacy@topapplicant.com and contact the employer directly. We will work with you and, where appropriate, connect you with the employer.
You can do all of the following. Most take effect immediately.
| Right | How to exercise it |
| Understand how it works | This page. For anything it doesn’t answer, email privacy@topapplicant.com |
| Correct the inputs | Update your location, job title, experience, skills, and value rankings in your profile. Because matching uses only what you provide, this directly changes your results |
| Opt out of being matched | Turn off profile visibility in your settings. You’ll be removed from employer-side matching and can still apply to any job directly |
| Request human review | Email privacy@topapplicant.com if you believe a compatibility result is wrong. A person will look at it |
| Request an explanation | Ask us how results were generated for you and which categories of information were used |
| Request an accommodation | Email privacy@topapplicant.com, and contact the employer directly |
| Access, download, or delete your data | Instantly at Settings → Your Data and Settings → Profile, or via our Data Request page |
We will not treat you differently, downgrade your account, or reduce your visibility because you exercised any of these rights.
Top Applicant is a technology supplier. The employer using our system is solely responsible for making all hiring decisions for their company. Top Applicant is NOT an employment agency and does nothing more than compare applicant provided information to employer provided information for the benefit of the employer and the applicant both. There are no automated rejection or deletions of applicants by our system and independent human evaluation determines all hiring decisions by the employer. Employers are solely responsible for hiring decisions. Top Applicant shall not be liable for any hiring decisions or lack thereof made by employers. Top Applicant is merely a technology supplier and does not replace any decision making for roles for an employer.
Release of Liability: By utilizing Top Applicant, as a condition required in order to utilize Top Applicant, the employer explicitly agrees to release Top Applicant from any and all liability regarding NYC LL 144 Law & requirements, state of Illinois Law & requirements and state of Colorado Law & requirements regarding employment and hiring practices. Employers are solely responsible for hiring decisions and Top Applicant does not provide any automated decision making for any employer. Employers using Top Applicant are responsible for their own compliance obligations as employers. We provide the disclosures on this page to support that compliance and Top Applicant is NOT an employment agency. Top Applicant will be undergoing an AEDT analysis and, if necessary after the AEDT analysis, a potential bias audit to officially confirm that Top Applicant’s matching system may eliminate its categorization as an “automated employment decision tool”. We believe at this time it is not an automated employment decision tool as defined by NYC Local Law 144.
If you believe our matching has produced an unfair or discriminatory result, tell us at privacy@topapplicant.com with the subject line “AI Concern.” Please include as much detail as you can. We investigate every report, and we will respond to you.
This section is written to help you meet your obligations. It is not legal advice, and providing it does not transfer your compliance responsibilities to us. Consult your own counsel.
If you use compatibility results, matching, ranking, filtering, or assessments in connection with an employment decision, you are the party deploying that tool in your hiring process. The legal obligations that attach to using automated tools in employment decisions generally fall on the employer or employment agency, not on the software provider. Section 6.4 of our Terms of Use sets this out.
Several laws require you to tell candidates when automated tools are used. Here is the information you’ll likely need:
| Item | Detail |
| Tool name | Top Applicant compatibility matching |
| Developer | Active Logic LLC, Kansas City, Mo. |
| Vendor | Top Applicant LLC |
| Employment decisions it may influence | Sourcing, candidate discovery, and the order in which candidates and openings are surfaced for review |
| What it does | Compares stated job requirements and stated candidate attributes and workplace value rankings to produce a compatibility ranking |
| Inputs used | Location, current or most recent job title, experience, skills, and a comparison of applicant-selected and employer-selected workplace values and rankings |
| Inputs not used | No protected characteristics; none are collected by the platform. No ZIP code or geographic proxy for protected class. No video, audio, biometric, or emotion analysis |
| Human review | Profile details, Bruder Index results, and résumés are reviewed by the employer, not scored by the system. All hiring decisions are made by the employer |
| Data retention | See our Privacy Policy, Section 9 |
| Contact for questions and accommodations | privacy@topapplicant.com |
You may reproduce this table in your own candidate notices.
The legal landscape here is moving quickly. The summaries below are current as of the Last Updated date and are provided for general information only.
New York City Local Law 144 of 2021 prohibits employers and employment agencies from using an automated employment decision tool for candidates or employees in New York City unless: the tool has had a bias audit within the previous year, a summary of the audit results is publicly available, and notice is provided to candidates at least 10 business days before use. Enforcement began July 5, 2023 (NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection).
Top Applicant is a technology supplier. The employer using our system is solely responsible for making all hiring decisions for their company. Top Applicant is NOT an employment agency and does nothing more than compare applicant provided information to employer provided information for the benefit of the employer and the applicant both. There are no automated rejection or deletions of applicants by our system and independent human evaluation determines all hiring decisions by the employer. Employers are solely responsible for hiring decisions. Top Applicant shall not be liable for any hiring decisions or lack thereof made by employers. Top Applicant is merely a technology supplier and does not replace any decision making for roles for an employer.
Release of Liability: By utilizing Top Applicant, as a condition required in order to utilize Top Applicant, the employer explicitly agrees to release Top Applicant from any and all liability regarding NYC LL 144 Law & requirements, state of Illinois Law & requirements and state of Colorado Law & requirements regarding employment and hiring practices. Employers are solely responsible for hiring decisions and Top Applicant does not provide any automated decision making for any employer. Employers using Top Applicant are responsible for their own compliance obligations as employers. We provide the disclosures on this page and on our AI Notice page to support that compliance and Top Applicant is NOT an employment agency. Top Applicant will be undergoing an AEDT analysis and a potential bias audit to officially confirm that Top Applicant’s matching system may eliminate its categorization as an “automated employment decision tool”. We believe at this time it is not an automated employment decision tool as defined by Local Law 144.
For employers hiring in New York City: you are responsible for your own compliance, including notice, audit, and posting obligations that apply to you as an employer or employment agency. Use the reference information in Section 9.2 for your candidate notices.
Effective January 1, 2026, Illinois House Bill 3773 amended the Illinois Human Rights Act to make it a civil rights violation for an employer to use artificial intelligence that has the effect of discriminating on the basis of a protected class, or to use ZIP codes as a proxy for a protected class. It also requires employers to notify employees and applicants when AI is used in connection with covered employment decisions, including recruitment, hiring, promotion, discipline, discharge, and the terms and conditions of employment (Crowell & Moring, Illinois State Bar Association).
The Illinois Department of Human Rights postponed its proposed implementing rules in June 2026, but the statutory duties remain in force and enforceable. Draft rules had contemplated that notices identify the AI product, its developer and vendor, the employment decisions it influences, the purpose and data types involved, a contact point, and accommodation instructions, with four-year recordkeeping (ISACO).
Top Applicant’s position: our matching does not use ZIP code or any geographic unit as a proxy for a protected class, and does not use protected characteristics as inputs, as described in Section 4.
For employers with Illinois applicants or employees: you are responsible for providing the required notice. Section 9.2 contains the information such a notice typically requires.
The Colorado AI Act is currently scheduled to take effect June 30, 2026, with a proposal circulating that would substantially rewrite it and delay the effective date to January 1, 2027. As enacted, it treats decisions relating to employment or an employment opportunity as consequential decisions, and contemplates pre-use notice, disclosure obligations, and explanations following adverse decisions (Proskauer, Seyfarth Shaw).
For employers with Colorado applicants or employees: monitor developments and prepare for pre-use notice and adverse-decision explanation obligations.
California has finalized employment discrimination regulations addressing automated decision systems, which apply to employers and to agents acting on their behalf, and which address recordkeeping and the use of automated systems in selection procedures (Seyfarth Shaw).
Separately, California privacy law provides a right to opt out of profiling in furtherance of decisions producing legal or similarly significant effects. Applicants can exercise this by turning off profile visibility, as described in Section 7.
Additional states and localities have enacted or are considering laws governing automated tools in hiring. Notably, Illinois separately regulates AI analysis of video interviews, requiring notice, explanation, and consent — Top Applicant does not analyze video or audio interviews, so that law does not apply to our functionality. Maryland separately restricts the use of facial recognition in interviews, which we also do not use.
If you are an employer, confirm the requirements in every jurisdiction where you recruit.
We will update this page as our functionality changes and as the law develops, and we will revise the Last Updated date. If we materially change how automated matching works — for example, by adding a new input, expanding what is automated, or changing what the output influences — we will update this page before or at the time the change takes effect, and will notify affected users where required.
Top Applicant LLC
4201 Greystone Drive
St. Joseph, MO 64505
Questions about matching, explanations, human review, accommodations, or concerns: privacy@topapplicant.com