candidate select GmbH

candidate select GmbH, which markets itself under the short brand name 'case', is a German human-resources technology company based in Cologne. It builds software and services for data-driven recruiting, covering the pipeline from application intake through to the final hiring decision. Its product family includes the case Talent Gateway, a processing layer that collects, structures and pre-selects incoming applications using artificial intelligence together with deterministic criteria, and then feeds normalized applicant profiles and scores directly into a company's applicant tracking system (ATS). Alongside this, candidate select offers diagnostic scores that place educational and work experience in context; the company states these have been validated in more than 30 scientific studies. A third pillar is employer branding and sourcing, supported by a database of more than 120,000 students, graduates and young professionals, which the company uses to help employers reach high-performing talent in Germany through targeted mailings, job postings and career events. The company traces its origins to academic research. Its founding team of three doctoral economists studied the transition from university to the labour market long before the business existed. In 2015 the team focused on a concrete question: why do university grades say so little about who succeeds in a job? Their research answer, supported by more than 30 studies, is that grades are not inherently uninformative but become unusable without context. Knowing how difficult a course of study is and where a candidate stands within their cohort allows far more to be read from a CV. The candidate select GmbH emerged from this research project at the University of Bonn, supported with research funding from the Federal Republic of Germany. From 2020 the company accelerated. Investors including Rolf Schrömgens, Alexander Schröder-Frerkes and Thomas Alt came on board. At the same time candidate select won the EU- and NRW-funded FAIR project, working with the University of Cologne, Deutsche Telekom, Simon Kucher, Viega and Studitemps. The goal was to make discrimination in algorithmic selection processes measurable and to reduce it. The project produced both the FAIR Index and a standalone algorithm for evaluating work experience. In 2022 the company opened its algorithms to talent as well: students and graduates can since then assess themselves free of charge, view their case Score and get in touch with suitable employers. candidate select positions itself at the intersection of research and recruiting practice, describing research as part of its DNA and continuing to publish studies. Its stated mission, pursued since 2015, is to make recruiting simpler and fairer. The company is privately held and headquartered in Cologne, Germany.

candidate select GmbH, commonly shortened to 'case', began as a research project rather than a business. Its founding team of three doctoral economists investigated the transition between university and the labour market long before the company existed. In 2015 the team crystallized a concrete question: why do university grades say so little about who will succeed in a job? Their research, eventually supported by more than 30 studies, concluded that grades are not inherently uninformative but are unusable without context. If one knows how difficult a course of study is and where a person stands within their cohort, a CV becomes far more informative. Out of this research project at the University of Bonn, the candidate select GmbH was founded, supported with research funding from the Federal Republic of Germany. The company dates its mission — making recruiting simpler and fairer — to 2015. From 2020 the company gained momentum. Investors including Rolf Schrömgens, Alexander Schröder-Frerkes and Thomas Alt joined. In the same period candidate select won the EU- and NRW-funded FAIR project, carried out together with the University of Cologne, Deutsche Telekom, Simon Kucher, Viega and Studitemps. The project's aim was to make discrimination in algorithmic selection processes measurable and to reduce it. It produced the FAIR Index as well as a standalone algorithm for evaluating work experience. Research and practice remained closely linked; the Fachkraft study conducted by the founding team at Maastricht University continues to run. In 2022 candidate select opened its algorithms to talent: students and graduates can since then assess themselves free of charge, view their case Score and connect with suitable employers. The company continues to publish studies regularly and describes research as part of its DNA. It is headquartered in Cologne, Germany, and operates primarily in the German market.

• 2022

  Algorithms opened to talent: students and graduates can assess themselves free of charge, view their case Score and contact suitable employers.

• 2020

  Company gains momentum; investors Rolf Schrömgens, Alexander Schröder-Frerkes and Thomas Alt join, and candidate select wins the EU- and NRW-funded FAIR project with partners including the University of Cologne, Deutsche Telekom, Simon Kucher, Viega and Studitemps.

• 2015

  Founding team of three doctoral economists focuses on why university grades predict job success poorly; candidate select GmbH emerges from a research project at the University of Bonn with German federal research funding.

Data-driven, science-validated recruiting tools positioned at the intersection of research and HR practice, aiming to make recruiting simpler and fairer.

• case Talent Gateway

  Collects, structures and pre-selects incoming applications using AI and deterministic criteria, acting as a processing layer between application intake and the recruiting system; CV data from different sources is merged, parsed, normalized and scored, producing comparable applicant profiles and scores that can be processed directly in the ATS.

• Diagnostic scores

  Scores that place educational and work experience in context, validated in more than 30 scientific studies, to support more informed hiring decisions.

• Employer branding & sourcing

  Reaches students, graduates and young professionals via targeted mailings, job postings and exclusive career events, drawing on a database of more than 120,000 talents.

• FAIR Index

  Developed out of the EU- and NRW-funded FAIR project to make discrimination in algorithmic selection processes measurable and reduce it.

• Work experience evaluation algorithm

  A standalone algorithm for evaluating work experience that emerged from the FAIR project.

1. 1candidate select – Data Driven Recruitingcandidate-select.com
2. 2Über uns | candidate select GmbHcandidate-select.com
3. 3candidate select GmbH (Germany) – Wikidatawikidata.org