How Kempian Works
The candidate journey, the Four-State Model, and the AI decision flow.
Three pictures explain most of what people want to know about Kempian: what happens to a resume, who can see a candidate's information, and who actually makes the hiring decision. This page is that guide.
*This document is part of Kempian's Trust Center documentation. It is reviewed periodically and does not constitute legal advice. Draft v1.0.*
1. The Candidate Journey
From the moment a resume reaches Kempian to the moment an employer decides, here's what happens and who's involved at each step.
Candidate journey: Candidate to Resume to AI Analysis to Human Review to Recruiter Decision to Employer Decision, with AI-assisted steps in blue and human-controlled steps in green
Mermaid diagram source (for web / live Trust Center rendering):
| flowchart LR ACandidate --> BResume B --> CAI Analysis C --> DHuman Review D --> ERecruiter Decision E --> FEmployer Decision style C fill:#E3EDFB,stroke:#1F3864,color:#1F3864 style D fill:#E7F4EA,stroke:#276B37,color:#276B37 style E fill:#E7F4EA,stroke:#276B37,color:#276B37 style F fill:#E7F4EA,stroke:#276B37,color:#276B37 |
Only one step in this chain is AI-assisted: AI Analysis, where Kempian reads the resume and generates a match score, a summary, and an explanation. Every step after that is a person — first a human review checkpoint, then the recruiter, then the employer. A resume never goes straight from AI analysis to a hiring outcome.
2. The Four-State Model: Who Can See What
Not every candidate's information is visible the same way. What a recruiter can see depends on how the candidate's data reached Kempian, and what the candidate has actually agreed to.
Four-State Model diagram: ATS import leads to Internal (full contact visible), self-registration leads to Marketplace (profile visible, contact hidden), AI sourcing leads to AI-Discovered (no personal data shown), and both Marketplace and AI-Discovered move to Connected when the candidate takes action
Mermaid diagram source (for web / live Trust Center rendering):
| flowchart LR ATS(Employer's ATS) --> InternalInternal<br/>Full contact details visible SelfReg(Candidate self-registers) --> MarketplaceMarketplace<br/>Profile visible, contact hidden Sourced(AI sourcing, public sources) --> DiscoveredAI-Discovered<br/>No personal data shown Marketplace -- candidate accepts --> ConnectedConnected<br/>Candidate's own choices apply Discovered -- candidate responds --> Connected style Internal fill:#E7F4EA,stroke:#276B37,color:#276B37 style Marketplace fill:#FDF1DC,stroke:#B8720B,color:#B8720B style Discovered fill:#FBE3E1,stroke:#B83B2E,color:#B83B2E style Connected fill:#E3EDFB,stroke:#1F3864,color:#1F3864 |
What changes at each state
| State | How a candidate gets there | What a recruiter sees | What a recruiter can do |
| Internal | Their employer already imported the record from its own system | Full profile and contact details | Contact directly — the organisation already lawfully holds this data |
| Marketplace | They created a profile on Kempian themselves | Profile, skills, and match data — no contact details | Message through Kempian's relay, or request a connection |
| AI-Discovered | Kempian's AI found their public professional profile | Engagement signals only (for example, likely response rate) — no personal data at all | Send AI-mediated outreach only — nothing else, until the candidate responds |
| Connected | They accepted a connection or responded to outreach | Whatever the candidate has chosen to share, field by field | Contact through the channels the candidate enabled |
The pattern to notice: visibility only ever increases when the candidate does something — registers, responds, or connects. It never increases just because a recruiter is looking.
3. The AI Decision Flow
This is the single most important picture in this guide.
AI decision flow: AI Suggests, then Human Reviews, Human Can Edit, Human Approves, and Action Taken — AI never makes the hiring decision
Mermaid diagram source (for web / live Trust Center rendering):
| flowchart LR AAI Suggests --> BHuman Reviews B --> CHuman Can Edit C --> DHuman Approves D --> EAction Taken style A fill:#E3EDFB,stroke:#1F3864,color:#1F3864 style B fill:#E7F4EA,stroke:#276B37,color:#276B37 style C fill:#E7F4EA,stroke:#276B37,color:#276B37 style D fill:#E7F4EA,stroke:#276B37,color:#276B37 style E fill:#1F3864,stroke:#1F3864,color:#ffffff |
AI suggests. It never decides. The AI's job ends at the first box — a match score, a ranking, a drafted message, a parsed profile field. Everything after that is a person: reviewing, editing if needed, and approving before anything happens. If a recruiter disagrees with an AI suggestion, they can change it or ignore it. Nothing is final until a human says so.
Related Documents
For the full technical and legal detail behind these pictures, see the AI Transparency Notice, the Candidate Privacy & Visibility Notice, and the AI Governance Overview.
Contact
- General questions about how Kempian works: trust@kempian.com
- Privacy questions: privacy@kempian.com
Kempian — How Kempian Works: A Visual Guide — v1.0 — July 2026