Early careers - CareerGuard

Hire for potential,
not just experience.

Early-career hiring is broken. CVs don’t show what graduates, apprentices, and emerging talent can actually do.
CareerGuard gives you the tools to find and assess real ability — from bootcamp grads to NEET candidates — fairly and fast.

Used by the Financial Times for early careers hiring

700 candidates screened in 90 days — zero CV bias

Built-in DE&I tools to widen your talent pool

The early careers problem

AI-generated CVs

Harder than ever to know what candidates can truly do

Overlooked talent

Bootcamp grads & non-traditional paths get screened out

Limited experience

Traditional CVs are an unreliable signal of potential

Hidden bias

Degree and university filters exclude capable candidates

CareerGuard solves all of this

SkillSnaps + assessments replace CVs with real proof of ability. Every candidate gets a fair shot based on what they can do — not where they went to school.

700

Candidates screened in 90 days for one early careers programme

50%

Reduction in screening time for graduate recruitment teams

400+

Skills tests covering technical, behavioural and cognitive ability

0

Degree requirement — skills speak louder than credentials

Built for the realities of
early-career hiring

Four tools that work together to find, assess, and engage rising talent — fairly and efficiently.

SkillSnaps profiles

Candidates showcase projects, side hustles, bootcamp work, passion projects and achievements. AI scores relevancy against your role. See real ability instantly.

No CV needed

350+ skills assessments

Objective insight into technical, cognitive, and role-specific abilities. Built to be accessible and fair for neurodiverse and disabled candidates.

Fair & accessible

Skill First Events

Host virtual or in-person career fairs, hackathons, and insight days. Evaluate candidates in real time with instant reporting and shortlisting.

Virtual & in-person

AI reports & bias removal

Job post debiasing, AI-powered selection criteria, and dynamic workflows bake fairness into every step. Find diverse talent your competitors are missing.

DE&I built-in

Every type of early career
programme covered

From graduate schemes to apprenticeships — CareerGuard adapts to

your programme structure.

Graduate & internship schemes

Screen hundreds of applicants objectively. SkillSnaps surface the best graduates from non-target universities who traditional sifting would miss. The FT uses CareerGuard for exactly this.

FT case study available

Apprenticeships

Apprentices have no work history — so CVs tell you nothing. CareerGuard’s assessments and SkillSnaps show their raw potential, drive, and practical thinking directly.

Potential-first hiring

NEET & alternative pathways

CareerGuard’s NEET programmes connect young people from non-traditional routes directly with employers who value skills over credentials. Government and third-sector programmes welcome.

Explore NEET programmes →

Bootcamp & self-taught talent

Coding bootcamp, design school, or self-taught? SkillSnaps let candidates share their actual projects and work. Employers see what they built — not what school they attended.

No degree filter

Diverse & inclusive hiring

Remove name, address, university and degree bias from your early careers funnel. CareerGuard’s AI-powered debiasing tools are built directly into the job post and screening workflow.

Bias removed by design

Hackathons & competitions

Run live skill events and evaluate candidates as they compete. Instant scoring, leaderboards and shortlisting built in. The best way to find high performers before they start applying elsewhere.

Real-time scoring

Real results from early
careers teams

Hear from hiring managers who transformed their graduate and early-

career programmes with CareerGuard.

“CareerGuard transformed how we recruit graduates. Instead of guessing from CVs, we now assess real skills and have cut our screening time in half.”

Sophie Williams

Graduate Recruitment Lead, NovaTech

“The SkillSnaps feature is a game-changer. Candidates love showcasing their projects, and we get to see authentic work from students and apprentices we might have overlooked.”

Daniel Ruiz

Talent Acquisition Manager, BrightPath Finance

2,000+

Recruiter hours saved across early-careers programmes by replacing CV screening with CareerGuard

Read the Financial Times case study →

Find your next great hire
before they send a CV.

Book a demo to see how CareerGuard helps early-careers teams assess real potential, reduce screening time, and hire more inclusively — without the guesswork.