STAR, Specialist in Talent Acquisition and Retention, is the professional standard for people who recruit inside an employer. This page says what the standard is. Six areas, and in each one what a STAR Certified recruiter knows and what they do, the document on the STAR shelf that carries it, and how the STAR assessment tests it. It is written so that a hiring manager, a candidate or a head of HR can read it and know what the letters after a name are promising.
How to read it
Knows is the law and the practice a certified recruiter can state without looking it up. Does is the habit a colleague would see on the desk. The shelf line names the STAR document that sets the habit out in full, ready to use. Every area is tested in the STAR assessment, which is taken online, passed once, and taken again after five years so the standard moves with the law.
1. The law of hiring
Knows. Which employment rights apply from the first day and which from the first application; the Equality Act's protected characteristics and what an advert, a shortlist or an interview question may not do; the right to work check as the employer's duty before the first day, bank and casual staff included since 1 October 2026; the six months a candidate has to bring a tribunal claim since 1 October 2026 and the six-month unfair dismissal qualifying period from 1 January 2027; the Employment Rights Act 2025 timeline as it reaches hiring.
Does. Keeps a dated record of why every unsuccessful candidate was not appointed, for at least the claim window; runs the right to work check before the first shift and files the statutory excuse; reads the Act's timeline every quarter and changes the process before the date, not after.
On the shelf. The In-House Hiring Compliance Calendar 2026 to 2027. Interview Records and the Six-Month Window 2026. Right to Work for In-House Teams 2026.
2. Candidate care
Knows. What a candidate is owed at each stage, an acknowledgement, a timetable, a decision, a reason on request; how the Equality Act reaches reasonable adjustments in the process itself; what the privacy notice must say and how long applicant data may be kept.
Does. Tells every candidate the stages and the dates before the first conversation; gives every interviewed candidate a reason for a no in plain words; closes every application with a decision rather than silence; offers adjustments before they are asked for.
On the shelf. Candidate Data Protection and AI Screening 2026. The Careers Page and the Job Advert 2026.
3. Working with hiring managers
Knows. That the hiring manager makes the decision and the recruiter owns the process; what a lawful brief contains and what it may not (an age, a nationality, a "fit" that stands in for a protected characteristic); how an interview is structured so that two candidates are scored on the same evidence.
Does. Opens every vacancy with a written brief the manager has agreed; trains the panel in the questions they may ask and the ones they may not; scores on the record sheet in the room, not from memory afterwards; says no to an instruction that would break the law and writes down that it did.
On the shelf. The Hiring Manager Brief Pack. The Interview Question Bank 2026.
4. Data, systems and AI
Knows. The UK GDPR as it applies to applicants, the lawful basis, the retention period, the subject access right; what the ICO expects where software scores or sifts people; that an automated decision with a legal effect needs a human in it; what the applicant tracking system logs and who can see it.
Does. Publishes an applicant privacy notice and keeps to it; deletes on the schedule; tests any screening tool for adverse impact before it is used and keeps the result; can answer a subject access request within the month.
On the shelf. Candidate Data Protection and AI Screening 2026.
5. Inclusive hiring
Knows. Where bias enters a process, the advert's words, the shortlist, the unstructured interview, the reference; what the Equality Act permits as positive action and forbids as positive discrimination; what a disability-confident process requires in practice.
Does. Writes adverts for the job rather than for a type of person; uses structured interviews with the same questions for every candidate at a stage; reads the shortlist against the applicant pool and asks why they differ; records adjustments made and offered.
On the shelf. The Careers Page and the Job Advert 2026. The Interview Question Bank 2026.
6. Buying from agencies
Knows. The Conduct Regulations as they protect the employer and the candidate; what an agency's terms may and may not contain, including transfer fees and their limits; the Agency Workers Regulations and the twelve-week point; the umbrella company rules in force since April 2026 and where the liability sits; how to check an agency's standing before signing.
Does. Checks every agency on a public register or verification page before terms are signed; signs terms the employer has read; keeps the right to work check for an agency worker in the employer's file as well as the agency's; asks the agency for its Key Information Document practice and its payroll chain.
On the shelf. Buying from Agencies, the Employer's Toolkit 2026. The Offer, Contract and Onboarding Pack for In-House Recruiters 2026.
How the assessment tests it
The STAR assessment is online, taken from the member's dashboard. It is written against the six areas above, against UK recruitment and employment law as it reaches the employer's side of hiring, and is kept current as the law changes. A pass is recorded on the member's public verification page as STAR Certified with the date, lasts five years, and is then taken again.
How to check someone against it
Search the name at ior.org/verify. STAR means a current member who has agreed to be held to this framework; STAR Certified means they have passed the assessment written against it. The page is published by BIOR from the live record.
Questions people ask
Is the STAR framework a qualification or a syllabus?
Neither. It is the professional standard behind STAR membership and certification from The British Institute of Recruiters, set out in plain words so that anyone can see what the letters promise. BIOR's regulated qualifications are Cert PRec and Cert RRec, through Summit Qualifications UK.
Does the framework change?
Yes, with the law. The shelf documents it names are reissued when the law moves and the assessment is kept current; this page carries the date it was last reviewed.
Who wrote it?
The British Institute of Recruiters, a professional body for UK recruitment founded in 2011, from government sources (gov.uk, legislation.gov.uk, the ICO) and the practice of in-house teams. BIOR is a professional body, not a regulator.
Written by The BIOR Membership Team. Last reviewed 21 October 2026.