The AEDT Candidate Notice: Requirements, Template, and Free Generator
7 min read · Last reviewed 1 Aug 2026
General information, not legal advice. Laws in this area change; verify against the official sources at the end of this guide and confirm specifics with employment counsel.
If you use an automated tool to screen candidates, several jurisdictions now require you to tell them. New York City wants the notice 10 business days before the tool is used. Illinois requires notice whenever AI is used in hiring decisions. Colorado's replacement ADMT law requires point-of-interaction disclosure from January 1, 2027. The notices differ in detail, but they share a spine: an automated tool is in use, here is what it assesses, here is what you can do about it.
This guide covers who has to send a notice, what it must contain, a copy-paste template you can adapt, and how to generate one automatically from your screening criteria. One theme throughout: the hard part of a candidate notice is not the boilerplate, it is truthfully stating what your tool assesses, which is only possible if your tool's criteria are visible to you. General information, not legal advice.
Who has to send a notice, and when
New York City (Local Law 144): candidates who reside in NYC must be notified at least 10 business days before an automated employment decision tool is used on them, when the job is NYC-based. The notice can live in the job posting, on your careers page, or go out by mail or email. Because the 10-day clock is the binding constraint, the posting route is the safest: a notice that was in the posting when the candidate applied has been up longer than any application is old.
Illinois (HB 3773, in the Illinois Human Rights Act since January 1, 2026): employers must notify applicants and employees when AI is used in recruitment, hiring, promotion, and other employment decisions. The statute leaves timing and means to Illinois Department of Human Rights rulemaking, so check current IDHR guidance; notice in the posting plus the application confirmation satisfies any reasonable reading.
Colorado (ADMT law SB 26-189, from January 1, 2027): clear and conspicuous notice at the point of interaction when automated decision-making technology is used in a consequential decision, with explanation and human-review duties if the decision is adverse.
Connecticut (CART Act, Public Act 26-15): from October 1, 2027, a plain-language written disclosure is required when an automated process is a substantial factor in employment decisions, with extra duties on adverse decisions.
Everywhere else: no notice statute may apply, but a short disclosure costs nothing, builds trust, and is the direction every new law points. The simplest operational policy is one notice, in every posting, for every role.
What the NYC notice must contain
LL144's notice has the most specific content requirements, so a notice built for NYC generally covers the other jurisdictions too. It must state that an automated employment decision tool will be used in the assessment or evaluation of the candidate, and it must disclose the job qualifications and characteristics the tool will assess. It must also include instructions for how to request an alternative selection process or a reasonable accommodation under other laws (the law requires the instructions; it does not itself force you to grant an alternative process, though disability-accommodation duties apply independently).
Separately, information about the type of data collected for the tool, its source, and your retention policy must be available: posted on your website or provided within 30 days of a written request.
The qualifications-and-characteristics disclosure is where black-box tools fail their users. If your screening software cannot tell you what it evaluates, you cannot write this sentence honestly. With rubric-based screening the sentence writes itself: the human-set criteria are exactly the list the law asks for.
A copy-paste template
Adapt this to your facts and have counsel confirm the final wording for your jurisdictions:
"Notice of automated employment decision tool. [Company] uses an automated tool to assist in reviewing applications for this position. The tool assesses the following job qualifications and characteristics: [list your screening criteria, e.g. relevant customer support experience; written communication quality; familiarity with ticketing systems such as Zendesk; availability for weekend shifts]. The tool assists our review; final hiring decisions are made by a person.
The tool analyzes only the application materials you submit (such as your resume and answers). Information about the data the tool collects, its source, and our retention policy is available at [link] or on written request to [email].
If you would like to request an alternative selection process or a reasonable accommodation, contact [email] with the role title. Where required by law, this notice is provided at least 10 business days before the tool is used."
Three adaptation notes. List real criteria, not vague categories: "leadership qualities" tells a candidate nothing and reads as evasive. If you hire in Illinois, this notice satisfies the disclosure spirit of HB 3773; keep an eye on IDHR rules for required specifics. If you hire in Colorado, add a line that candidates who are not advanced may request a plain-language explanation of the tool's role, correction of inaccurate data, and human review (duties that bind from January 1, 2027).
Delivery, timing, and proof
Put the notice in three places and stop worrying: the job posting itself, your careers page (a standing notice covering all roles), and the application confirmation email. The posting placement starts NYC's 10-business-day clock before anyone applies; the confirmation email creates a per-candidate record; the careers page catches candidates who arrive through channels you did not control.
Keep proof. Screenshot or archive the posting with its date, keep the confirmation email template under version control (even a dated document works), and note when you change screening criteria, since the notice must change with them. In an enforcement inquiry or a dispute, "the notice has been in every posting since March, here is the archive" ends the conversation.
One mistake to avoid: sending the notice only to candidates you intend to advance. The tool was used on everyone who was screened, so everyone screened was owed the notice. Blanket delivery through the posting is what makes this a non-issue.
Generate it from your rubric
The only part of the notice that changes per role is the criteria list, and that list already exists if you screen with a rubric. SiftFirst's free candidate notice generator takes the screening criteria for a role (the same human-set rubric the tool scores against) and produces the notice text with the qualifications-and-characteristics section filled in truthfully. Generate it once per role, paste it into the posting and the confirmation email, and regenerate when the rubric changes.
This closes the loop that makes notices painful with opaque tools: the disclosure is honest because the criteria are explicit, the criteria are explicit because a human set them, and the same rubric that generates the notice generates the per-candidate evidence you would rely on if a decision were ever challenged. Screening, notice, and defense all read from one source of truth.
The generator is free and requires no signup. If you want to check which notice duties apply to you across NYC, Illinois, California, and Colorado, the 2-minute compliance check maps them.
Key takeaways
- ✓NYC requires notice 10 business days before an AEDT is used, including the qualifications and characteristics it assesses; Illinois requires AI-use disclosure now and Colorado's ADMT law does from January 1, 2027.
- ✓Put one notice in every job posting, on the careers page, and in the application confirmation email; the posting placement solves the 10-day clock automatically.
- ✓The notice must truthfully list what the tool assesses, which is only possible with a tool whose criteria are visible; list real criteria, not vague categories.
- ✓Keep dated proof of the notice (archived postings, versioned templates) and update it whenever screening criteria change.
- ✓A free generator can build the notice directly from your screening rubric, so the disclosure and the actual screening never drift apart.
Screening built for these rules
SiftFirst scores candidates against criteria you set, quotes the resume line behind every score, never auto-rejects, and exports the records these laws expect. The candidate notice generator and bias audit self-check are free.
FAQ
Do I need the candidate's consent, or just to notify them?
For resume screening, NYC, Illinois HB 3773, and Colorado require notice, not consent. The exception is Illinois' separate AI Video Interview Act: if AI analyzes interview videos of applicants for Illinois positions, you need advance explanation and consent before the interview. If a candidate objects to automated screening, NYC's notice must tell them how to request an alternative process or accommodation, and handling such requests case by case with a human review is both good practice and, for disability accommodations, legally required.
Am I required to offer an alternative selection process if a candidate requests one?
LL144 requires the notice to include instructions for requesting one, but does not itself obligate you to provide it. Independent accommodation duties (like the ADA's) can require alternatives in specific cases. The pragmatic approach: route requests to a human review of the same application against the same criteria, which is usually cheaper than the argument and produces a better record.
Should I send the notice to all candidates or only those in NYC and Illinois?
Operationally, everyone. Splitting notice logic by candidate residence means detecting residence reliably, maintaining two application flows, and being wrong sometimes. A single honest disclosure in every posting satisfies the strictest jurisdiction you face, costs nothing anywhere else, and reads as transparency rather than legal hedging.