Our story so far
We started in 1999 as a recruitment agency. Over the years that grew into hireful, and we've built a name as one of the most helpful and supportive recruitment technology companies in the UK. As of June 2026, more than 600 organisations run their hiring through our applicant tracking system.
Recruitment is our home, but teaching is a big part of what we do. For the last 15 years we've run more than 100 training events a year, and we train thousands of HR professionals annually. That means we spend a lot of time in the same room as the people who actually do HR, hearing what's working and what isn't.
Why we built clearHR
Those conversations are where clearHR started. Our customers kept raising the same frustrations: the admin that never ends, and the processes held together with spreadsheets and forwarded emails.
We didn't set out to build another HR system. There are plenty of those, and they do their job well. What we kept hearing about were the gaps, the bits that sit between the platforms and rarely get solved the way you need it. So we decided to build for the gaps. Software that works alongside the HR tools you already use and takes some of the admin off your plate, with AI used where it actually helps. Given how sensitive HR data is, we've built it carefully and securely from the start.
Built with our customers and partners
After 27 years working closely with HR teams, we were well placed to do this properly. We had people we could ask, and people who'd tell us straight when something wasn't right and help us shape it. Having that kind of access, to engaged HR professionals who'd give us honest direction, is rare, and it's what gave us the confidence to launch.
It isn't only our customers, either. More than 600 HR partners work with hireful's partner team to support recruitment for their own clients, and they've been a brilliant sounding board, especially on what the SME market needs.
The spark that ignited clearHR
One customer brought us the original idea for clearCase. They're a charity, they were generous with their time, and they helped steer us through the early days. As a thank you, we've given their organisation free lifetime access to both clearCase and clearVoice.
Working with charities
That isn't unusual for us. More than 40% of hireful's customers are charities, and supporting the third sector matters to us. The people in those organisations tend to do a lot with a little, and anything that frees them up to focus on people is worth our effort.
Where we're headed
We're 27 years in, and we're not slowing down. clearHR is a new chapter, and we want to keep finding the gaps in the HR technology stack that nobody else has bothered to fix. We'd like to hear about the challenges you've quietly learned to live with, because some of those might be the next thing we build.
So please try clearCase and clearVoice and tell us what works, and where the holes are in your own setup. If your challenges are on the recruitment side instead, the hireful team is always happy to help, whether you're a customer or not. We believe in paying it forward. That's how we got here, and it's how we plan to keep going.