Recruitment automation: the first conversation with a candidate is led by AI.
Recruitment automation with AI is a robot that takes over everything before the face-to-face meeting. It sorts applications from hh.ru, your website and messengers, writes to the candidate within minutes, runs the initial interview and books suitable people for a meeting. The recruiter gets a shortlist with a report on each candidate and decides whom to hire.
What the robot does at each hiring stage and what stays with the recruiter.
The boundary is set before launch. The robot takes the stages with lots of repetitive work where a fast reply matters. Anything that requires judging a person stays with the recruiter.
| Hiring stage | What the robot does | What the person does |
|---|---|---|
| Job profile | Turns the job requirements into questions for candidates and assessment criteria, split into mandatory and nice-to-have | Decides what is a must in a candidate and what can be compromised on |
| Collecting applications | Pulls applications from hh.ru, your website and messengers into one funnel | Chooses the job boards and writes the job ad |
| Screening an application | Reads the CV and cover letter, checks them against the mandatory conditions and notes what the application is missing | Reviews the candidates the robot flagged as borderline |
| Questions to the candidate | Writes to the candidate within minutes and checks the schedule, work location, pay expectations and start date | Decides where the terms are negotiable |
| Initial interview | Asks about experience, requests real examples and follows up if an answer is vague. Accepts text and voice messages | Reads the report and marks what they disagree with |
| Shortlist | Compares candidates against one yardstick and shows what each score is based on | Chooses whom to invite to a meeting |
| Booking a meeting | Offers the candidate free slots from the recruiter's calendar and confirms the time | Keeps slots for meetings open in the calendar |
| Reminders | Sends a reminder the day before and on the day of the meeting, and reschedules if the candidate asks | Sees the new time in the calendar and in the candidate's card |
| Replying to those who did not fit | Sends a polite reply using the text you approved | Decides whom to turn down and approves the text |
| Meeting, offer, first day | Not involved | Holds the meeting, decides whom to hire and makes the offer |
How screening works with a large flow of applications, and when automation pays off, is covered in detail in the article “How to automate high-volume hiring”.
A form is easy to fill in. A conversation is not.
A form with questions
Gives exactly what the person decided to write. You cannot follow up, you cannot ask again — and half the applicants never reach the form at all.
An interview by the robot
It reads free text, keeps the whole conversation in mind and follows up: «you mentioned experience in wholesale — how many deals a month did you run?» An evasive answer shows immediately.
Candidates answer when it suits them, including evenings and weekends, by text or voice message. If someone writes “I handled key accounts”, the next question asks how many there were and what they sold to them. Rehearsed phrases usually run out at follow-ups like these.
For each candidate the recruiter gets a report: verbatim answers, the match with mandatory conditions, a score for each criterion with a quote, and a list of points to clarify at the meeting. Six months later you can come back to this record.
The same mechanism runs our sales robot. The only difference is who moves through the funnel: a customer or a candidate.
AI recruiting and an applicant tracking system: what is the difference.
When people talk about recruitment automation, they usually mean an ATS, an applicant tracking system. It stores vacancies, CVs and hiring stages. The robot covers a different part of the work: messaging and the initial interview with everyone who applied.
| What we compare | Applicant tracking system (ATS) | AI recruiting robot |
|---|---|---|
| Main job | Keep vacancies, CVs and hiring stages in one place | Talk to every applicant before the recruiter gets to them |
| First contact | Usually a template email or message when the stage changes | A reply to the specific application with questions about this vacancy |
| Questions to the candidate | A form or test with predefined fields | A conversation with follow-up questions if an answer is vague or evasive |
| Screening applications | Filters by CV fields and keywords | Reads CVs and answers for meaning; borderline cases are flagged for a person |
| Booking a meeting | The recruiter schedules it or sends a booking link | The time is agreed in the chat, reminders go out automatically |
| What the recruiter sees | A list of candidates by stage | A shortlist and a report with answers and the basis for each score |
If you already have an ATS, the robot works alongside it: the candidate's answers, score and stage go into their record through a connection to the system. If you have no such system, a CRM or a spreadsheet is enough.
Where the robot gets applications and where it sends the results.
hh.ru and other job boards
We pull applications through the official employer access. Before starting, we check in your account that it is enabled: job board terms change.
Website and job page
An application from the website form lands in the same funnel. The candidate gets the first question right after submitting the form.
Telegram, WhatsApp, MAX
This is the easiest place to run the interview: the candidate answers from their phone, by text or voice, and the conversation does not get lost in email.
CRM or spreadsheet
Each candidate becomes a record with answers, a score and a stage. amoCRM, your applicant tracking system or a spreadsheet will do if you have no CRM yet.
Recruiter's calendar
The robot offers the candidate only free slots. The meeting appears in the calendar right away, together with the candidate report.
Notifications to the recruiter
The shortlist and new meeting bookings arrive in Telegram or by email, so nobody has to check the funnel by hand.
How we set up AI recruiting, step by step.
We name the price after a free review, once the scope is clear: how many vacancies, where applications come from and which system the funnel must connect to. The work itself always consists of the same steps.
| Step | What we do | What we need from you |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Hiring review | We look at how many applications come in, where candidates drop out and how much time initial screening takes | Two or three vacancies you fill most often, and access to the application history |
| 2. Application sources | We connect hh.ru, the website form and messengers to one funnel | Access to the employer account and the website |
| 3. Questions and criteria | We write the interview script and assessment criteria based on the job profile | The job profile and answers to candidates' common questions: schedule, pay, address, employment terms |
| 4. Connection to a CRM or spreadsheet | We set up the candidate record, hiring stages and the calendar for booking meetings | Where you track candidates now and which recruiters take them over |
| 5. Trial run | We run the robot on a small batch of applications and compare its scores with yours | Recruiter time to flag questionable scores |
| 6. Launch and fine-tuning | For the first weeks we read conversations in full and adjust the questions and criteria | Mark it in the record when the robot's score differs from yours |
One vacancy with applications from hh.ru and results in a spreadsheet usually goes live in a few days. Several vacancies, messengers and a CRM connection take two to four weeks. Most of that time goes into questions and criteria; the technical part takes less.
Where a hiring robot is not needed.
Few applications
If a vacancy gets a few applications a month, the recruiter will answer each one personally, and sooner than we could set up a script.
Rare executives and niche specialists
Such people rarely apply on their own; they are sought out and persuaded. The first person they talk to should be someone who can make a decision.
You need sourcing, but there are no applications
The robot works with people who applied. It will not search CV databases and message people first: a cold invitation from a robot reads like a mass mailing.
It is unclear whom you are looking for
If the job profile is not described, the robot has nothing to ask. We build the profile first; otherwise the interview checks random things.
No one to hold the meetings
The robot books the candidate for a meeting the same day. If no manager is free for a week, the speed is lost at the next stage.
If the review shows that a robot will not solve your problem, we will say so.
Related reads.
Frequently asked questions.
What can be automated in recruitment with AI?
Everything before the face-to-face meeting: screening applications, the first reply to the candidate, questions about terms, the initial interview, comparing candidates by your criteria, booking meetings and reminders. The meeting, the hiring decision and the offer stay with a person. The table above shows the boundary stage by stage.
Which vacancies is AI recruiting suited for?
Where there are many applications and they look alike: sales, support, call centre operators, frontline staff, seasonal hiring. For rare executives and niche specialists a robot is not needed: such people are sought out, and a person should speak to them first.
Does the robot decide on its own whom to reject?
No. It flags mismatches with the mandatory conditions and scores answers by your criteria; the recruiter makes the decision. The report shows what each score is based on, and any candidate can be invited to a meeting regardless of their score.
Will the candidate know they are talking to a robot?
Yes, we do not pass the robot off as a person. It introduces itself as the recruiter's assistant and says right away that a meeting with a person comes next. If a candidate asks to be contacted directly, the robot passes this on to the recruiter. An application that nobody answers is far more irritating.
Do we need to change hh.ru, our CRM or applicant tracking system?
No. The robot connects to the job boards where you already post vacancies and writes results to wherever you track candidates: a CRM, an applicant tracking system or a spreadsheet. If the system cannot be connected, results go to a spreadsheet and the recruiter transfers only those invited to a meeting.
Where is candidate data stored?
On a server in Russia. CVs and candidate answers are personal data, so access to them is restricted. What exactly is collected and why is described in the personal data processing policy.
Other AIBP products.
Let's count what you pay for an open vacancy.
Tell us who you are looking for and how long it has been taking. We will go through your hiring funnel and show what in it can be handed to a robot.
Rather not fill in a form? Message our agent on Telegram — it replies right away and books you a review.