AI screening
AI screening is the first conversation with a job applicant, held by an AI assistant instead of a recruiter. The assistant asks the screening questions for the role by phone or chat, records the answers and passes the candidates who meet the requirements to a recruiter. The recruiter still makes the hiring decision.
AI screening is often mixed up with CV screening. A CV filter ranks documents by keywords and work history. AI screening has a conversation with the candidate and asks the questions a recruiter would ask on a first call. This difference shows in frontline roles, because many applicants apply from their phone and have no up-to-date CV.
How does AI screening compare to a recruiter's phone screen?
A recruiter's phone screen and AI screening ask the same kind of questions. The difference is who asks and when. A recruiter calls during office hours and reaches as many candidates as one person can call. An AI assistant contacts every applicant minutes after they apply, by phone or chat. The recruiter then spends time only on the candidates who meet the requirements.
Why does frontline hiring need it?
Frontline candidates apply for jobs in warehouses, cleaning, production, retail and care. They often apply to several employers or staffing agencies on the same evening. The first one to reach them usually gets the conversation.
A recruiter who calls the next morning reaches few of them. The candidate is at work or does not pick up an unknown number, so most calls end in voicemail. Phone screening explains why that happens and what it costs.
The questions in a frontline screening are short and concrete. Can you start on Monday? Do you have a forklift certificate? Can you work early shifts? An AI assistant can ask these questions to every applicant at the moment they apply. It leaves the recruiter with the candidates who fit.
What does a good AI screening ask?
A screening for a frontline role usually covers four topics:
- Must-haves. Requirements the candidate has to meet, such as a certificate, a driver's licence or the right to work. These are often knock-out questions.
- Availability. Start date, shifts and the number of hours per week.
- Location. Where the candidate lives, so the recruiter can judge the travel.
- Next step. A time for an interview or an intake with the recruiter.
Keep the conversation short. Every extra question gives the candidate a reason to stop.
Does AI screening reject candidates?
That depends on how the employer sets it up. Some tools reject a candidate automatically after a wrong answer. A person then never sees that candidate.
Ringtime does not reject candidates by itself. A candidate who fails a must-have question goes to recruiter review. A recruiter decides every rejection. The assistant also tells the candidate at the start that it is a digital assistant of your company.
How does Ringtime run AI screening?
Ringtime's AI agents run the first conversation with every candidate, by phone and WhatsApp. It works on top of the ATS you already use.
- A candidate applies or a recruiter adds candidates from the ATS to a campaign.
- Within 5 minutes, inside the calling hours you set, the assistant calls the candidate or sends a WhatsApp message.
- If a call goes unanswered, the assistant can try again later or continue on WhatsApp.
- The assistant asks your screening questions. Each answer counts by its importance and the candidate gets a score from 0 to 100.
- Candidates at or above your pass mark get an interview booked straight into the recruiter's calendar.
- The result of every conversation lands in the Ringtime web app and in your ATS.
A candidate who replies on WhatsApp days later picks up the same screening. A candidate can also answer with a voice message.
Ringtime works for staffing agencies and for employers who hire frontline workers directly.
To screen every applicant on the day they apply, see how Ringtime's AI candidate screening works.
