RECRUITING AGENCIES
The candidate who went quiet was waiting on an interview slot nobody sent.
A search moves between the client, the candidate, and the recruiter dozens of times. We connect client intake, candidate intake, qualification, scheduling, status updates, and placement steps so nobody drops out of the process because a message sat for a day.
A day that will sound familiar
A Thursday on a four-recruiter desk
A recruiter has three open searches and somewhere around ninety candidates across them. The client for the controller role sent interview availability on Tuesday, in a reply to an old thread. The recruiter found it this morning, sent two times to the candidate, and the candidate picked one the client no longer has. The strongest candidate for the operations role has not heard anything in eight days and just accepted an offer somewhere else.
A new client called yesterday with a brief that lives in the founder’s notes: the salary range, the must-haves, the hiring manager’s pet peeves. The recruiter working the search has a different version. Forty applications came in overnight for a posting, and the first pass will happen when someone finds an hour. The placement from last month starts on Monday, and nobody has spoken to the candidate since the offer went out.
Five workflows
What changes for recruiting agencies.
-
01Client intake and job briefs
TodayThe brief is taken on a call and lives in the notes of whoever took it. The recruiter working the search fills in the gaps by guessing.
ConnectedEvery new search runs through the same brief: the role, the range, the must-haves, the deal-breakers, the interview process, the fee terms. The brief becomes the record the search is run from, and the client confirms it once.
-
02Candidate intake and qualification
TodayApplications pile up in the inbox and on the job board. Screening happens in batches when there is time.
ConnectedEvery applicant answers the knockout questions on the way in. The ones who clear are put in front of the recruiter with the answers attached. The ones who do not get a reply and are kept on file for the next search.
-
03Interview scheduling
TodayThe recruiter relays times between two calendars by email. Three messages become nine, and one of the slots is gone by the time it is picked.
ConnectedThe client shares availability once. The candidate picks from it. Both get confirmations and reminders, and the recruiter sees the interview on the search board without having touched it.
-
04Status updates
TodayCandidates hear back when there is news. Clients ask for a pipeline update and get one from memory.
ConnectedWhen a candidate moves stage, they get a short message. When nothing has moved for a set number of days, the recruiter gets prompted before the candidate goes quiet. The client can see the pipeline for their search without asking for it.
-
05Placement steps and follow-up
TodayOffer, acceptance, references, start date, and the invoice each happen when someone remembers. The check-in after the start is rare.
ConnectedAcceptance starts the sequence: references requested, start date confirmed, invoice built from the fee agreement, and check-ins with the candidate and the client on a schedule through the guarantee period.
Where it breaks
Four places the process usually fails.
- THE AVAILABILITY BURIED IN A THREADThe client sent three slots. They are in a reply to a message from two weeks ago. By the time the recruiter finds them, two are gone.
- THE CANDIDATE WHO WENT QUIETNothing happened on the search for eight days, which is normal. The candidate heard nothing for eight days, which is how you lose the best one.
- THE BRIEF IN TWO VERSIONSThe founder heard one thing on the client call. The recruiter has another. The shortlist is built to the wrong spec and the client says so on the first interview.
- THE SCREENING PILEForty applications came in overnight. The good one is number thirty-one. She gets a reply on Monday, after she has taken a call from another agency.
One handoff, before and after
Booking a first interview for the controller role
- The recruiter emails the client asking for availability and moves on to another search.
- The client replies two days later inside an old thread. The recruiter sees it the next morning.
- She sends two of the three slots to the candidate. The candidate picks one that afternoon.
- She confirms with the client. The client has since booked over that slot. She starts again.
- The interview lands a week after the client first asked for it. Neither side is sure it is confirmed until the morning of.
- When the candidate is moved to the interview stage, the client gets a request to share availability with one link.
- The client picks their slots once. The candidate gets those slots the same hour and picks one.
- Both get a confirmation with the time, the format, and who they are meeting. The slot is held.
- Reminders go out the day before. The recruiter sees the interview on the search board and did not send a single email.
- After the interview, both sides get a short prompt for feedback that goes straight onto the candidate’s record.
What to track
The numbers that tell you whether it is working.
We do not promise a percentage. We show you which numbers to watch, and we measure them before and after.
- Candidates with no contact in seven days, by stageSilence is how candidates decide you are not serious. This number is the early warning.
- Days from client brief to first shortlistThe client is judging the agency on this window, whether they say so or not.
- Interviews rescheduled more than onceEach reschedule is a relay that went wrong, and a candidate who is a little less interested.
- Applications not screened after two business daysThe good applicant is in the pile with the rest. Two days is enough time for someone else to call her.
- Placements with no check-in during the guarantee periodA fall-off you hear about from the client is a fee you refund. A fall-off you see coming is one you can sometimes prevent.
- Days from start date to invoice sentThe fee is earned on the start date. The invoice usually goes out when someone remembers.
Questions recruiting agencies ask us
01Does the candidate experience change?
It gets more consistent. Every candidate gets an acknowledgment, a reply if they do not clear the screen, a message when they move stage, and a check-in if nothing has moved for a while. The recruiter still makes every call that matters. Candidates just stop being left in silence between them.
02What does AI do in a recruiting agency, day to day?
It asks the knockout questions on the way in, sorts the answers so the recruiter sees the ones that clear, runs the scheduling relay, sends the stage updates, prompts the recruiter when a candidate has gone quiet, and starts the placement sequence on acceptance. It does not decide who gets shortlisted. That is the recruiter’s judgment and it stays there.
03We have an applicant tracking system. Does this replace it?
No. We build inside it where it allows and connect around it where it does not. The point is that the record you already keep in it stops needing a spreadsheet next to it and a recruiter remembering the rest.
04Can this screen candidates for us?
It asks the questions you decide on and puts the answers in front of your recruiter. Whether someone with a borderline answer deserves a call is a decision a person makes. We make sure that decision happens the same day the application lands, not the following week.
05What about the guarantee period?
Acceptance starts a schedule of check-ins with both the candidate and the client through the guarantee window. The recruiter sees which placements are due a check-in and which ones have gone quiet, so a problem shows up as a conversation, not as a refund request.
START WITH ONE PROCESS
Bring us the search where the best candidate stopped replying.
We will map how it works today, find where it waits or gets repeated, and tell you whether fixing it is worth the effort.
- The mapOne process in your business, drawn end to end on a single page
- The waitEvery place it stalls or gets repeated, and who is carrying it today
- The answerWhat fixing it would take, or a straight answer that it is not worth fixing