Build a Voice AI Agent for Recruiting Follow-up
The best voice AI solution is a custom agent that calls candidates to schedule interviews. It uses a conversational model to handle Q&A and writes notes back to your ATS.
These systems work best for high-volume roles where manual follow-up is a bottleneck. The complexity depends on the number of roles and how many questions the agent must answer. A single-role screener is a quick build, while a multi-role agent that discusses benefits requires more logic.
We built a voice agent for a 12-person recruiting firm processing 400 applicants a month. Their recruiters spent 10 hours a week on phone tag. The agent now handles initial outreach calls in under 90 seconds each, booking qualified candidates directly into recruiter calendars.
What Problem Does This Solve?
Recruiting teams often try voice-blasting services first. These systems play a pre-recorded message and ask candidates to press a number. They cannot handle a simple question like, "What are the working hours?" If a candidate asks anything, the call fails, and a human must listen to the recording later. This creates more work, not less.
The next step is often a visual IVR builder like Twilio Studio. These are more flexible but still rigid. A workflow can check for keywords, but if a candidate says, "Can I talk to someone?" instead of an expected phrase, the system hangs up. They also lack state management, so they cannot remember a candidate's name from the ATS to personalize the conversation.
Consider a regional logistics company hiring 50 warehouse staff using Lever as their ATS. They use a dialer to call 300 applicants with a "Press 1 to schedule" message. Only 15% respond. The other 85% ask a question the system cannot answer, creating a list of 255 voicemails for one recruiter to review. The process took longer than just calling them manually.
How Does It Work?
We start by connecting directly to your ATS API, whether it is Greenhouse, Lever, or another platform. We use Python with the httpx library for asynchronous API calls to pull candidate contact info and job details. This initial sync gathers the last 30 days of applicants for a specific role, creating a call queue in a Supabase database table.
The core agent is a FastAPI application deployed on AWS Lambda. When a new candidate enters the queue, a Lambda function is triggered. This function uses the Claude 3 Sonnet API for conversational logic. We engineer a prompt that includes the job description, company information, and a list of 5-10 common questions and answers, enabling the agent to handle interruptions and clarification requests.
After a call completes, the agent summarizes the conversation and writes a note back to the ATS via API in under 500ms. If the candidate agrees to an interview, the agent checks the recruiter's Google Calendar and offers available time slots. The entire process, from dial to ATS note update, costs about $0.12 in API usage. A batch of 100 calls costs under $15.
We use structlog for structured JSON logging of all call events. Transcripts, call durations, and outcomes are sent to AWS CloudWatch. We configure an alert that fires to Slack if the percentage of failed calls, such as technical errors or hang-ups, exceeds 10% in any 24-hour period, allowing for rapid intervention.
What Are the Key Benefits?
Engage Candidates in 5 Minutes, Not 5 Days
The agent calls new applicants within five minutes of applying. This speed reduces candidate drop-off by over 40% compared to manual follow-up.
Pay Per Call, Not Per Recruiter Seat
A fixed-price build with minimal per-call API costs. Avoid the $150/month per-seat fees common with sales and recruiting dialer software.
You Own The AI Recruiting Agent
You receive the full Python source code in your GitHub repository. The system is yours, with no vendor lock-in or recurring license fees.
Alerts When Conversations Go Wrong
Receive a Slack notification with a call transcript if the agent fails to understand a candidate, letting your team intervene immediately.
Writes Notes Directly Into Your ATS
Connects to Greenhouse, Lever, or any applicant tracking system with an API. Recruiters see call summaries without leaving their primary tool.
What Does the Process Look Like?
Week 1: Scoping and ATS Connection
You provide read-only API access to your ATS and a list of common candidate questions. We draft the agent's core conversation script and get your approval.
Week 2: Core Agent Build
We build the FastAPI application and integrate the Claude API for conversation logic. You receive a demo link to test the agent's responses via a text interface.
Week 3: Voice Integration and Testing
We connect the agent to a telephony provider and test live calls with your team. You receive call recordings to review for tone and accuracy.
Week 4: Go-Live and Monitoring
The agent begins calling real candidates. We monitor the first 100 calls, tune prompts, and hand over the final runbook and source code.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How much does a custom voice AI agent cost?
- The build depends on complexity. An agent that only schedules interviews for one job is a 2-week project. An agent that can answer detailed benefits questions, screen for multiple roles, and handle bilingual conversations is a 4-week project. We provide a fixed-price quote after a discovery call.
- What happens if the AI misunderstands a candidate or the call drops?
- The system is designed to fail gracefully. If the AI confidence score is low, it says, "I'm not sure, let me have a recruiter call you back." The call is flagged for human review in the ATS. Dropped calls are automatically retried once after 10 minutes.
- How is this different from a service like MyAlice?
- MyAlice and similar platforms are designed for website chat, not outbound voice calls. They are multi-tenant SaaS tools with limited customization. We build a single-tenant system you own, with conversational logic specifically tuned to your jobs and recruiting process. It integrates directly with telephony and your ATS.
- Will it sound robotic and turn candidates off?
- We use high-fidelity text-to-speech models that sound natural and conversational. We can select from multiple voices and adjust pacing to match your company's tone. The goal is not to trick the candidate but to provide a fast, helpful interaction. Most candidates appreciate the immediate follow-up.
- What about call recording consent and compliance?
- We build compliance directly into the call script. The first thing the agent says is, "This is an automated call on a recorded line from [Your Company]." This handles two-party consent requirements. The system logs consent for every call. We are not lawyers, but we build the technical controls to support your compliance needs.
- Can we update the agent's script ourselves?
- Yes. The agent's knowledge base, including job descriptions and FAQs, is stored in a Supabase table. You can update this information through a simple web interface we provide. This allows your recruiting team to change screening questions or company info without needing to edit any Python code.
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