Automate Temp Staff Recruiting with a Custom Voice AI Agent
Custom voice AI providers like Syntora build automated recruiting solutions for SMBs. These systems screen and schedule temp staff candidates over the phone automatically.
The project scope depends on the number of roles, the complexity of screening questions, and the specific Applicant Tracking System (ATS) integration. A single, high-volume role with five screening questions that logs to a spreadsheet is a straightforward build. Multiple roles with dynamic question paths connecting to a legacy ATS like Bullhorn requires more discovery.
We built a voice AI agent for a 12-person recruiting firm that places 400 temp nurses a month. The system went live in 4 weeks, handling the initial phone screen for every applicant. This freed up 3 recruiters from spending their entire mornings on repetitive, low-value screening calls.
What Problem Does This Solve?
Most agencies start with visual builders like Twilio Studio to create simple phone menus. But as soon as you need real logic, like checking candidate availability against a live shift schedule, you are forced to write and manage disconnected JavaScript snippets. The system becomes brittle, hard to test, and impossible to version control properly. You end up with a developer tool, not a recruiting solution.
Off-the-shelf voicebots from SaaS providers seem like an easier path, but they are generic. They can ask a yes/no question but cannot understand a temp worker saying, “I can do Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning.” This leads to false negatives. For a 15-person light industrial staffing agency we worked with, their bot would fail if a candidate said, "I can lift 40 pounds, is that okay?" when the job only required 35 pounds. A human had to review the recording and call them back, defeating the purpose.
These platforms also lack deep integrations. They might create a contact in your ATS, but they cannot update custom fields, check for certifications, or change a candidate’s status in a specialized system. The per-minute pricing models also become prohibitively expensive for firms screening hundreds or thousands of temp candidates weekly.
How Does It Work?
We start by mapping your exact screening script and required ATS fields. We use the Claude API to analyze the last 100 call notes from your recruiters to identify the key qualification criteria and common candidate questions. This analysis defines the conversation logic and the data schema we build in a Supabase database to log every interaction.
The core agent is a Python application built with FastAPI. It uses a telephony provider's API for the raw call infrastructure, but all logic and conversation flow is handled in our code. We use the Claude API for natural language understanding, which allows candidates to answer questions conversationally. The entire service is deployed on AWS Lambda, allowing it to handle 10 to 1,000 concurrent calls with a p99 response latency of 450ms.
The FastAPI agent connects directly to your ATS API. Once a candidate passes the screen, the agent creates a full profile, populates over 15 custom fields, and sets their status to “Ready for Interview” in under two seconds. For a regional logistics firm, we integrated with their custom ERP to check real-time shift availability, which reduced their scheduling error rate by 90%.
We deliver the complete source code and deployment scripts to your company's GitHub. We use structlog for detailed logging and configure alerts to a Slack channel if the API error rate exceeds 2% in any 5-minute window. For a firm processing 5,000 candidates a month, the total monthly AWS Lambda and telephony costs are typically under $50.
What Are the Key Benefits?
Launch in 4 Weeks, Not 4 Quarters
From kickoff to a live system screening real candidates in 20 business days. Your recruiters get qualified applicants on their calendars immediately.
Pay Once for the Build, Not Forever Per Call
A fixed-price project delivers a production asset you own. Monthly hosting costs are minimal, with no per-minute or per-seat SaaS fees that penalize growth.
You Get the Keys and the Blueprints
We deliver the complete Python source code to your GitHub repository, along with deployment scripts and a detailed runbook. There is no vendor lock-in.
Handles Real Human Speech, Not Just Keywords
The system understands nuanced answers. A candidate saying "I can't do mornings" is correctly interpreted and logged, unlike rigid IVR systems that would fail.
Updates Your ATS in Real Time
Connects directly to platforms like Bullhorn or Avionté. Screened candidates appear instantly with all fields populated, not as a CSV file to be imported later.
What Does the Process Look Like?
Scoping and Workflow Mapping (Week 1)
You provide your screening scripts, read-only ATS access, and call volume data. We deliver a technical specification detailing the conversation flow and data integration points.
Core Agent Development (Week 2)
We build the Python application and core conversation logic. You receive a phone number to call and test the voice agent with sample candidate profiles.
Integration and Deployment (Week 3)
We connect the agent to your live ATS and telephony provider. We deploy the system on your infrastructure, and you receive the full source code in your GitHub.
Monitoring and Handoff (Week 4+)
We monitor the live system for one week, tuning responses based on real candidate interactions. You receive a final runbook for ongoing maintenance and support.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How much does a custom voice AI recruiting agent cost?
- Pricing is based on complexity. Key factors are the number of job roles to screen for, the depth of screening questions, and the specific ATS integration required. A simple agent for one role logging to a Google Sheet is a much smaller scope than a multi-role agent with dynamic questions integrating with a legacy ERP. We provide a fixed-price quote after a discovery call.
- What happens when a candidate says something the AI doesn't understand?
- The system is designed to fail gracefully. If the AI cannot confidently understand a response after two attempts, it logs the candidate's answer verbatim and says, "Thanks, I've noted that for the recruiting team." It then moves to the next question. Recruiters can review a daily summary of these unhandled responses to improve the screening script over time.
- How is this different from using a call center or BPO service?
- A BPO provides human agents, which introduces scheduling issues, variable quality, and high operational costs that scale directly with call volume. Our AI agent is a fixed, one-time build cost with minimal ongoing hosting fees. It operates 24/7, provides 100% consistent screening, and captures structured data directly into your systems without manual data entry.
- Can it handle different languages or accents?
- Yes. The underlying speech-to-text and language models support dozens of languages. We can configure the agent for specific locales, such as Spanish for the US or French for Canada. During testing, we use sample audio clips that reflect the accents common in your candidate pool to ensure high transcription accuracy before the system goes live.
- What are the ongoing costs after the build is complete?
- You pay directly for the cloud services used. This typically includes AWS Lambda for compute, Supabase for a database, and a telephony provider like Twilio for the phone number and per-minute call charges. For an SMB processing 1,000-5,000 candidates a month, this total is usually under $100. Syntora's optional maintenance plan is a flat monthly fee.
- What if we change our screening questions or add a new job role?
- The system is built for this. Screening questions are stored in a configuration file, not hard-coded. Your team can edit, add, or remove questions without changing the core Python code, and the runbook we provide shows exactly how. Adding a completely new role with a different workflow is a small follow-on project, typically a 1-2 day engagement.
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