How We're Saving €35,000+ Monthly Using Our Own Voice Agent for Recruitment

Remember that hackathon we told you about? The one where we built a voice agent to help entrepreneurs launch business ideas? Well, we won. But more importantly, that hackathon victory led to something even bigger – a complete transformation of how we handle recruitment at Lleverage.

Here's the thing about building AI automation tools: if you're not using them yourself, you probably shouldn't be selling them to others. So when we realized we had 8 open positions to fill and were facing the prospect of hundreds of pre-screening calls, we asked ourselves a simple question: "Why don't we use our own voice agent for this?"

Spoiler alert: It worked. Really, really well.

The Hackathon That Started It All

A month ago, we participated in a hackathon that changed how we think about our own business. The challenge was to build a voice agent that could help entrepreneurs navigate the complex process of launching business ideas – from initial concept validation to market entry strategies.

Our team dove deep into understanding the pain points entrepreneurs face: the endless questions, the need for personalized guidance, and the ability to have natural conversations about complex business concepts. We built an AI voice agent that could conduct meaningful dialogues, ask the right follow-up questions, and provide tailored advice based on each entrepreneur's specific situation.

The result? We won the hackathon. But more importantly, we proved something crucial: voice agents aren't just about automating simple tasks – they can handle nuanced, consultative conversations that require understanding context, asking intelligent follow-ups, and adapting to individual needs.

The "Aha!" Moment: Why Not Use It Ourselves?

Fast-forward to a few weeks after our hackathon victory. We're growing fast – really fast. With our recent €3 million funding round and ambitious expansion plans, we suddenly found ourselves needing to hire for 8 different roles:

• Senior AI Engineers
• Product Managers
• Sales Development Representatives
• Customer Success Specialists
• Performance Marketers
• Operations Coordinators
• DevOps Engineers
• Frontend Developers

Each role required different screening criteria, technical assessments, and cultural fit evaluations. Traditional recruitment would mean:

• 200+ individual pre-screening calls per role
• 15-20 minutes per call minimum
• That's roughly 400+ hours of manual screening work
• Multiplied by 8 different roles = 3,200+ hours total

Even with a dedicated HR team, this would be overwhelming. More importantly, it would be expensive and time-consuming, potentially causing us to lose great candidates to faster-moving competitors.

That's when our CEO, Lennard Kooy, said the magic words: "Wait, why don't we just use our own voice agent for this?"

Building Our Recruitment Voice Agent

Here's where things get interesting. Unlike traditional recruitment tools that rely on rigid questionnaires or basic chatbots, we built something fundamentally different.

Our recruitment voice agent leverages the same AI-native architecture that powers our entire automation platform:

Natural Conversation FlowInstead of robotic Q&A sessions, our agent conducts actual conversations. It can pick up on verbal cues, ask clarifying questions, and adapt its approach based on how candidates respond.

Role-Specific IntelligenceWe built a single intelligent system that has access to all job specifications and requirements. The agent dynamically adapts its questioning and evaluation criteria based on the specific role being discussed. When screening a DevOps engineer, it focuses on infrastructure and deployment questions. When talking to a Customer Success candidate, it shifts to relationship management and problem-solving scenarios.

Real-Time AdaptabilityIf a candidate mentions an interesting project or skill, the agent can dive deeper. If someone seems nervous, it adjusts its tone. If a candidate asks questions about the company, the agent provides detailed, accurate responses.

Comprehensive Analysis & RecommendationsAfter each conversation, the agent provides us with a complete transcript, detailed summary of what happened during the call, grades the candidate against our company values, and gives a clear recommendation on whether to reject, review further, or advance the candidate to the next step.

The Results: Numbers Don't Lie

The transformation has been remarkable:

✅ Eliminated manual screening time: What could have taken our team 3,200+ hours of manual calls is now fully automated

✅ 3x faster time-to-interview: Qualified candidates get scheduled for human interviews within 24 hours instead of 1-2 weeks

✅ Surprisingly positive candidate feedback: Candidates are consistently impressed by the agent's natural conversation abilities and accurate understanding of their experience – it's a perfect example of practicing what we preach

✅ Intelligent decision support: Each screening produces a full transcript, conversation summary, values-based grading, and clear recommendations (reject/review/advance)

✅ €35,000+ monthly savings: Avoided hiring costs, reduced recruiter overhead, and faster closure of critical positions

But the numbers only tell part of the story.

How Our Voice Agent Actually Works

Let's walk through what candidates actually experience:

Step 1: Initial CV ReviewCandidates apply through our normal process. After our team reviews their CV and determines they meet basic qualifications, qualified candidates receive an email with a link to schedule their voice screening at their convenience.

Step 2: Natural ConversationThe agent introduces itself, explains the process, and begins a natural conversation. For our AI Engineer role, it might start with: "I'd love to learn about your experience with machine learning. Can you tell me about a recent AI project you've worked on?"

Step 3: Intelligent Follow-UpBased on the response, the agent asks relevant follow-ups. If someone mentions working with transformer models, it might ask about specific architectures or training challenges they've encountered.

Step 4: Cultural Fit AssessmentBeyond technical skills, the agent evaluates cultural fit by discussing scenarios: "Imagine you're working on a high-priority feature, but you discover a fundamental issue with the approach. How would you handle this with your team?"

Step 5: Candidate QuestionsThe agent is prepared to answer detailed questions about our company, culture, benefits, growth opportunities, and even specifics about the Amsterdam tech scene.

Step 6: Comprehensive Analysis & Next StepsAfter the conversation, the agent provides a complete transcript, detailed summary of the interaction, grades the candidate against our company values, and makes a clear recommendation: reject, review further, or advance to human interviews. Qualified candidates receive immediate calendar links, while others get personalized feedback.

Why Traditional Recruitment Screening is Broken

Our voice agent experiment highlighted just how inefficient traditional recruitment has become:

The Human BottleneckTraditional screening requires human recruiters to conduct the same conversations repeatedly. They get tired, lose focus, and can't maintain consistent energy levels across hundreds of calls.

Inconsistent EvaluationDifferent recruiters ask different questions, focus on different skills, and apply subjective judgment. This creates unfair advantages for some candidates and disadvantages for others.

Scheduling NightmaresCoordinating schedules between busy recruiters and candidates often means delays of days or weeks, during which top talent finds other opportunities.

Limited AvailabilityTraditional screening only happens during business hours, which is problematic for candidates who are currently employed or in different time zones.

Unconscious BiasHuman recruiters, despite best intentions, bring unconscious biases about accents, communication styles, or educational backgrounds that can unfairly influence decisions.

Our voice agent eliminates these problems:

• 24/7 availability means candidates can screen when convenient for them
• Consistent evaluation criteria ensures every candidate gets the same fair assessment
• Instant scheduling prevents talent from slipping away
• Bias-free assessment focuses purely on relevant skills and experience
• Unlimited capacity means we can screen thousands of candidates simultaneously

The Future of AI-Powered Recruitment

What we've built isn't just a recruitment tool – it's a glimpse into the future of how companies will find and evaluate talent.

Beyond Basic ScreeningFuture voice agents won't just screen candidates; they'll provide personalized career coaching, help candidates prepare for interviews, and even negotiate offers on behalf of both parties.

Predictive HiringBy analyzing thousands of screening conversations, AI can identify patterns that predict not just who will be hired, but who will succeed and stay long-term in specific roles.

Dynamic Job MatchingInstead of rigid job descriptions, voice agents can explore a candidate's full skill set and interests, potentially matching them to roles they hadn't even considered.

Continuous Candidate Relationship ManagementVoice agents can maintain ongoing relationships with talented candidates who weren't right for current openings, keeping them engaged for future opportunities.

The implications extend beyond recruitment. The same technology that makes our voice agent effective at screening candidates can be applied to:

• Customer discovery calls for product development
• Sales qualification for revenue teams
• Customer support for service organizations
• Market research for strategy teams
• User feedback collection for product teams

What This Means for Your Business

Here's the important part: what we've accomplished isn't magic, and it's not limited to tech companies.

If you're dealing with any high-volume, conversation-based process in your business, voice agents can probably transform it:

For StartupsUse voice agents to conduct customer development interviews, qualify sales leads, or gather user feedback at scale without building large teams.

For Growing CompaniesAutomate the repetitive conversations that slow down your team while maintaining the personal touch that builds relationships.

For Enterprise OrganizationsScale personalized interactions without proportionally scaling headcount, whether that's customer support, sales qualification, or internal employee assistance.

The beauty of AI-native automation is that you don't need to be a tech company to benefit from it. You just need to describe what you want to automate, and the platform builds it for you.

Implementation Reality CheckBuilding our recruitment voice agent took us two days from concept to deployment. Not two months, not two weeks – two days. That's because we're using our own vibe automation approach where you simply describe what you want, and the AI builds it.

Traditional automation would have required:

• Hiring specialized developers
• Months of custom coding
• Complex integration work
• Extensive testing and debugging

With AI-native automation, we:

• Described the recruitment process we wanted
• Provided examples of good vs. poor candidate responses
• Connected our existing tools (calendar, ATS, email)
• Deployed and started screening candidates

FAQ: Voice Agents for Recruitment

How do candidates react to being screened by AI?Overwhelmingly positive. The vast majority of candidates are genuinely impressed by the experience and prefer it to traditional phone screens. They appreciate the natural conversation flow, immediate scheduling, and 24/7 availability. Most importantly, they feel the AI asks better, more relevant questions than typical human recruiters.

What about the human touch in recruitment?
We're not replacing human recruiters – we're making them more effective. Our voice agent handles the repetitive, time-consuming screening work, which frees our human team to focus on building relationships with qualified candidates, making final hiring decisions, and improving our overall recruitment strategy.

How does voice agent screening compare to traditional pre-screening calls?The voice agent is more consistent, more available, and often more thorough than human screeners. It never gets tired, never has a bad day, and never forgets to ask important questions. But it seamlessly hands off to humans for final interviews and cultural fit assessments that require deeper relationship building.

Can voice agents handle technical screening?Absolutely – and honestly, they're dramatically better at it than most human recruiters. If you've ever watched a non-technical recruiter try to screen a software engineer, you know how painful it can be. They miss crucial technical nuances, can't ask meaningful follow-up questions, and often eliminate great candidates or advance poor ones. Our voice agent actually understands the technology, can dive deep into architectural decisions, and recognizes when a candidate is giving genuinely insightful answers versus just buzzword-dropping.

What's the ROI for implementing voice agents in recruitment?For us, the savings have been dramatic – over €35,000 monthly in recruiting costs while improving our time-to-hire by 3x. The exact ROI depends on your hiring volume and current recruitment costs, but most companies see positive returns within the first month of implementation.

How quickly can you implement voice agents for recruitment?With modern AI automation platforms, implementation can happen in days rather than months. The key is starting with a clear understanding of your screening criteria and having examples of what good responses look like.

The transformation of our recruitment process started with a hackathon victory, but it's become something much bigger – proof that AI automation isn't just a tech buzzword, it's a fundamental shift in how work gets done.

We're not just automating tasks; we're augmenting human capabilities and creating better experiences for everyone involved. Our candidates get faster, more consistent screening. Our team focuses on strategic work rather than repetitive calls. And we're hiring better people faster than ever before.

The best part? This is just the beginning. If voice agents can revolutionize something as nuanced as recruitment, imagine what they can do for every other conversation-based process in your business.

Ready to see how AI automation could transform your business processes? Book a demo and discover what's possible when you combine the power of AI with your team's expertise.

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