AI for recruitment agencies: automate the admin, not the judgement
We help recruitment agencies and employment businesses automate the admin around placing people: CVs read into your CRM, compliance documents and right-to-work evidence chased, timesheets checked before payroll, and call notes logged to the record. Your consultants still decide who is put forward, and nothing we build ranks or rejects candidates on its own.
Consultants should be talking to people, not keying data
Every hour a consultant spends typing up a CV, chasing a reference or writing up a call is an hour not spent with candidates and clients.
Most agencies already have a recruitment CRM or applicant tracking system, a timesheet process and a compliance checklist. The work that eats the week happens between them: in the applications inbox, on the phone, in a spreadsheet on Monday morning, in a folder of scanned passports.
The temp desk feels it most. Timesheets, compliance files and assignment confirmations all run to deadlines, and a gap in any of them holds up pay, an invoice or a Monday start.
Alphabyte IT, our sister company, looks after one of South Wales’ largest recruitment agencies. Our founder, Ross Owen, has worked in IT since 2000.
The standard pack, set up for an agency
- Call summaries and follow-ups. Candidate and client calls summarised onto the record, with callbacks and missed calls turned into tasks. If your phones can’t record, you get a weekly call report instead.
- Inbox assistant. Shared mailboxes such as applications@ or timesheets@ sorted, routed to the right desk, with routine replies drafted for checking.
- Meeting minutes. Teams client briefings and sales meetings written up with actions, in your format.
- Knowledge assistant. Consultants ask about your compliance procedures, terms of business and processes, and get answers from your own documents.
- Staff onboarding and an AI safe-use policy. New consultants get a welcome pack, onboarding videos and policy sign-offs, and everyone knows which candidate data can go into which tool.
- Plan hours. Four or eight hours a month to build agency-specific automations, such as CV entry, compliance chasing and timesheet checks. Larger CRM or payroll links are a single project at a fixed quote.
The admin around placing people
CVs into the CRM
Applications from job boards, your website and email read, key details entered into your CRM or ATS, and existing records updated instead of duplicated.
Compliance chasing
ID, right-to-work evidence, qualifications and references requested, chased and filed, with expiry dates diarised and a live view of whose file is complete.
Interview scheduling
Slots offered, confirmations and calendar invites sent, reminders to candidates and clients, and any reschedule logged to the record.
Timesheet checks
Timesheets chased before the cut-off, checked against each booking’s hours and rates, and exceptions flagged before payroll and invoicing.
Call notes
Calls summarised onto the candidate or client record, and candidates proposed by phone confirmed in writing for the consultant to send.
Adverts and shortlists
Job adverts and candidate summaries drafted from the consultant’s notes. The consultant decides who is put forward.
Compliance stays with your people
Agencies and employment businesses in England, Scotland and Wales work under the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003. Since 7 April 2026 they’ve been enforced by the Fair Work Agency, which replaced the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate. The regulations cover agreeing terms with work-seekers, the Key Information Document for temps, confirming identity, qualifications and right to work before an introduction or supply, confirming in writing what you told a hirer about a candidate by phone, and keeping records. Automation makes the paperwork happen on time. It doesn’t change who is responsible.
From 1 October 2026, the Home Office Right to Work Scheme reaches beyond employees to people on worker’s contracts and some other arrangements. For temps you supply, the check is yours as the employment business. We automate the chasing and filing. The check itself, whether manual, online with a share code or through a registered digital verification provider, stays with a trained person.
Under UK GDPR, candidates must be told how their data is used, even when their CV reached you from a job board, and it shouldn’t be kept longer than you need it. Solely automated decisions with significant effects need safeguards, including human review. The ICO has found screening tools that filtered candidates by protected characteristics or guessed them from names, and the Equality Act 2010 applies to agencies too. So what we build supports consultants; it doesn’t score, rank or reject anyone.
How we handle candidate data
- No consumer AI. CVs, passports and timesheets never go into public chatbots.
- Business-grade AI under contract. We build with Anthropic’s Claude through its business service. Your data isn’t used to train its models, and it’s covered by a data processing agreement.
- In-house AI, coming soon. AI on our own hardware in Cardiff, for data that shouldn’t leave the building.
- Consultants decide. The automation reads, chases and drafts. A person stays in the loop for every decision about a candidate.
- Built inside your systems. We work in your Microsoft 365 and alongside your CRM, timesheet and payroll software.
- Numbers, not content. Your AI dashboard shows what’s running and the time saved, never the candidates.
Questions agencies ask us
Can AI screen CVs for us?
It can read CVs, enter the details and summarise candidates a consultant has chosen. We don’t build tools that score, rank or reject candidates on their own. Solely automated decisions with significant effects need safeguards under UK GDPR, the ICO has found bias in screening tools, and a consultant’s judgement is what your clients pay for.
Will it work with our recruitment CRM?
Many recruitment CRMs and applicant tracking systems can exchange data with other systems. Where yours can’t, we work through email, Outlook and Microsoft 365 instead. If your CRM already parses CVs well, we’ll tell you rather than build another. The free audit checks what yours can do.
Can automation do our right-to-work checks?
No. It can request and chase the evidence, file it, and remind you before a follow-up check is due when someone’s permission is time-limited. The check must be done the way the Home Office prescribes, by your trained staff or through a registered digital verification provider. For a permanent placement, your client is the employer and needs its own check.
Is candidate data safe with AI?
It can be, if it’s set up properly. We use business-grade AI under a data processing agreement that doesn’t train on your data, we agree what goes where before anything is built, and in-house AI on our own hardware is coming soon for the most sensitive records.
Is it worth it for a small agency?
Often, because a small team feels every hour of admin. Monthly AI Support starts at £459 + VAT a month, with the standard pack set up from the start and plan hours for the agency-specific work. The free audit tells you which automations would pay back first.
Need your IT looked after too?
Alphabyte IT, our sister company, has looked after IT, security and support for businesses across South Wales since 2009.
How much of your consultants’ week goes on admin?
Find out in a free automation audit, with a plain-English report of where the savings are.
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