AI screening calls

The HumanEQ team sets up the calling connection for your organization: the phone line, the AI screening agent and how call results come back. There is nothing for you to install or paste. Until it is switched on, calls wait in the queue and Settings → Calling says so at the top.

Everything about *how* your organization calls is yours to set on the same page: calling hours, campaign defaults, the recording notice, retention and the nearer-location offer (below).

For testing, the HumanEQ team can put your organization in test mode: every call is then simulated, so nobody is dialled. The calling pages show Test mode while it is on.

• Calling hours: windows per weekday in your organization's timezone, Monday to Friday 10:00 to 18:00 by default. Add several windows to skip lunch. Outside them, calls wait.
• Language: the language calls open in by default (each role can choose its own). The agent switches to another language the candidate prefers if it is one your organization has enabled; ask the HumanEQ team to add a language.
• Voice and Speaking speed: how the agent sounds on calls. Listen plays a sample of each voice. A change is used from the next call.
• Offer a nearer location: when the same role is open in another hiring drive nearer the candidate, the agent offers to move the application there. On by default. See Nearer location.
• Recording notice: the first thing the agent says. By default it introduces itself as an automated AI assistant calling for your organization about the role, says the call is recorded for the hiring team, and asks whether now is a good time to talk. It is a notice: the agent never asks for permission to record.
• Retention: how long recordings (90 days by default) and transcripts (365 days) are kept.
• Do-not-call list: numbers that are never dialled. Candidates who ask not to be called are added automatically.

• Round 1 · phone screening questions: pick a phone screening template. Without one, the agent only collects the practical facts. See Question templates.
• Practical facts to collect: tick any of notice period, expected and current salary, current location, willing to relocate, availability date, work authorization, years of experience, highest qualification, current employer and preferred location.
• Extra questions for the call: role-specific checks asked after the template questions.
• Maximum call length (12 minutes by default) and Language.

On the call, the agent confirms identity, reads the recording notice and checks the candidate is still interested; asks your questions with follow-ups; collects the facts; suggests the nearest location; offers two to four AI interview slots; and invites the candidate's own questions, which it answers only from your knowledge base.

It talks like a friendly HR person, not a questionnaire. It responds to each answer and appreciates experience, qualifications and achievements the candidate mentions, without ever hinting at a decision. It follows up according to each question's follow-up depth, and says numbers back (notice period, salary) so they are recorded correctly. It already knows the candidate's application form, so it confirms those answers instead of asking from scratch. It never asks again for something the candidate has already said, and it adapts to their situation: someone who lives near the location isn't asked about travel or relocating, and someone not working at the moment isn't asked about a notice period. It never quotes distances, since it only knows the area the candidate named. Achievements the candidate mentions appear as Highlights from the call on the call and the application.

When a question isn't covered by the knowledge base, the agent never says it doesn't know. It tells the candidate warmly that the team will take them through it in the next steps, adds anything related the knowledge base does say, and carries on. The question goes to Unanswered questions for your team.

The agent does not hang up after answering a question or after its closing words. It waits for the candidate to say thank you or goodbye, unless the candidate asks to end the call, isn't interested, or time runs out. If the candidate goes quiet, it checks gently whether they are still there.

Example: a candidate who lives in Kukatpally applies for the Chemistry Teacher role in the Jubilee Hills drive, and the same role is open in the Kukatpally drive.

1. 1Before the call, HumanEQ finds the same role (same title and department, location words ignored) open in other hiring drives, with distances from where the candidate lives when the locations have map pins.
2. 2Right after the candidate confirms interest, the agent asks where they live if it doesn't know, and, only when another location is clearly nearer, asks: “We also have the same opening at our Kukatpally location, which is closer to you. Would you like me to forward your application there?”
3. 3If they say yes, the agent skips the screening questions, tells them the Kukatpally team will call again shortly, answers their questions and says goodbye.
4. 4After the call, the same application moves to the Kukatpally role automatically: same reference number, answers, resume score, notes and timeline, now in the Kukatpally drive and flagged Moved to a nearer location. Its pipeline carries on from the screening call, which is queued in the Kukatpally screening-call campaign, so the Kukatpally call comes next. Any call still waiting for the old location is cancelled, and the old location is never offered again.

If they say no, the call carries on for the role they applied to. The offer and the answer are recorded on the call. Switch it off under Settings → Calling → Offer a nearer location.

New campaign opens New calling campaign in four steps:

1. 1Role: the wizard shows whether call questions and interview slots are set up.
2. 2Who to call: all new applications, a stage filter (such as Unreachable or Needs review), or selected candidates.
3. 3Settings: name, calling hours, maximum passes (3 by default), the gap between passes (120 minutes), calls at the same time, a daily cap, an optional spend cap, maximum call length, language and Caller number (the number candidates see, if the provider allows it). Switches: Send a “we will call you” email first (on), Auto-add new applications (on), so anyone who applies while it runs joins the queue, and One call for all roles (off), so a candidate who applied to several roles is asked about them in one call.
4. 4Review, then Create and start or Create as draft. You see who was queued and who was skipped, and why.

You can also start a campaign from a selection on the Applications list. Campaigns can be paused, resumed or stopped; stopping cancels queued calls and keeps every result.

Calls go out in passes: everyone is called once before anyone is called again. Unanswered candidates go on a call-back list, and the next pass starts after the gap, up to the maximum. Someone who asked to be called at a specific time is called then. After no answer, a busy line or voicemail, a “Sorry we missed you” email goes out.

When the passes run out, the candidate is marked Unreachable, and the pipeline's Unreachable connection decides what happens next. For example, an AI interview step emails them a browser interview link valid for 7 days, and a review step asks your team to decide. Candidates who decline the AI call follow the Declined connection the same way, and so do candidates with no valid phone number. When someone declines, the agent only tells them what that connection really does: it promises an online interview link only when Declined leads to an AI interview step.

Before every dial, HumanEQ checks the campaign is active, the provider is ready, it is within calling hours, and the concurrency, daily and spend caps, the do-not-call list and the candidate's eligibility. A failed check only delays the call.

The quick practical details (notice period, salary, start date) and the interview times are asked before the screening questions, so a call that runs long has already collected them. A pipeline's phone screening step can also carry Extra instructions for the agent; the agent follows them on every call from that step, and its rules on consent, privacy and fairness always come first.

Open a call from the campaign or the application's Screening call tab:

• Outcome, duration, recording and the attempts timeline.
• Structured information: each fact in the candidate's own words, with a confidence. A fact that was not covered is marked unanswered, never guessed.
• A score from 0 to 10 for each question, with quotes, and four dimensions: role understanding, resume evidence, clarity and practical fit. Accent, fluency and line quality are never scored.
• Interest, slot choices, call-back time, whether they asked for a person, and The candidate's questions.
• The full transcript and recording.

Each call also gets a band. It comes from the combined resume + call score, not the call score alone:

Topics such as age, family, religion, caste or health are removed from the output and never scored. Use the Human review card to agree with the band or override it with a reason.

• Not interested: queued calls and bookings are cancelled, the application closes with the reason, and a “Thanks for letting us know” email is sent. If they agreed to future contact, they join the talent pool.
• Wants a different role: the application is flagged for a person.
• Asks not to be called: their number joins the do-not-call list.

From a call you can Record manual outcome (for a call made outside the system, you can even paste a transcript to have it scored), Re-queue call, Send browser interview link, Cancel queued call or Mark do-not-call.

Recordings are copied into HumanEQ's private storage after the call and played on the call page. If the provider has not returned one yet, the page says so and asks again after 1, 2, 5, 15, 30 and 60 minutes; Fetch recording again asks right away. Results usually arrive within a minute or two of the call ending.