We wrote this guide at NTRVSTA, and our own agent, Carolina, is one of the seven AI recruiting agents below. Facts about the other six come from their published pages and press coverage, linked under Sources, and we tell you when one of them fits better than we do.
TL;DR
Every recruiting vendor now says "agent". The useful question is narrower: which actions does the AI recruiting agent take by itself, which does it hand back, and can you change that per action? Judged that way, these are the strongest options in late 2026.
- Best for per-action control across sourcing, interviews and scheduling: NTRVSTA (us)
- Best for people-data intelligence plus screening and scheduling agents: Findem
- Best for a large search index with agents that draft and send outreach: SeekOut
- Best for complex interview loops run by an agent: GoodTime (Cori)
- Best for Workday Recruiting customers: Workday Recruiting Agent (HiredScore)
The picks at a glance
What actually matters when choosing an AI recruiting agent
Ask for the action list. A real agent can name the things it does without a click: send a message, place a call, book a slot, change a stage. Then ask how each one is governed. Some vendors gate everything behind approval, some let you set rules per workflow, and some mostly advise. None of these is wrong, but they suit different teams. A coordinator drowning in reschedules wants autonomy; a regulated employer may want most steps on "ask first". Our explainer on agentic AI in recruiting and the glossary entry for human in the loop go deeper.
Next, check the system of record. An agent that writes back to your ATS keeps reporting and compliance in one place. Look for the vendor's named ATS list, not "and more". Finally, watch scope creep: a suite agent may only work if you also buy the suite's career site or CRM.
1. NTRVSTA (us)
Carolina, our AI Head of Talent, sources candidates and runs outreach by email, SMS and WhatsApp; scores and ranks every resume with an explanation; runs live AI interviews that adapt to each answer, by video avatar or audio; and schedules interviews and panels on your calendar. She also answers pipeline questions in plain English and sends a morning digest in Slack or Microsoft Teams.
What sets her apart on an agent list is the control model. Every action has its own setting: suggest, ask first, or auto. You might let her book interviews on auto, keep outreach on ask first, and leave rejections on suggest. Offers and compensation changes always wait for a person, whatever you set. She works inside the ATS, HRIS, payroll and calendar you already run, from Greenhouse and Lever to Workday and Salesforce, and our Asenion bias audit of the AI interviews (NYC Local Law 144, finalized October 20, 2026) is on our compliance page.
Where NTRVSTA isn't the right fit: we're newer and smaller, with no published case studies yet. We don't publish a profile database the way SeekOut or Findem do, and we aren't a workforce-planning or skills suite. If you want a single vendor for career site, CRM and mobility, Phenom is closer.
Best for: teams that want one agent across the funnel and want to decide, action by action, how much it does alone.
Try a sample NTRVSTA interview
2. Findem
Findem builds what it calls expert-labeled people data and runs named agents on top: Application Boost, Calibration, Screening, Assessment, ID Verify, Scheduling and Veteran Sourcing. Findem says its AI video interviews are fully autonomous structured sessions available 24/7, and its Screening Agent (early access) runs phone screens that follow up when answers lack detail. Findem says the Screening and Scheduling agents run after a recruiter approves the criteria, and recruiters decide who advances.
Pricing isn't published, though Findem Studio invites you to try an agent free. Findem announced a deal to acquire Glider AI on March 19, 2026; we found no closing announcement as of November 1, 2026. See NTRVSTA vs Findem.
Best for: TA, executive search and VC or PE talent teams that want market maps and warm paths plus agents.
3. SeekOut
SeekOut calls itself the agentic AI recruiting platform. Its agents build rubrics, search 1B+ profiles plus your ATS, and draft and send personalized email campaigns; an add-on scores every applicant and, per SeekOut's homepage, runs video screening interviews, though the format isn't described. SeekOut says recruiters approve or adjust at every critical step.
Sourcing Core is $149 a month billed annually with a 14-day free trial; the agentic Full Recruiting Funnel plan is custom. More on NTRVSTA vs SeekOut.
Best for: enterprise and mid-market teams that want deep external search and AI-drafted outreach, with a recruiter approving each step.
4. Phenom
Phenom runs agents through a layer it calls WorkOps. Its Voice Screening Agent calls candidates soon after they apply, adapts its questions and scores answers 1 to 5 against a rubric; its AI Interviewer holds real-time voice interviews, with an optional avatar. Agents send screening invites automatically based on workflow rules. Phenom says every rating is a proposal the recruiter accepts or overrides.
Pricing isn't published. Phenom is a full talent platform (career site, CRM, scheduling, onboarding, internal mobility), so the agents come with a larger purchase. See NTRVSTA vs Phenom.
Best for: large, high-volume employers that want screening agents inside one talent-experience suite.
5. GoodTime (Cori)
GoodTime describes Cori as "Not a chatbot. Not a copilot." Cori schedules and reschedules interviews, swaps in a new interviewer when one drops, sends reminders and follow-ups by email, SMS and WhatsApp, drafts scorecards and advances candidates through stages. GoodTime says every action is visible and anything outside a defined workflow goes to a person.
Pricing is based on annual candidate volume rather than seats and isn't published. Cori doesn't source or interview. Compare on NTRVSTA vs GoodTime.
Best for: enterprise teams with heavy multi-day and panel loops that want coordination off recruiters' plates.
6. Joveo
Joveo, long known for programmatic job ads, now pitches an agentic recruiting platform. Joveo says its agents run job and social ads, career sites, CRM campaigns over email, SMS and WhatsApp, a chatbot, scheduling and an AI Interviewer that runs on-demand interviews by web, phone or WhatsApp, asks follow-ups and writes scores and transcripts back to the ATS.
Pricing is custom, set by campaign scale and channels. See NTRVSTA vs Joveo.
Best for: high-volume employers and staffing firms whose biggest lever is ad spend and applicant flow.
7. Workday Recruiting Agent (HiredScore)
Workday closed its acquisition of HiredScore on March 29, 2024, and now sells it as the Recruiting Agent. Workday says it grades applicants against the employer's job requirements with an explained grade, rediscovers past applicants and CRM leads, and gives recruiters and hiring managers prioritized next best actions inside Workday Recruiting and Microsoft Teams, with final decisions left to people. It leans toward recommending rather than acting.
Pricing isn't published. Workday is an NTRVSTA integration partner, and the two can run side by side: the Recruiting Agent ranks inside Workday while Carolina handles outreach, interviews and scheduling.
Best for: Workday Recruiting customers that want AI grading and rediscovery without adding a vendor.
Our pick
- You want one agent from first message to booked panel, with a setting per action: NTRVSTA.
- Your hardest searches need people data and relationship maps: Findem.
- You live in sourcing and want approvals on every send: SeekOut.
- Coordination, not sourcing, is the bottleneck: GoodTime.
- You are buying a whole talent platform anyway: Phenom.
- You run Workday Recruiting: start with its Recruiting Agent, and add specialists where it stops. Our AI recruiters list and recruiting automation software roundup cover more tools.
Questions
What is an AI recruiting agent?
It is software that carries out recruiting work, not just suggests it. It might send outreach, place a screening call, book a panel or move a candidate to the next stage, inside limits you set. A copilot drafts and waits; an agent acts and reports back.
Which recruiting actions should never be fully automatic?
Rejections at scale, offers and pay changes are the usual lines. NTRVSTA always holds offers and compensation changes for a person, and Phenom, Findem and the Workday Recruiting Agent all say humans make the final decision. Write your own list before you turn anything on.
Can I run more than one recruiting agent at once?
Yes, and many teams do, for example a scheduling agent like GoodTime next to a sourcing agent. The risk is two agents messaging the same candidate. Pick one system to own candidate contact and let the ATS be the record both read from.
Do AI recruiting agents need a bias audit?
If an agent substantially helps decide who moves forward for a New York City job, NYC Local Law 144 may apply, and the employer needs a bias audit. Ask each vendor what its audit covers. NTRVSTA's audit by Asenion covers its AI interviews, not sourcing or resume scoring.
How long does it take to set up an AI recruiting agent?
It depends on how many systems it touches. NTRVSTA says setup takes a few days, depending on customization. Suites like Phenom or Joveo are larger projects. Ask for a written timeline that includes your ATS connection and your approval rules.
Curious how per-action guardrails look in practice? Book a short demo and we'll set Carolina up on one of your roles, or check our plans first.
We checked every product's features and pricing between October 27 and November 1, 2026. Agents ship fast, so confirm details with each vendor before you sign.
Sources
- NTRVSTA pricing
- NTRVSTA NYC Local Law 144 bias audit
- Findem homepage
- Findem Screening Agent
- Findem Scheduling Agent
- Findem on acquiring Glider AI
- SeekOut homepage
- SeekOut pricing
- Phenom Voice Screening Agent
- Phenom AI Interviewer
- GoodTime Cori
- Joveo AI Interviewer
- Workday Recruiting Agent
- Workday FY2025 10-K (HiredScore acquisition)
