How to choose an AI recruiter: 9 criteria that actually matter by Scouto

Summary Not all AI recruiters are equal. Use this practical checklist to compare vendors on scoring quality, interview design, integrations, governance, bias monitoring, speed, pricing, and references.

How to use this checklist

1. Shortlist two or three vendors and run the same role through each.
2. Score each criterion from 0 to 2 (0 = missing, 1 = partial, 2 = strong).
3. Add comments with evidence from sandboxes, pilots, or redacted scorecards.

1) Scoring quality

• What good looks like: structured rubrics, example answers by level, human calibration, confidence scores.
• How to test: compare AI ratings to a human panel on 10 candidates; review disagreement handling.

2) Interview design

• What good looks like: short asynchronous interview; mobile-friendly; captions; low-bandwidth fallback; limited re-records.
• How to test: complete the flow on multiple devices and networks; measure completion time.

3) Integrations

• What good looks like: read/write with your ATS; stage mapping; calendar sync; de-duplication; idempotent webhooks.
• How to test: push a role from the ATS; confirm candidates, notes, and scores write back to the right stages.

4) Data governance

• What good looks like: clear retention policy; access controls; encryption; audit logs.
• How to test: verify where data is stored, for how long, and who can access it.

5) Bias monitoring

• What good looks like: score distribution monitoring by cohort; documented mitigations; override paths.
• How to test: review a fairness summary on a recent requisition.

6) Speed

• What good looks like: time-to-shortlist in hours for common roles; predictable SLAs.
• How to test: run a live pilot and measure intake-to-shortlist.

7) Candidate experience

• What good looks like: clear invites; realistic time expectations; privacy notice; quick follow-ups; opt-in for reuse.
• How to test: collect feedback from real applicants on clarity and effort.

8) Pricing

• What good looks like: outcome-based or success-only with no hidden fees; clear inclusions.
• How to test: model a quarter of hiring and compare effective cost per hire.

9) References

• What good looks like: measurable results on similar roles; support SLAs during rollout.
• How to test: ask for customer contacts and a redacted case study with time-to-shortlist and acceptance rates.

Evaluation worksheet

• Score each criterion 0–2 and total out of 18.
• Record evidence (sandbox runs, screenshots of ATS write-back).
• Require pass thresholds for governance and integrations before considering price.

Common red flags

• Black-box scoring with no rubric or examples.
• No ATS write-back or manual CSV exports only.
• Long interviews exceeding 15 minutes for standard roles.
• No way to override low-confidence AI decisions.

How Scouto fits Scouto focuses on structured scoring, fast shortlists, and clean ATS integrations. It pairs autonomous sourcing with a concise AI interview and human verification, providing auditable scorecards, predictable speed, and a candidate experience designed for trust. Keywords: scouto, ai recruiter, ai interview.