How we use AI in hiring, and what it never does.
These are rules built into the interviewer and the scorer, not settings an employer can turn off. Each one is something you can check in any recording or scorecard.
Built into every interview
It always says it is an AI
The interviewer introduces itself as an AI assistant and says so plainly whenever it is asked. That rule sits above every employer instruction, so no setting or guidance can make it pretend to be a person.
Every call opens with a recording notice
Before the first question, the candidate is told the call is recorded. References are told when the call is offered.
No questions about protected characteristics
It never asks about age, health, disability, pregnancy, family, religion or national origin, and it does not follow up if a candidate volunteers them. The tool that drafts questions from a job posting will not write them either.
The same interview for everyone
Every applicant for a role hears the same questions in the same order and is scored on the same rubric, whatever their language, location or time of day.
Scored on what was said, not how it sounded
Scores are produced from the transcript of the candidate's answers. Accent, tone of voice and how someone sounds are not inputs. Calls in other languages are translated faithfully before scoring, so candidates are not marked down for not using English.
Every score shows its reasoning
Each answer's score comes with a written reason, the candidate's own words, the recording and the full transcript, plus flags where the scorer is unsure. A reviewer can always check the work.
People make the decision
PhoneScreen never accepts or rejects a candidate. It reports; your team decides who moves forward, and can overrule any score.
Candidates stay in control
A candidate can ask the interviewer questions about the job, end the call at any time, and reply STOP to any text. Calls and texts go only to US and Canadian numbers.
What happens to candidate data
- Applicant data is kept per employer account and never shared across accounts or sold.
- Data is encrypted in transit and at rest.
- An employer can ask us to delete a specific person at any time, and we do it within 30 days. When an account closes, its applicant and reference data is deleted within 90 days.
- Anyone can ask to see, correct or delete their information. The privacy policy has the details.
What compliance and HR teams ask
Does PhoneScreen make hiring decisions? +
No. It runs the first-round interview and scores each answer with its reasoning. People at the hiring company decide who moves forward, and the product has no automatic reject.
Do candidates know they are talking to an AI? +
Yes. The interviewer says it is an AI assistant, and no employer instruction can change that. Every call also opens with a recording notice.
Can an employer add questions that are not allowed? +
The interviewer will not ask about protected characteristics, and the question drafter will not write them. Employers are still responsible for the questions they write, so we recommend keeping every question tied to the job: experience, certifications, availability and how someone handles situations they will meet on the job.
Is the scoring biased against non-native speakers? +
Candidates can interview in any of 34 languages, and answers are scored on their meaning from the transcript, not on accent or fluency. A candidate who answers in Spanish is compared like for like with one who answers in English.
Do you have SOC 2 or an independent bias audit? +
Not today, and we do not claim either. If your process requires an audit, for example under New York City's Local Law 144 for automated employment decision tools, talk to us about what we can provide: the questions, rubric, scores, reasoning and recordings for every interview are all available to you.
Hiring laws depend on how and where a tool is used. Employers hiring in New York City should review the city's official Automated Employment Decision Tools guidance.
Related: why the same questions for everyone · writing knockout questions that hold up · the AI interviewer
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