AI Receptionist for permanent recruitment agencies
A hiring manager's brief is time-sensitive. Answer it before your competitor does.
Ava is the AI receptionist for permanent recruitment agencies that answers every client briefing call, captures the role and urgency, and books your consultant callback before the vacancy goes to a rival agency.
Miss one client briefing call per week and you lose £3,000–£10,000 in placement fee. A senior vacancy briefed to a competitor is work that generates revenue, credit, and referrals — all lost from a single missed call.
The short answer
- £3,000–£10,000 per permanent placement — every missed client briefing call is a fee that goes to a rival agency on the same PSL.
- 24/7 cover captures the international client briefing a role before UK business hours start.
- Role title, salary, urgency and key requirements captured and routed to the correct consultant before the client has finished the call.
- Candidate and client calls distinguished at the first ring, routed to the right consultant without manual triage.
- 48-hour go-live gets Ava trained on your sectors and consultant routing before the next client call arrives.
The problem
A hiring manager rings to brief an urgent permanent vacancy — head of finance, six-figure package, close by Friday. You are three calls deep with candidates. The call rings out. They call the next agency on their PSL and brief them instead.
What Ava does
Ava answers every inbound client call, captures the role brief, urgency, and key requirements, and books a consultant callback or briefing call so no vacancy ever reaches your competitor before it reaches your desk.
A single permanent placement fee averages £3,000–£10,000. A key client briefing a senior role who hears voicemail will call the next agency on their list within five minutes.
How does Ava handle a permanent vacancy briefing call?
Ava answers, establishes whether the caller is a client or candidate, captures the role title, salary budget, urgency, and reporting line for client calls, then routes the brief to the correct consultant via SMS or email for same-day follow-up. The consultant arrives at the callback with the complete brief already captured.
A hiring manager briefing an urgent vacancy is on a tight timeline. They have board approval, a budget, and a replacement in mind. They are calling two or three agencies simultaneously and briefing the one that answers best. Ava ensures you are always that agency.
The brief Ava captures shapes the consultant's callback. Knowing it is a Head of Finance replacement at £90,000, with a six-week start, at Halcyon Group in the City means the consultant arrives at the phone call with a shortlist framed and a credible opening question, rather than spending five minutes on discovery the caller already provided.
Every brief writes into Bullhorn or your CRM against the client record with role title, salary, urgency and contact so the consultant follows up from a complete picture.
Why do recruitment agencies lose client briefs to missed calls?
Consultants are on the phone with candidates for most of the day. When a client calls to brief a vacancy and hits voicemail, they call the next agency on their PSL. By the time the consultant is free, the brief is already in a competitor's hands and the first CVs are being sent.
PSL (Preferred Supplier Lists) are the commercial battleground for retained and contingency recruitment. Being on the PSL is not enough if the client's calls consistently go unanswered. Ava ensures every PSL client reaches a professional response and a committed consultant callback, reinforcing your position on the list rather than eroding it.
Speed to brief matters as much as speed to fill. An agency that captures a vacancy three hours before a competitor starts sending CVs three hours earlier. In a competitive sector like finance or technology, that head start often determines who makes the placement.
Ava removes the briefing delay entirely. The client calls, the brief is captured, the consultant is alerted within minutes, and the callback happens within the hour — before the briefed vacancy has been distributed to a single competitor.
Does Ava integrate with recruitment CRM software?
Yes. Ava integrates with Bullhorn, Vincere, JobAdder and RDB, writing vacancy briefs and candidate details into the correct record with role title, salary, urgency and client contact. Consultants review the captured brief in their CRM before making the callback.
Bullhorn is the most widely used recruitment CRM in the UK market. Ava captures all the key fields at the briefing stage — job title, salary, reporting line, urgency, client name and contact — and writes them into the Bullhorn vacancy record so the consultant does not start with a blank slate.
For candidate calls, Ava captures the candidate's name, current role, what they are looking for and their availability, and creates or updates the candidate record in Vincere or JobAdder so the resourcer can act on the call immediately.
Where a live CRM integration is not available, Ava sends a structured summary by email so the brief lands in the consultant's inbox with all the essential fields, maintaining response time even without a native integration.
£3,000–£10,000
Average permanent placement fee depending on salary level and sector
Figures already used in this page; UK recruitment industry estimate
5 minutes
How quickly a hiring manager calls the next agency after hitting voicemail
UK recruitment industry observation
PSL
Preferred Supplier Lists determine who receives client briefs — consistent non-answer erodes your position on them
UK recruitment industry observation
The difference
Voicemail takes a message. Ava books the appointment.
What callers ring about
Every permanent recruitment call, handled.
- Urgent vacancy briefing calls
- New client onboarding enquiries
- Candidate availability calls
- Retained search enquiries
Hear it in action
This is what your callers hear.
- Good morning, Apex Recruitment — how can I help?
- Hi, I need to brief a role urgently. We're looking for a Head of Finance and need someone in post within six weeks.
- I'll make sure the right consultant gets back to you today. Can I take a few details — the company name, the rough salary budget, and whether this is a replacement or a new position?
- It's a replacement. Budget is around £90,000. Company is Halcyon Group.
- Thank you — I'll have the consultant for your sector call you within the hour. Can I take the best number to reach you?
Before you choose
What to look for in an AI receptionist for permanent recruitment.
Caller type distinction
Recruitment agencies receive both client and candidate calls. The receptionist must distinguish between them instantly and route each to the correct consultant or team.
Vacancy brief depth
A brief that captures only job title and company name is not useful. Confirm the system captures salary, urgency, reporting line and replacement context.
Consultant routing rules
Different sectors, different consultants. Confirm the system routes client briefs and candidate calls to the right person, not just the first available.
Bullhorn or CRM integration
Briefs and candidate details should write directly into Bullhorn, Vincere or RDB, not into a separate inbox that consultants may not check until the end of the day.
Common questions
Everything you’re wondering.
Can Ava capture a client vacancy brief while consultants are on calls?
Yes. Ava captures the job title, department, key requirements, salary range, urgency, and the client contact name, then routes the brief to the correct consultant via email or SMS for same-day follow-up.
What information does Ava capture from a client briefing call?
Role title, reporting line, key skills or experience required, salary budget, location and remote working policy, intended start date, and whether the role is a replacement or a new position.
Can Ava handle candidate calls as well as client calls?
Yes. Ava distinguishes between client and candidate calls, captures the relevant detail for each — role interest and availability for candidates, vacancy brief for clients — and routes them to the correct consultant.
Can Ava handle calls from new clients who want to engage the agency?
Yes. Ava captures the company name, industry, typical hiring needs, and the decision maker's contact detail, then routes the new business enquiry to your BD consultant for a same-day callback.
Does Ava give any guidance on salary expectations or candidate availability?
Ava captures the client's budget and requirements but does not give salary benchmarking or candidate availability guidance. Those conversations are for your consultants.
How quickly can Ava go live for our recruitment agency?
Typically within 48 hours. We train her on your service areas, specialist sectors, and consultant routing rules before she goes live.
Does Ava integrate with recruitment CRM software?
Yes. Ava integrates with Bullhorn, Vincere, JobAdder and RDB, writing client briefs and candidate details into the correct record so the consultant follows up from a complete picture.
Can Ava handle calls outside business hours from clients in different time zones?
Yes. Ava operates 24/7. An international client calling before or after UK business hours gets the same response quality, with the brief captured and delivered to the consultant at the start of the next working day.
Pricing
Ava pays for herself on call one.
A single permanent placement fee averages £3,000–£10,000. A key client briefing a senior role who hears voicemail will call the next agency on their list within five minutes. Plans from £397/mo. One recovered job a month covers it — everything else is pure upside.
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