Rec Tech: the Recruiting Technology Podcast · Chris Russell

Voice Screening: a Case Study

March 16, 2026·32 min·2 clips

The apparel sales pilot raised interview acceptance by 50% and cut time to offer.

The hard part was not the demo. The guest describes a voice screening rollout that first had to get past governance concerns: safety, approval, and whether the tool could prove real ROI. The CHRO mattered early. Martha May saw the demo and told the team to get the approvals needed to keep going. Then came the more delicate part. Recruiters had already been through a reduction in force, so an AI agent could easily sound like another replacement signal. The team had to be careful with that message. They positioned the agent as help for recruiters, not a tool taking over their jobs. The pilot stayed narrow on purpose. They picked high volume production roles, including warehouse workers, machine operators, and embroidery operators, where the screening burden was already obvious. Apparel sales reps became the next lane because that tied into Kristen's area of responsibility. That gave the team another real hiring workflow to test. The host keeps steering the conversation back to impact. After launch, the guest says the data showed a night and day difference. The strongest part is the change management. This is a case study about how recruiting tech lands when the people using it are understandably nervous. The AI is treated as a tool. Governance, recruiter communication, test design, iteration, and measurable outcomes carry the episode.

As heard by us

A grounded case study on rolling out voice screening without alienating recruiters.

The episode is strongest when it stays on the rollout itself: how voice screening was introduced without losing recruiters, not just why the idea sounded good.

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Why you'd press play

Before the AI rollout glow-up, hear how one team won approval, picked a test, and kept recruiters onside.

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