Custom automation for recruitment agencies
We connect the systems your desk already runs.
Your CRM, inbox, timesheets and compliance files already hold what the week needs. The only thing carrying work between them is a person. We build that layer, so the repetition moves forward on its own and nothing gets quietly dropped.
No CRM replacement. No migration. Nothing leaves the building without you approving it.
The alert fires. Then nothing follows through.
Every CRM in this market can show you what is about to expire, what has not been submitted, and which assignments end next month. The alert fires into the CRM of somebody already holding forty other notifications, and then the work stops. Nothing drafts the email, waits three weeks, notices the silence, finds the next approver, or checks whether there is budget left to extend against.
Only 10%Global
- 30%have moved to some level of agentic AI tools.
- 29%are still using generative AI for isolated tasks.
What you get back
Not the judgement calls, which stay yours. The assembly, the chasing and the remembering.
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Hours back on the desk
The recurring admin stops being something a consultant does by hand every week and becomes something they approve in a queue.
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Nothing quietly dropped
Dates, chases and expiries stop depending on whether the person holding them was busy that day.
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Growth without more admin
More contractors or more mandates stop meaning proportionally more of the work nobody wanted to do.
One worked example
A contract desk, because that is where the weekly repetition is heaviest. A search desk sees the same shape with pack production and pipeline dates in place of timesheets.
Illustrative
A Monday on a contract desk
- Chase unsubmitted timesheets
- 45 min
- Ring approvers who have not signed off
- 40 min
- Hunt end dates across the spreadsheet
- 30 min
- Draft extension emails by hand
- 35 min
- Check PO balances before invoicing
- 20 min
Total 2h 50m
The same Monday with the build
- Review queued timesheet chases
- 10 min
- Approve escalations to fallback approvers
- 5 min
- End dates already flagged at T-45
- 0 min
- Read and send drafted extension emails
- 15 min
- PO balances reconciled automatically
- 0 min
Total 30m
Inputs to this example
- A desk running 12 live contractors
- Weekly timesheets, monthly invoicing
- One consultant handling all desk admin
- Times are worked estimates for this example, not measured averages
This is a worked example to show the shape of the change, not a benchmark. Nobody publishes admin-time data for recruitment desks. We have looked, and it does not exist. The only number worth arguing about is the one measured on your own book, which is where we start.
We don't sell software. We build the part your software doesn't do.
There is no product to configure and no licence to buy. Three stages, nothing built before we have both seen your week, and you can stop after any of them.
Step 1
We go through your week
What your desk repeats, where it stalls, and which parts of it currently depend on somebody remembering. Not a demo and not a pitch, because there is nothing yet to demo.
If nothing on your desk is worth automating, this is where we say so.
Step 2
We scope what is worth removing
A short written plan against your own numbers: what would be built, in what order, and what each piece is actually worth. The pieces not worth building are marked as such.
Step 3
We build that, and nothing else
Scoped straight from the plan, connected to the tools you already run, handed over documented and running on your own systems.
Workflows we connect
Your systems already hold the data. What is missing is the handoff between them. Six paths we have joined before, shown step by step. They are not packages and there is nothing here to pick from: yours gets traced from your own week, and most builds end up being a piece of one of these plus something not listed.
54% Global
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Extensions and renewals
The end date sits in your ATS and something flags it. Between that flag and a signed extension, every handoff is currently a person remembering.
Systems joined CRM or ATS · Inbox · Finance
The path
- ATS end date
- Extension drafted from the record
- Chase on silence
- Escalation to a named approver
- PO balance checked
- You approve the send
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Timesheet to invoice
One weekly chain across four systems, with five places it stalls, and a person carrying it between each of them.
Systems joined Timesheet portal · Inbox · Accounting · Invoice finance
The path
- Timesheet portal
- Chase what is unsubmitted
- Escalate a stalled approval
- Hours cross-checked against the rate
- Invoice assembled
- Filed to your finance system
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Compliance evidencing and expiry
Dates that expire quietly in one system while the evidence for them lives in another. We track and evidence. Every determination stays with you.
Systems joined CRM · Document store · Inbox
The path
- Document expiry date
- Request drafted to the holder
- Chased, then escalated
- Outstanding list updated
- Evidence trail assembled
- You make the call
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Briefing packs and dossiers
The client-facing document rebuilt by hand every time, out of three sources you already hold in three different places.
Systems joined CRM · Call recording · Docs
The path
- CV, call notes and client brief
- Structured into your format
- Every claim traced to its source
- Unsupported claims flagged
- Editable pack, never a send
- You review and sign off
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Longlist research and mapping
The unpaid week at the front of a mandate, spent moving names between a research source, a spreadsheet and the database you already own.
Systems joined CRM · Research sources · Docs
The path
- Mandate brief
- Names and titles assembled
- Deduplicated against your own database
- Enriched from sources you licence
- Mapping written back to the record
- You decide who is worth approaching
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The dates nobody is watching
Your warmest conversations already exist in the database with a date attached. Nothing currently connects that date to an action.
Systems joined CRM · Calendar · Inbox
The path
- Placement or rebate record
- Anniversary or guarantee window reached
- Context assembled from the history
- Re-engagement drafted
- You read it and send it
If your bottleneck is somewhere else entirely, that is a normal conversation and not a problem.
It sits between the tools you already run
No migration, no CRM replacement, no asking your desk to work differently.
We build the connective layer between these. We don't replace them.
You keep the controls
Handing chasing and drafting to a machine is only sensible if you can stop it, see what it did, and stay the one making every judgement call.
| Guardrail | What it means | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Human approval before send | Nothing reaches a client or a contractor until you have read it and pressed send. There is no autonomous outbound. | Always on |
| Full action log | Every trigger, draft, send, skip and escalation is written down with a timestamp you can export. | Always on |
| Pause anytime | One switch halts a single record, a sequence, or the whole build, mid-run, without losing state. | Always on |
| Suppression and DNR lists | Do-not-contact records are checked before anything is drafted, not after it has been written. | Enforced |
| Every compliance decision stays with you | The system tracks and evidences. It never makes a determination, and it never signs anything on your behalf. | By design |
Who this is for
Boutique agencies in the UK and the US, typically one to ten people, where the admin is done by the same people doing the selling.
Contract and temp
Where the payback is fastest
The same sequence runs every week, which means anything removed from it is removed fifty-two times a year. Most of our work sits here and it would be misleading to pretend otherwise.
- Timesheet chasing and approval escalation
- Extensions worked from the end date to a signature
- Compliance dates tracked and evidenced
- PO balances checked before you commit
Exec search and perm
Where the assembly work is
Less weekly repetition, heavier per-mandate build. The documents that justify your fee get rebuilt from scratch every time, out of sources you already hold.
- Briefing packs and dossiers assembled, never sent
- Longlist research and market mapping
- Progress packs rebuilt before each client call
- Placement anniversaries and guarantee windows
The assessment is the part your clients are paying for. It stays entirely with you.
Questions people actually ask
The ones that come up on nearly every intro call. Short answers, no hedging.
What exactly do you build?
Whatever your week turns out to need. Everything is scoped to one agency and built for it rather than picked off a shelf. The areas further up the page are where we have built before, not a list of what is on offer, and most builds end up being some combination of them and something not listed at all.
Is this a product we sign up for?
No. There is no signup, no free trial and no per-seat pricing. Each build is scoped to one agency and handed over documented. It is a service, and you work directly with the people building it.
Will AI be talking to our candidates?
No. Nothing in any build is candidate-facing. No screening, no ranking, no scoring, no auto-rejection, no messaging. Every automation is internal to your desk and every send is approved by you first.
Do we need to change CRM?
No. The build sits between the tools you already run. Your CRM stays exactly where it is; what gets added is the layer that follows through once it has flagged something.
How much does it cost and how long does it take?
A build runs £2,500 to £6,000 depending on complexity, delivered in two to three weeks. Nothing is quoted until we have been through your week properly, so you know what you are buying before you commit to it.
What do you need from us?
A conversation about how the week actually runs, access to the systems the build has to touch, and someone who can answer questions while it is being built. It is hours rather than days of your time.
We are a perm or search desk rather than contract. Does this still apply?
Yes, and we will be straight about the difference. Contract desks have more recurring weekly admin, so the payback arithmetic is usually fastest there. Search and perm desks carry heavy per-mandate assembly instead: pack production, longlist research, pipeline dates nobody is watching. Different work, same shape.
Who owns what you build?
You do. It runs on your systems and your accounts, it is handed over documented, and you are not renting access to it from us.
What if we are not sure it is worth it?
Start with the call. If there is nothing on your desk worth automating we will say so. It is a short conversation and it costs you nothing.
Start with a call
Fifteen minutes, no deck and no pitch. Tell us how your week actually runs and we will tell you whether there is anything here worth automating. If there is not, we will say so and that is the end of it.