AI workflow assessment for UK recruiters - win back the time you're not spending closing.
We sit down with your desk for 60 minutes, diagnose where the hours actually go - sourcing, CRM hygiene, CV formatting, interview scheduling, offer-stage chasing - and hand back a report built around how you bill: named tools, step-by-step recipes, and a prioritised plan to reclaim the time. Not a template.
Nearly two days a week that never show up in commission.
You bill on placements. Then 15 hours of every week - the highest admin load of any sector we measure - go on the work around them: sourcing on LinkedIn, CRM data hygiene, reformatting CVs into house style, interview diary tetris, and reference-and-offer chasing.
Half of it is invisible because it never appears on a commission statement - it shows up as the deals you didn't have time to close. You know AI could take some of it, but you also know generic automation gets ignored by candidates and breaches GDPR if you get it wrong. You need someone to show you exactly where it helps, and where it doesn't, for a desk that runs the way yours does.
That is what the assessment is for. Not another tool subscription, not a generic list - a 60-minute diagnostic of your desk and a plan built around what will genuinely give you the selling time back.
UK recruiters lose around £41,400 a year per consultant - almost two full days a week.
The typical UK recruitment desk loses 15 hours per consultant per week to admin. At a blended loaded cost of £60 an hour across the 46-week UK working year, that is £41,400 of selling time every year - for each consultant on the desk.
£27,600
Resourcer or trainee rate - 15 hrs/week × £40 × 46 weeks
£41,400
Typical consultant rate - 15 hrs/week × £60 × 46 weeks
£55,200
Senior or 360 rate - 15 hrs/week × £80 × 46 weeks
The 15-hour benchmark is the median from HoursBack assessment data (n=20+) across UK recruitment agencies (the highest admin load in our dataset), cross-checked against published UK SME productivity research. Your agency will differ - run your own numbers in the admin cost calculator for recruiters, or read the full breakdown in why UK recruiters lose 15 hours a week to admin.
The assessment is £799 - less than the value of one extra billable hour a week across a quarter.
Your six biggest time sinks - and what we do about each one.
We map your whole agency in the 60-minute session, then work backwards to the drains worth fixing first. Here is how that lands on the specific admin recruiters feel.
Candidate sourcing on LinkedIn
Hours of searching, filtering and writing bespoke InMails - six to ten a week on an active role - because the generic automation gets ignored. We show you how to draft genuinely personalised outreach at speed, so the volume goes up without the messages reading like a mailshot.
CRM data hygiene
Logging conversations, moving candidate stages, recording client feedback, tagging skills, attaching documents - unglamorous, and the desk falls apart without it. We look at your CRM and show which parts AI enrichment and auto-logging can keep clean for you.
CV formatting and rewriting
The Word doc with broken formatting, reworked into house style with a personal statement that actually reads well - 15 to 25 minutes each, hours a week. We give you a reformat-and-rewrite workflow that turns each one into a quick review and edit.
Interview scheduling
Coordinating client diaries, candidate availability and your own - 10 to 15 minutes of admin an interview, hours a week across a busy desk. We show which parts a scheduling tool or assistant takes off you entirely.
Reference and offer-stage chasing
The candidate's accepted, now it's two references, the contract, the start date and the notice-period nerves - 90 minutes a placement, often more. We map the offer-stage flow and show where reminders and drafts stop it eating your afternoons.
The candidate and client inbox
The message volume that comes with the job - follow-ups, updates, gone-quiet nudges. We give you a prompt library for the messages you send most, so keeping in touch stops costing you an hour a day.
What this is - and what it isn’t.
The assessment is a diagnostic and a plan. Within two working days of your call you get a passcode-protected report: the AI and automation opportunities we have found for your agency, named tools with costs and setup time, step-by-step recipes, a prompt library, an impact-versus-effort ranking, and ROI worked out on your real numbers. It is written in plain English so you can act on it - no technical background needed.
It is guidance, not us doing the work for you. If the report flags something worth building - a candidate-sourcing assistant, say - the Custom AI Agent Build is a separate product from £2,500, scoped case by case. If you would rather implement the report’s quick wins yourself with someone beside you, the Implementation Kickstart (£349, 90 minutes) is there for that. The assessment always comes first.
Questions recruiters ask us.
Is candidate data safe under GDPR if we use AI tools?
Won't AI-written outreach get ignored by candidates?
We already use a CRM and ChatGPT. What's left to find?
Is £799 worth it for a small desk?
One payment. A written plan,
a video walkthrough, and someone
checking in to make sure it happens.
A diagnostic session, personalised report, video walkthrough, and follow-up support. One payment, no ongoing costs.
Find out where your desk's hours actually go.
Book a 60-minute diagnostic. Get a report built around your desk within two working days, a video walkthrough, and follow-up support. Money back if it doesn't show at least 5 hours a week worth reclaiming.
Book your assessment →Not ready to book? Take the free 2-minute AI readiness quiz to see where your agency stands.