Candidate screening calls in Hindi and Telugu, done fast

The real problem in volume hiring

A staffing agency in Hyderabad posts an ad for 40 delivery riders. By evening there are 600 applications from job portals, WhatsApp forwards and a Facebook post. Two recruiters start calling the next morning. Half the numbers do not pick up. Of those who do, many live too far away, have no two-wheeler or have already joined somewhere else.

By the time the recruiters reach applicant 300, it is day four, and the best candidates are gone. This is not a recruiter skill problem. It is a dialling problem. Hundreds of short, repetitive calls with the same five questions are exactly what an AI caller is built for.

Five questions that screen most roles

For every role, add two more: expected salary and earliest joining date. Keep the call under three minutes. Long screening calls lose people, and anything more detailed belongs in the interview.

What the screening call sounds like

In Hindi: "Namaste Suresh ji, main ABC Staffing ki AI assistant bol rahi hoon. Aapne delivery job ke liye apply kiya tha. Kya do minute baat kar sakte hain?" (Hello Suresh, I am the AI assistant from ABC Staffing. You applied for the delivery job. Can we talk for two minutes?)

Then, one question at a time: "Aap kis area mein rehte hain?" (Which area do you live in?) "Aapke paas apni bike hai?" (Do you have your own bike?) "Licence valid hai?" (Is your licence valid?)

In Telugu for a warehouse role: "Meeru e area lo untaru? Night shift cheyagalara?" (Which area do you stay in? Can you do night shifts?) Applicants answer the way they talk, often mixing languages, and the AI employee writes it into fields: Area: Kukatpally, Night shift: yes, Expected salary: ₹16,000 to ₹18,000.

From 600 applications to a shortlist in a day

1. Export applicants from your job portal or sheet and upload them as a bulk campaign, or connect your application form so each new applicant is called in seconds.
2. The AI employee calls everyone within your calling hours, retrying those who do not pick up.
3. Each call ends with fields filled in and a tag: Shortlist, Maybe or Not suitable, based on rules you write in plain words.
4. For shortlisted candidates, it offers interview slots and books one.
5. Recruiters open the list, listen to any call they want and focus on interviews.

Applicants who apply after office hours get the same treatment. A rider who applies at 7:30 pm after finishing his shift gets a call while he is still free to talk, if that is inside your calling hours. The instant leads setup works the same way for applicants as for sales leads.

Interview reminder calls

Between the screening call and the interview, a lot of candidates drift away. Some forget, some cannot find the office, some lose the day's wages if they come. A reminder the evening before, with the address and a landmark, brings more of them through the door.

"Kal subah 11 baje aapka interview hai, Kondapur mein, metro station ke paas. Aa paayenge?" (Your interview is tomorrow at 11 am in Kondapur, near the metro station. Will you be able to come?) If the candidate cannot make it, the AI employee offers another slot. Your interview panel sees who has confirmed before the day starts.

The joining confirmation call

The other big leak in blue-collar hiring is day-one no-shows. A candidate says yes in the interview, then takes another offer for ₹500 more and does not tell you. A short call the day before joining surfaces this early.

"Repu mee joining day. Udayam 9 gantalaki Shamshabad warehouse ki vastunnara?" (Tomorrow is your joining day. Are you coming to the Shamshabad warehouse at 9 am?) If the answer is no or unsure, the AI employee asks why and flags it. Your recruiter can call the next person on the waitlist that same evening instead of finding out at 10 am the next day.

Fair screening: what never to ask

Screen only on what the job needs. Do not ask about caste, religion, marital status or family plans. Do not reject someone for their accent or language. Write this into the AI employee's instructions and check a sample of recordings each week. Keep applicant data only as long as you need it, and use it only for hiring; India's DPDP Act requires a clear purpose and notice when you collect personal data.

Tell applicants the call is from an AI assistant. Most do not mind, and those who would rather speak to a person can ask for a call-back from the recruiter.

Also be clear about the job on the call. If the salary is ₹15,000 with no overtime, say so. Candidates who hear the real terms early drop out at screening instead of on day three, which is cheaper for everyone.

Setting up a hiring drive

You do not need a new system for each drive. Make one screening employee per role family, and change the brief when the job changes.

1. Write the brief: role, location, shift, salary range, and the must-have answers. For example: "Screen applicants for warehouse helper jobs in Shamshabad. Must live within 15 km and be able to do rotating shifts."
2. List the fields: area, experience in years, shift availability, expected salary, joining date, interest level.
3. Write the shortlist rule in plain words, such as "Shortlist if they live within 15 km, can do night shifts and expect less than ₹20,000."
4. Set calling hours that suit workers. Many cannot talk during a shift, so early evening often works better than mid-morning. The defaults are explained in calling policy.
5. Make a test call to yourself, then run the first 50 applicants and read the results before calling the rest.

What screening calls cost

Screening calls are short. Say 600 applicants, of whom 400 pick up, at about two minutes each: 800 minutes, or about ₹6,384 of talk time at ₹7.98 a minute before GST. Calls that are not answered are not charged. Compare that with two recruiters spending four days on the phone, and look at what a telecaller costs for the full picture.