Kit for recruitment firms
Every applicant on every client job gets a conversation. Your consultants spend their time on the best.
Speak to Kit is an AI hiring system built for quality of hire. The hiring manager says what a top performer delivers in their first 12 months, Kit speaks to every applicant about the way they work, and the hiring team sees who to meet, and why. How Kit works, step by step.
Why firms bring Kit onto a job
A recruitment firm wins on the quality of the shortlist and the speed it reaches the client. Both depend on how many people a consultant can properly speak to. Kit speaks to every applicant on a client job, by phone or in writing, and tells the consultant who matches the brief, and why.
The consultant still owns the client, the brief and the shortlist. Kit gives them a full conversation with every applicant to work from, so their own calls go on the people most likely to be hired.
What clients say goes wrong
Robert Half surveyed senior UK leaders: 46% believe they made a bad hire in the past 12 months. Of those, 61% blamed settling for someone whose skills did not match, and 56% blamed rushing.
Both are about time. A consultant who can hear from every applicant before shortlisting does not have to settle or rush. Kit asks every person about what the client said a top performer delivers in the first 12 months, so the shortlist answers the client's real question.
Applicants speak to Kit when it suits them
Many candidates are in work and cannot talk in office hours. 276 in every 1,000 Kit calls start between 7pm and 7am, and 361 in every 1,000 fall outside working hours (Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm), weekends included. 783 in every 1,000 people who start a Kit call finish it.
Each person gets the same thorough conversation, and the consultant reads it the next morning with Kit's notes beside the CV.
What it looked like at Rocket Yard
Sean Kennedy runs Rocket Yard. On one role, 180 people applied. Kit spoke to every applicant and told Sean who wasn't right, and why. He met two and hired one, who started on 24 August 2026.
“12 minutes of work = my quickest hire this year.”
How a firm works with Kit
Kit speaks to applicants in its own name and never presents itself as the consultant. The firm keeps every relationship.
- The consultant takes the brief from the client as today.
- Kit writes the top performer profile and the advert from it, and the consultant changes any line.
- Every applicant, from any source, speaks to Kit.
- Kit tells the consultant who matches and why, with the full conversation and an annotated CV.
- The consultant shortlists, presents and manages the process with the client.
Knowing when a job has enough people
Kit tells the consultant which applicants match the brief as they come in. When there are enough strong people, the advert can come down and the consultant can get the shortlist to the client. When there are not enough, the consultant knows within days and can go and headhunt, rather than finding out after weeks of CVs.
Either way, the consultant spends their own calls on the people most likely to be hired, and on the client.
Why the client cares about the first year
The REC's Perfect Match report in 2017 found 85% of HR decision-makers said a business they had worked for took on someone who proved a bad fit for the job. Gallup estimates replacing an employee costs half to twice their annual salary.
A firm that can show the client what each shortlisted person said about the hard part of the job, in their own words, gives the client a reason to trust the shortlist. On the Talent and Enterprise plans, Kit then checks in at 30 days, 90 days and a year to show how the hires are doing.
Built by a recruiter
Dan Halstead ran a recruitment business in London for 15 years and hired for around 150 companies before founding Speak to Kit. Kit asks what a good consultant asks on a first call, and listens for what they listen for: where a person was at their best, what the obstacle was, and whether they would enjoy this one.
Every call is recorded and readable, so a consultant can check any answer before putting a name in front of a client.
What it is worth
Clients pay for placements that last. In UK small firms, 16 in 100 new hires leave within their first year, and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation puts the full cost of a bad hire at up to three times salary. On Speak to Kit's Talent and Enterprise plans, Kit checks in on every placement at 30 days, 90 days and a year, so a firm has the numbers to show a client. For example, a recruitment firm hiring about 150 people a year has about 24 first-year leavers, costing about £1.2 million a year. Halving that would be worth about £600,000 a year (estimate).