Three ways to screen candidates, and what each misses
Questions on the application form. Most job boards and applicant tracking systems let you add knockout questions. They are quick to set up, but a tick box cannot tell you an expected salary split into basic and allowance, a notice period that depends on a contract, or whether “yes, weekends” is true.
CV scoring. Software reads each CV against the job and puts the pile in order. It narrows the pile, but it cannot tell you what a CV leaves out: expected salary, notice period, whether someone can work the roster, or whether they are still looking.
A first-round interview. The conversation that settles those facts. By phone it does not scale: two hundred applicants is two hundred calls, most of them asking the same questions. How the three fit together is set out in AI candidate screening explained.
How Agentic Blue screens candidates
- The CV. Applications arrive from Jobstreet application emails, the job’s own apply page or CVs you upload, and each CV is read against the job’s must-haves, with the CV line behind each one, and summarised.
- The first-round interview, if you want one. With the AI Interviewer module switched on, candidates open the job’s link and answer whenever they are free, typed by default or by voice or video. Blue asks about relevant experience, expected salary, notice period and availability, plus the role-specific questions you set, and follows up when an answer is too vague to use.
- The ranking. Every applicant is ranked against your criteria with the reasoning shown, and where Blue interviewed them, AI Ranking scores the transcript too. See a complete example report.
- The handover. Send the shortlist to the hiring manager as one link they answer, or invite colleagues into the same workspace.
The whole first round, from job posting to shortlist, is on the AI recruiter page, and what candidates experience in the interview is on the AI interviewer page.
The facts a Malaysian first round turns on
- Salary as basic and fixed allowance. A total hides the split that decides whether an offer is comparable, so the question asks for both.
- Notice period and the real start date. The contract sets notice, and the Employment Act 1955 sets the minimum where it is silent. The notice period calculator works it out.
- Availability that holds. Weekends, closing shifts and festive peaks are where hires fall through; the festive hiring page covers the questions that pin them down.
- The candidate’s language. In the AI Interviewer, Blue starts in English, and candidates can answer in Malay or Chinese. The transcript keeps each answer as the candidate wrote it.
Screening every applicant the same way
Every applicant is read against the same must-haves and ranked by the same criteria, and the AI does not reject anyone: a person decides. Where Blue interviews, every applicant gets the same questions; before Blue reads a CV during the interview, IC and passport numbers, bank and contact details, date of birth, address, race, religion, marital status and age are taken out, and candidates are told before the first question that they are talking to an AI and have to agree before it starts.
Consistent questions do not make screening fair on their own; what they can and cannot do is in our guide to fairness in AI screening, and what is stored and where is on the trust page.
Screening software and your applicant tracking system
An applicant tracking system is where applicants are stored and moved through stages. Screening software is what tells you who is worth moving. Agentic Blue is both: every applicant in one list, stages through to Hired, a talent pool of everyone who applied, and every CV read against your must-haves. It publishes no integrations with other ATSs, so a team that keeps its current one copies the shortlist across.
What it costs
Agentic Blue is invitation only and priced per seat, agreed with you after your request for access is approved. Hiring managers and candidates never use a seat; what a seat includes is on the pricing page, and the screening cost calculator shows what a manual first round costs in recruiter hours.
Other screening software sold in Malaysia
AI recruitment software in Malaysia sorts the products by the job each does: job platforms, applicant tracking systems, CV scoring and sourcing, and AI interviewers. For CV scoring specifically, see Agentic Blue vs OPAL.
Questions employers ask
What is candidate screening software?
Software that decides which applicants are worth a recruiter’s time. Depending on the product it asks questions on the application form, scores CVs, or holds a first-round interview with each applicant, and it puts the results in order for a person to review.
Is candidate screening software the same as an applicant tracking system?
Not usually. An applicant tracking system stores applicants and moves them through stages; screening software works out who is worth moving. Agentic Blue does both: it is an applicant tracking system that reads every CV against your must-haves. It publishes no integrations with other ATSs.
Does Agentic Blue remove race and religion from CVs?
In the AI Interviewer, yes. Before Blue reads a CV during the interview, IC and passport numbers, bank and contact details, date of birth, address, race, religion, marital status and age are taken out.
Does the software reject candidates?
Agentic Blue does not. It ranks every applicant against your criteria and shows its reasoning, with the CV line behind each must-have. A person on your team decides who moves forward.
How long does screening take for the candidate?
Reading the CV takes the candidate no time at all. Where the AI Interviewer is used, the interview takes about 10 to 15 minutes, typed on a phone, and the candidate can stop and carry on later from the same link.
How much does candidate screening software cost in Malaysia?
Agentic Blue is invitation only and priced per seat, agreed with you after your request for access is approved. Hiring managers who answer a shortlist link, and candidates, never use a seat.