Quick Answer

Indeed Smart Screening screens and scores candidates based on your objective criteria, delivering rich candidate insights to your ATS so your team can evaluate applicants faster.

TL;DR:

• Set mandatory and preferred criteria in Indeed Smart Screening using your job description, screener questions and rules.
• Let candidates apply through Indeed Apply and complete an AI Recruiter conversation in text, chat or video.
• Review the Smart Fit Score™, candidate summary and transcripts in your ATS to prioritize applicants faster.

Key Terms:

• Indeed Smart Screening: An AI-powered screening solution that evaluates applicants against employer-defined criteria before they reach the ATS.
• AI Recruiter: A conversational screening feature that asks adaptive follow-up questions to gather context beyond the resume.
• Smart Fit Score: A 0–100 score that shows how closely a candidate matches the employer’s criteria set for a specific role.
• Candidate Summary: An AI-generated overview of candidate strengths and possible gaps based on the application and screening responses.
• Indexed jobs: Roles Indeed gathers from a company career site or ATS rather than jobs posted directly on Indeed.

How does Indeed Smart Screening evaluate candidates beyond the resume?

Smart Screening is a solution that uses your objective criteria and job requirements to evaluate applicants. It delivers a Smart Fit Score before candidates even reach your applicant tracking system (ATS). Built on Indeed’s responsible AI principles while keeping recruiters at the core of hiring decisions, it screens and scores applicants based on the criteria you define.

Because it integrates with Indeed Apply, it fits into existing workflows without adding extra steps or systems for your team to manage.

When a candidate applies, Smart Screening begins reviewing the application right away. It learns your hiring criteria to review resume information and guide candidates through a conversational question-and-answer experience using an AI-powered recruiter.

After a candidate applies, Smart Screening guides them through the AI Recruiter interview using their preferred format from those provided by the employer, such as text, chat and/or video.

This happens before the candidate enters your ATS, so you can focus your time on reviewing screened applicants who meet your core requirements. By automating this early review, Smart Screening helps reduce the time your team spends on manual resume screening.

Which Indeed Smart Screening features help reduce manual resume review?

Smart Screening brings together several features that support early candidate review and move beyond traditional screening methods. Instead of relying on manual review alone, these features help you gather more context about applicants before a recruiter begins sorting candidates in your ATS. The goal is to give your team a clearer, more complete view of each candidate early in the process.

How does Indeed AI Recruiter screen candidates?

AI Recruiter is designed to go beyond basic screening questions. Rather than asking a fixed set of yes-or-no prompts, it asks candidates questions on your behalf using an intelligent system. This means screening interactions can adapt in real-time based on candidate responses and the criteria you set for the role.

• Dynamic interaction: As candidates apply, the AI-powered agent asks them open-ended questions tied to your job requirements. These questions are meant to surface experience and context that may not be obvious from a resume alone.
• Flexible formats: Employers can set up different ways in which candidates can respond and react to screening questions. Candidates can complete these conversations in the format that works best for them—including chat, phone or video—from those made available by the employer. This can make the process easier for job seekers to complete right after applying.
• Contextual follow-up: When a response needs clarification, the AI Recruiter can ask follow-up questions to gather additional details. This creates an experience similar to a preliminary phone screen and helps capture more nuanced information without requiring immediate recruiter involvement, thereby saving your hiring team time.

For example, if you’re hiring a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) and require experience working with dementia patients, the AI Recruiter can shape the conversation around that requirement.

Rather than asking, “Do you have a CNA license (yes or no)?”, it might ask, “Tell me about your experience working with residents who have dementia,” then capture the depth and relevance of the candidate’s response for your review.

How does Indeed Smart Screening score candidates?

Smart Screening brings together information collected during screening in a format you can review directly in your ATS. It combines resume details and responses from the AI Recruiter to support quicker, more informed review.

• Smart Fit Score: Each applicant receives a score from 0–100 based on how closely they match the criteria you define for that role. The Smart Fit Score is unique for every role and is based on the relevance of your job description, screener questions and any additional evaluation instructions you set. This score makes it easier to view and prioritize candidates while still keeping the underlying details available for review.
• Candidate summary: Alongside the score, you’ll see a short summary that highlights relevant strengths and any potential gaps, based on the candidate’s resume and screening responses. For example, a summary might note limited experience in restorative care programs, giving you helpful context before you decide how to move forward.

Together, these features help you review candidates with more context upfront, so your team can get the right candidates into the review process earlier.

Hypothetical candidate score breakdown

Imagine a candidate applying to an RN role where a valid RN license and night/weekend availability are required, and additional inpatient and dementia-care experience are also valued. The candidate holds a valid RN license and is available nights/weekends (meeting all required criteria), has 2 years of inpatient experience, and some dementia-care exposure.

In this scenario, Smart Screening might assign a relatively high Smart Fit Score because the required criteria are fully met and several additional criteria are at least partially satisfied, while still highlighting limited tenure in inpatient care as a potential gap in the summary.

Note: Protected-class signals (such as age, gender, or race) and third-party data are not used in the Smart Fit Score calculation.

What are the efficiency benefits of automated candidate screening?

Smart Screening can support hiring teams across multiple stages of the recruitment process. By shifting some of the screening work to earlier in the funnel, it can help your hiring team manage application volume more effectively and focus their time on quality candidates.

How do automated screening tools free up recruiter capacity?

One of the most immediate benefits of Smart Screening is the time it saves your recruiting team. By automating top-of-funnel screening based on criteria you define and can adjust over time, recruiters spend less effort reviewing applications that are unlikely to move forward. 

That time can shift to work that benefits from human interaction, such as interviewing, explaining your culture and closing offers. Instead of sifting through hundreds of applications, your team can start with candidates who have already been screened and scored against your requirements, so you can engage quality applicants earlier.

“Having a preview of the candidate’s skills before the phone screen helps a lot. It gives me context upfront and makes the rest of the conversation more focused.” – Carolina A, Sr Recruiter, Indeed (employee)

Can automated candidate screening reduce time to hire?

Speed can play an important role in hiring, particularly for high-volume or time-sensitive roles. By identifying and engaging quality candidates earlier, Smart Screening helps build a pipeline of applicants who meet your core requirements and can reduce delays between application and recruiter review. 

At Principal Senior Living Group, Recruitment Coordinator Brandi Acheson previously spent 5–7 minutes on every resume, regardless of fit. With Smart Screening, her evaluations begin with a quick scan of the summary, ensuring the key checks are in place first. This helps ensure she can spend more time on the right candidates and reach them more quickly. 

“Instead of reviewing every resume, we can now focus on candidates who already meet the essential criteria. That has made our entire process far more efficient,” she explains. 

Smart Screening can also move hiring forward outside normal business hours: a candidate might apply at 8:00 PM, complete the AI Recruiter interview by 8:15 PM and be ready for recruiter review first thing the next morning, helping teams move quickly while keeping the review process consistent.

How does Smart Screening lower recruiting costs for high-volume hiring?

When a detailed screening happens later in the hiring process, recruiters may spend valuable time reviewing applications from candidates who do not meet must-have requirements. Manual review can be time-consuming and open roles may carry additional costs as labor hours add up and positions remain unfilled.

Smart Screening helps reduce time spent on applications that are unlikely to move forward. With fewer resources dedicated to late-stage filtering, teams can allocate their time and tools more effectively throughout the hiring process.

How do employers set up and use Indeed Smart Screening?

The process starts with configuration. You tell the system exactly what you’re looking for in a candidate, based on the requirements of the role.

• Smart defaults: To help you get started quickly, Smart Screening can apply smart defaults drawn from your job description and supplementary screener questions, giving you an initial set of scoring instructions without requiring extensive setup.
• Custom rules: You can edit criteria for a single job or create “rules” for groups of current and future roles. Instead of manually configuring screening settings for every individual job, rules allow users to define “if/then” logic that applies standardized actions across multiple job postings based on specific criteria.

For example, your team might set a global rule for nursing positions that requires a specific license and a minimum number of years of experience. As part of this setup, you can distinguish between requirements that are must-haves and those that are nice-to-haves. This distinction helps calibrate screening results and supports more accurate Smart Fit Scores.

What is the candidate experience during an AI recruiter interview?

Once a job seeker applies, the Smart Screening process begins right away. The candidate is guided through the AI Recruiter interview using their preferred format from those provided by the employer. These options can include text, chat and/or video.

The screening experience is designed to work smoothly on Indeed to engage candidates immediately after they apply, irrespective of the device they use to apply. By keeping the process clear and accessible, Smart Screening can help reduce drop-off and capture relevant information while interest in the role is still high.

How do Smart Screening results integrate with an applicant tracking system?

After screening is complete, results are delivered directly to your applicant tracking system. There is no need to switch between platforms to review candidate information. Smart Screening integrates with major ATS providers, such as Workday and iCIMS, allowing results to appear alongside candidate records you already use.

Within your ATS, you can find each candidate’s Smart Fit Score and review the advanced screening AI-generated summary to understand the reason behind the score and how the candidate aligned with your criteria. This summary is added alongside the resume within your ATS and includes other details like transcripts of the AI interview (if applicable) and other flagged information for you to review. Your team can also receive notifications through tools like Slack or Microsoft Teams* to make it easier to collaborate and move candidates forward together.

*This feature is coming soon and may not be available at launch.

Listen to and read responses: If you want to explore further, you can view the transcripts or listen to the audio of the AI Recruiter screening process to hear the candidate’s responses in their own words.

What is the setup checklist for Indeed Smart Screening?

Before you roll Smart Screening out more broadly, it can help to pause and confirm that your foundation is set. In this step, you’ll run through a quick checklist to make sure your account, job eligibility, connections and criteria are configured correctly so Smart Screening works smoothly across your hiring workflows.

• Prerequisites:
  • Confirm you have an active Indeed Employer account.
  • Verify that your roles are eligible as indexed jobs on Indeed.
• Connect your ATS or Indeed Apply:
  • Connect a supported applicant tracking system (such as Workday or iCIMS), or
  • Confirm that Indeed Apply is enabled so candidate data can flow into Smart Screening.
• Set criteria and rules:
  • Define must-have requirements (for example, required license, shift availability).
  • Define nice-to-have criteria (for example, preferred years of experience or specialties).
  • Configure rules and “if-then” logic (for example, “If no active license, do not advance”).
• Run a test:
  • Use a sample or low-risk role to verify that the Smart Fit Score and summaries align with your team’s expectations.
  • Adjust must-haves and rules based on reviewer feedback.
• Enable notifications and access:
  • Turn on Slack or Microsoft Teams notifications where available so your team sees new screened candidates quickly.
  • Confirm that recruiters and hiring managers have access to the Smart Fit Score, summaries and transcripts in your ATS or Indeed Employer dashboard.

What are the best practices for screening candidates with AI?

Smart Screening is most effective when it’s used as part of your existing workflow. The following practices can help your team get more consistent and useful results while keeping you in control of hiring decisions.

How should employers establish criteria for each role?

At the outset, set your must-have criteria for each role. This could include screener questions around shift availability, work location and more. Establishing these details at the start of the process can guide your process and help you and your hiring team derive the most value of early conversations with prospective candidates.

How often should employers refine Smart Screening criteria?

As roles evolve or hiring priorities shift, adjusting screening criteria can help ensure screening continues to reflect what matters most for each position. Consider whether your must-haves are too strict or if nice-to-haves are too broad, as these settings directly influence how candidates are evaluated.

Smart Screening relies on the criteria you define and your job description. If Smart Fit Scores don’t align with how your team views candidates, revisiting and adjusting your screening criteria, including modifying or editing the job description, can support more consistent reviews and help keep results relevant over time.

How should recruiters combine screening data with human insight?

You can use data-driven information gathered during screening, including insights from the AI Recruiter, to prepare for more focused interviews. Because basic questions have already been answered, your live interviews can focus on areas that benefit from direct conversation, such as soft skills, work culture and behavioral questions.

You may also want to use the candidate summary as a preparation sheet for hiring managers. Reviewing strengths, potential gaps and suggested follow-up areas ahead of time can help your team focus interviews on the most relevant topics instead of revisiting information already collected.

How should employers use AI as support, not a substitute?

Indeed is committed to building and using AI responsibly. Smart Screening models are trained and audited for bias, while you remain in control of criteria, review outcomes and next steps throughout the hiring process.

Smart Screening is designed to augment your decision-making, not replace it. Employers should review candidates who are flagged or have missing information to understand why gaps appear. In some cases, information may be missing because a resume is poorly formatted rather than because a candidate lacks a qualification. Using screening results alongside human recruiter judgment can help your team make more informed, balanced decisions.

FAQs about Indeed Smart Screening

 

Is Smart Screening free?

No, You can purchase Smart Screening as a subscription. Your Indeed representative is best suited to assist you in purchasing and implementing Indeed Smart Screening into your recruiting workflow.

What is required to purchase Smart Screening?

In order to purchase Smart Screening, create or use an existing Indeed Employer account. The product works with a compatible ATS connection or Indeed Apply setup. Speak with your Indeed representative to get started.

Can recruiters review and override AI recommendations?

Yes. Indeed’s tools are not a substitute for human discretion or review. Employers can control and modify their criteria. Employers are encouraged to review every candidate holistically and are free to disregard AI summaries and recommendations.

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