Calculate What Manual Phone Screens Are Actually Costing You
Most recruiting teams spend $35–$45 per first-round screen without realizing it. AI Recruiter cuts that to about $3.80 for a 10-minute screen. Run the numbers for your team in 60 seconds — then use your free interview to test it on a real role.
Your numbers
Adjust the inputs
US median: ~$45/hr
Median includes prep, call, notes, ATS update: 58 min
Your estimate
Cost comparison
| Manual | Vettika AI | |
|---|---|---|
| True cost per screen | $43.50 | $3.80 |
| Monthly spend | $3,263 | $285 |
| Annual spend | $39,150 | $3,420 |
| Annual savings | $35,730 | |
| Recruiter hours freed | 73 hrs/month |
Annual savings with Vettika
$35,730
Run the calculator above with your own numbers — that is the only figure that means anything here.
The real math
The $43 Hidden Inside Every 30-Minute Phone Screen
| Task | Time |
|---|---|
| Resume review before call | 8 min |
| Scheduling coordination | 10 min |
| No-show buffer — adjust to your own observed rate | 3 min |
| The call itself | 28 min |
| Notes + ATS update | 9 min |
| Total per candidate | 58 min |
At $45/hr fully loaded rate: $43.50 per candidate screened. Vettika Starter plan: $3.80 for a 10-minute interview. Savings per screen: $39.70. A no-show still spends its scheduled minutes — automatic no-show refunds are not live yet (#612).
Annual savings by volume
| Monthly screen volume | Manual cost/yr | Vettika cost/yr | Annual savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 screens | $15,660 | $1,368 | $14,292 |
| 75 screens | $39,150 | $3,420 | $35,730 |
| 150 screens | $78,300 | $5,364 | $72,936 |
| 300 screens | $156,600 | $10,728 | $145,872 |
How it works
From Application to Scored Report in 10 Minutes — No Recruiter Time Required
Build your campaign from the job description — under 5 minutes.
Paste a JD or use the AI builder. Configure questions and rubric. Connect your ATS. Once published, the campaign runs indefinitely.
Candidates complete the voice interview on their own schedule.
Share a link. No scheduling. No Zoom link. No calendar negotiation. A candidate who applied at midnight is scored and queued before your morning standup.
Review a scored transcript in under 3 minutes.
Your dashboard shows every candidate ranked by rubric score with a full AI-generated report: overall recommendation, per-criterion scores with direct transcript quotes, identified strengths, and flagged concerns.
vs. alternatives
Vettika vs. Every Alternative — Cost and Capability
| Feature | Vettika | HireVue | Hireflix | Karat | In-house screen |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cost per screen | $2.98–$3.80 | See their pricing | See their pricing | See their pricing | Your own loaded rate — set it above |
| Interview type | Real-time voice AI | Video AI | Video only (no AI) | Human interviewer | Human phone screen |
| Rubric scoring output | Structured rubric + AI report | Behavioral signals only | None | Human-scored | Ad hoc notes |
| NYC LL144 / AEDT | Notice + record; audit pending | Enterprise tier only | Not disclosed | N/A | N/A |
| Free tier | 10 free minutes, no card | Demo only | Trial gated | Quoted only | N/A |
Full-picture ROI
The ROI Beyond the Dollar Line
Faster time-to-hire: no calendar between application and screen.
A candidate can complete a screen within hours of applying rather than waiting for a mutually free slot — which is where most of the delay between application and first decision actually sits.
Consistent assessment: same rubric for every candidate, always.
No off-day assessments. No variance between recruiters. Decades of selection research find structured, criterion-scored interviews more predictive of job performance than unstructured ones.
Scale without headcount: same cost from interview 1 to interview 1,000.
The marginal cost of your 101st interview is the same $2.98–$3.80 as your first.
An audit trail from interview one, not bolted on later.
Every screen produces the structured per-criterion record an AEDT bias audit is run against, and the candidate disclosure fires automatically. Our own independent audit is not yet complete — the status is at /legal/aedt-bias-audit.
Candidate experience: no scheduling, no waiting on you.
Some candidates prefer an async screen and some do not — we have written up the drop-off evidence on both sides rather than claiming one number.
Questions
ROI Questions, Answered Directly
Does the calculator account for no-show rates?
Not yet. It prices the interviews you schedule, and a no-show still spends its scheduled Interview Minutes today. Use your own observed no-show rate — we do not publish an industry average we have not measured — and build it into the estimate before comparing against a human screen.
What is the real all-in price per interview?
Your plan's per-minute rate multiplied by the length you chose. Growth is $49 for 150 Interview Minutes — $0.33 a minute — so a 10-minute screen costs about $3.27 and a 30-minute screen about $9.80. Charged once, no per-seat fees, no platform fees. AI writing draws on Workspace Credits and email on Email Sends, both included in the same purchase.
What does it cost to set up a campaign?
Nothing financially. Most recruiters complete their first campaign in under 5 minutes using the AI builder.
Can I use this output in a budget proposal to my CFO?
Yes — the calculator is designed for exactly that use case. The methodology is transparent: fully-loaded hourly rate × minutes per screen ÷ 60 = true cost per screen.
Will candidate quality drop with AI screening?
The data points the other direction. Decades of selection research find structured, criterion-scored interviews more predictive of job performance than unstructured ones — that finding is about interview structure generally, not a measurement of Vettika.
How does this compare to RPO or agency fees?
Agency placement fees average 15–20% of first-year salary. Vettika eliminates the screening cost that agencies bundle into their service fee.
See Your Number. Then Run Your First Interview Free.
The calculator gives you an estimate based on industry averages. Your first one free interview give you a real data point — your candidates, your role, your rubric. No card. No sales call.