An ATS stores the process
An applicant tracking system is where applications live. It records who applied, which stage they are in, and what your team wrote down. Opening the resumes, deciding who is worth a screen, and running those conversations stays with your team.
An agency sends a list it assembled
A recruitment agency sources candidates and presents the people its recruiters decided to put forward. The first filter happens inside the agency. You meet the shortlist they chose, and you still decide who to hire.
Swissmote scores the applicants and interviews them
You post the role once. Swissmote scores every resume against that role, and the strongest candidates take a short AI interview about their own work. You review a ranked shortlist: resume score, interview score, overall fit, a short summary, key skills, and the reasons behind the ranking. A shortlisted candidate can also include a transcript and a recording. You decide who to meet and who to hire. The placement fee is shown when you create the job and charged when you hire.
| Step | ATS | Recruitment agency | Swissmote |
|---|---|---|---|
| Keeps the applications | Yes | The agency's own pipeline | Yes, for the role you post |
| Scores every resume against that role | You do this yourself | The recruiter chooses who to send | Yes, with the reasons beside the score |
| Interviews people before you review them | You schedule the screens | Depends on the agency | A short AI interview for people who pass the resume screen |
| What you review | The applicant list | The people the agency presents | A ranked shortlist with scores, a summary, and the reasons |
| Who decides the hire | You | You | You |
| What you pay | The ATS vendor's subscription | The fee in the agency's contract | A placement fee when you hire, shown when you create the job |
Read how the resume score and the AI interview work, or start from a role such as hiring software engineers.
