How Recru Nearly Doubled Recruiter Productivity

The Customer

Recru is an IT staffing firm headquartered in Houston, with offices in Houston and Dallas. Specializing in contract, contract-to-hire, and direct-hire technical placements, Recru is a quality-first shop. Every candidate is personally met before being submitted to a client. As client demand climbed sharply through the year, Recru overhauled its tech stack and brought on Alex, their AI recruiter, to scale screening without sacrificing that hands-on standard.

“With the same amount of people that we had last year, our production has increased tremendously.”

Jordan Brown, Chief Executive Officer, Recru

The Challenge

Demand was accelerating faster than the team could keep up. The trend line since the prior July had “skyrocketed,” with more roles from more customers, sustained throughout the year. That created three pressures for the IT staffing team:

1. A human-bandwidth ceiling: growing inbound volume meant qualified candidates could go unscreened simply because recruiters ran out of hours in the day.
2. Speed-to-market expectations: in a fast-moving market, the firms that move quickest win the placement, and slow screening put deals at risk.
3. Protecting quality at scale: Recru meets every candidate before submitting them to a client. Scaling volume couldn’t come at the cost of that standard.

The Solution

Recru integrated Alex, their AI recruiter, as the first step in the recruiting process. The workflow is simple: a new position is entered into the ATS, syncs to Alex, and is posted to the career site immediately. As applicants come in, they’re routed to Alex, who begins screening right away and works around the clock.

The goal Recru set: deploy 75 to 90% of open positions to Alex. Reaching it took organization-wide buy-in, which the team credits in part to being lean enough to move fast on adoption.

1. Instant, always-on screening: applicants are filtered to Alex the moment they apply, so no interested candidate waits in a queue.
2. Seamless ATS integration: positions flow from the ATS to Alex to the career site automatically, with no extra manual steps for recruiters.
3. Recruiter time given back: with top-of-funnel handled, recruiters keep their signature step of personally meeting every candidate before submission, and can do it for more roles.

“It changed our entire recruiting process. If we can get up to 75 to 90% of our positions deployed to Alex, that’s a win.”

Jordan Brown

The Results

The impact showed up directly in Recru’s recruiting KPIs, the metrics the team watches day in and day out:

1. Productivity KPIs nearly doubled across the board since bringing in the AI recruiter.
2. Submittals per recruiter rose from about 5 a week to 8 or 9 a week.
3. Positions worked per recruiter grew from 3 to 5 a week.
4. Submittals, interviews, and offers all climbed, driving more candidates in the door at clients, including record weeks and a record first quarter.
5. Candidates that previously went unscreened now get screened, all without adding headcount.

“If you look at all of our KPIs since we brought in Alex, they’ve almost doubled from a productivity perspective. When you can see that sub per recruiter go from five a week to now eight a week or nine a week, it’s pretty empowering.”

Jordan Brown

Crucially, the gains didn’t force a trade-off. Recru still meets every person before submitting them to a customer, and Alex simply makes that level of rigor possible at greater volume.

“We’ve always been a quality shop. Now we’re able to combine both speed and quality, because we have these tools.”

Steven Geither, Chief Financial Officer, Recru

What’s Next

Recru sees AI fluency as a competitive line in the sand for IT staffing over the next few years. Firms that adopt it pull ahead on both vetting depth and speed, while those that wait fall behind on both. For Recru’s leadership, the lesson is to keep learning and keep pushing adoption from the top down.

“There’s really no room for inaction the next couple years. Those who fall behind are gonna fall behind really quickly.”

Steven Geither

“My only advice is just start getting your hands dirty with it and learn as much as you can about it. And if it works for your business, apply it.”

Jordan Brown

Frequently Asked Questions

How does an AI recruiter help IT staffing firms?

An AI recruiter like Alex handles top-of-funnel screening 24/7, interviewing every interested applicant the moment they apply, so qualified candidates don’t go unscreened when recruiters run out of hours. For Recru, this nearly doubled productivity KPIs without adding headcount.

What results did Recru see with Alex?

Submittals per recruiter rose from about 5 a week to 8 or 9, positions worked per recruiter grew from 3 to 5, and submittals, interviews, and offers all climbed, contributing to record weeks and a record first quarter.

Does an AI recruiter replace human recruiters?

No. At Recru, Alex handles initial screening so recruiters can focus on higher-value work. The team still personally meets every candidate before submitting them to a client, and the AI recruiter makes that standard possible at greater volume.

How does Alex integrate with an applicant tracking system?

A position is entered into the ATS, syncs to Alex, and posts to the career site automatically. Incoming applicants are routed to Alex for immediate screening, with no extra manual steps for recruiters.