Phenom
Phenom sells AI hiring tools that mostly sit on top of the system you already run. It publishes no price and promises that people decide. It also sells AI that moves candidates between stages, and the legal duties for audits and notices stay with you. Get the contract and the list of outside companies before you commit.
Phenom adds AI to the system you have, and publishes no price
Phenom is a set of AI tools for screening, interviewing and messaging candidates. Most of them work on top of the hiring system you keep.
You hire across many sites. Your current system is slow to screen, message and book candidates. You are content to agree a price in your own contract.
You need a price before a sales call. You do not want face and voice checks. Phenom’s fraud check collects them when you use it. You cannot sign until the contract settles which steps run without a person.
Phenom publishes no price. Pricing and RFP questions go through a contact form. A Standard implementation package comes with the purchase. Data migration is an extra service you can buy.
Where Phenom sits next to your hiring system
Before you read about products, settle one question. Does Phenom replace your applicant tracking system or sit above it? Phenom’s own answer is that it sits above. Even Phenom Hire keeps your core systems where they are. Phenom splits the job in two. An ATS records who applied, and a recruiting CRM decides who to call. Phenom’s Talent CRM sits on top of your main hiring system and works alongside your existing ATS and HRIS.
Phenom Hire is the product that follows a role from opening to offer. A hiring manager opens the role from a template and watches the approvals. Candidates are reached by SMS, WhatsApp or a chat assistant, and they can start an application by text. They answer screening questions and book an interview against real interviewer availability. The recruiter moves the offer. After that, Phenom connects the new hire to Phenom Preboarding, onboarding and internal mobility.
Phenom uses the word agent for its AI assistants, and each one has a job. The Intake Agent drafts a job description, an interview guide and sourcing criteria for a recruiter to approve. The Sourcing Agent searches Talent CRM, your ATS and open talent networks at the same time. It drafts outreach, and the recruiter decides what goes out. Candidate Concierge Agent keeps conversations moving across career site chat, SMS, WhatsApp and email.
At least four Phenom products score or rank people. That matters later on this page, because a score is the output that audit laws look at. X+ Screening builds questionnaires with AI-suggested questions. Candidates answer by text, voice, video or a case exercise. It screens every applicant and scores the results as they arrive. Voice Screening Agent holds a role-specific conversation and gives the recruiter a scored, timestamped evaluation. AI Interviewer holds a real-time voice interview that adapts to the answers and scores it. Fit Score ranks candidates against requirements you set.
Hiring Automation is where scores move people. Its AI scores screening answers and routes each candidate. It sends each candidate down one of three paths. The strongest applicants book an interview. The qualified get a recruiter’s judgment. Everyone else joins the talent community, a pool of saved candidates. Your team writes the rules in plain language. Phenom logs every automated decision. This is the part to understand best, because it is where a score turns into action.
Phenom connects to other systems in both directions. It has ready-made links to human capital management, reporting and HR information systems. Its partner marketplace includes ServiceNow, UKG, SAP SuccessFactors and ADP. It also includes Checkr and Accurate for background checks. Developers get programming interfaces for jobs, applications, candidates and CV parsing. These are ways for software to send and receive that data. One EU contract is an example of layering. EnBW is extending its existing Avature system by four recruiting applications. An award notice published on 14 March 2025 gives TalentCube GmbH / Phenom as the winner of that contract. TalentCube is Phenom’s German affiliate.
Our guide to applicant tracking systems covers how the rest of this market splits the same job.
People sign off several AI steps and every action is logged
Before you trust any AI score, you need to know who checks it and what gets recorded. Phenom gives five answers worth having. Test each one in the demo.
A person signs off several AI steps
A named person signing off matters because someone has to answer for each decision. Phenom builds that sign-off into several products. Voice Screening Agent ratings reach the recruiter as proposals, so nothing advances until the recruiter accepts or adjusts them. A recruiter approves everything the Intake Agent produces before it moves on. Sourcing Agent never sends outreach on its own. Fraud Detection Agent never rejects, advances or scores fit.
Every action is logged
A record of who did what is the first thing an auditor or a challenged candidate will ask for. AppTrail is Phenom’s record, and it logs every recruiter action, hiring manager decision and AI recommendation. Each entry carries the candidate, the requisition and the stage. It also builds a report for OFCCP, the US agency that audits federal contractors’ hiring. It tracks access, consent and requests to be forgotten. In Phenom Hire, access is limited by location and role.
Your admins choose which AI is switched on
You will want a say in how much AI runs in your hiring. In X+ Screening and Hiring Automation, admins choose which AI capabilities are switched on. X+ Screening masks personal details before the AI reads an application. Admins also set how long it keeps data. Every Voice Screening Agent call opens with a scripted consent step. Candidates can opt out or ask for a person.
Set-up help comes with the purchase
You are buying a working set-up, not only software. A Standard implementation package comes with the purchase. It includes a dedicated project manager, a solution architect, platform training and guidance on change. Phenom also guarantees 99.5% uptime in its Standard support package.
The AI model is tested on your data first
A model that works for other employers may not work for your candidates. Phenom’s two-day Bootcamp tests the model against your own data before it goes live. Ask whether the Bootcamp sits inside the Standard package or costs extra.
Who decides, what the audit covers and where the data goes
Phenom makes promises that a regulator or a candidate may test. These seven points are where to press before you sign. Each one is a question about who decides, who audits or who holds the data.
Two sets of Phenom statements on who decides
Who decides is the first question a regulator or a rejected candidate will ask. Phenom’s AI Ethics page promises that humans make every hiring decision. The same page adds that Phenom’s recruiting efficiency products use AI to progress candidates through hiring stages. The AI Interviewer FAQ adds that only candidates who show the right depth advance to a human interview. Its product page adds that AI Interviewer scores the interview but does not decide who advances. Hiring Automation sorts applicants three ways. The strongest book an interview. The qualified go to a recruiter. Everyone else joins the talent community. Candidate Concierge Agent sends a status update when a stage changes, including a rejection. It does not decide who advances, and admins set what it handles alone. Ask Phenom which steps move a candidate with no person involved. Ask who on your side can switch each one off.
The Fit Score audit covers part of the picture
A fairness claim is only as wide as the audit behind it. Fit Score ranks candidates on skills, experience, title and location requirements that you set. Phenom’s Fit Score page refers to a 2026 audit. Its AI Ethics page refers to a 2025 audit and adds that Fit Score is independently audited each year. The tests on its report page cover the interview decision stage. They cover gender, race and ethnicity, and the two together. Phenom adds that the report is not legal advice. Ask for the full report and ask whether any audit covers age, disability and the other groups your country protects.
Phenom’s scoring products bring audit duties to you
Several Phenom products score or rank people. Fit Score ranks candidates. X+ Screening, Voice Screening Agent and AI Interviewer score what candidates say or write. Phenom itself includes New York City’s Local Law 144 among the rules that can apply to AI hiring. That law covers a tool whose score, classification or recommendation is used to substantially assist or replace discretionary decision making. If you hire for jobs based in the city, the audit and notice duties could reach these products. Those duties fall on you. X+ Screening also lets candidates answer by video. If AI analyses those videos for a job based in Illinois, the state’s video interview law applies. It needs notice and consent before the interview. Our guide’s section on rules that reject sets out the New York City duties and who answers for them.
In the EU, an exemption may apply but cannot be assumed
The EU AI Act includes AI that filters applications or evaluates candidates among its high-risk uses. An exemption in Article 6(3) can apply. It does not apply where the system profiles people. Phenom products that rank and score candidates sit close to that line. Ask which of them Phenom puts outside the rules. If your use counts as high-risk, you must assign human oversight. You must keep the system’s logs for at least six months. You must also tell the people it is used on. The Digital Omnibus sets 2 December 2027 as the date these rules apply to systems of this kind. Phenom has a German affiliate, TalentCube. An EU affiliate does not tell you which products the rules cover, so ask.
The fraud check collects face and voice data
A fraud check means a candidate’s face and voice are analysed. Fraud Detection Agent compares facial geometry and voice characteristics across interview rounds. Phenom collects, stores and uses voiceprints and facial-geometry scans when you use it. It keeps them until their purpose is met or three years from collection, whichever comes first. No candidate is rejected automatically because of a fraud signal. But several serious signals together can trigger a workflow action you have set up, such as a pipeline hold. A pipeline hold pauses the candidate and does not move them on. Signal types can be turned on or off, and consent wording can be set by region. The agent launched on 23 September 2025.
Outside companies handle candidate data for the AI features
Candidate data goes to outside companies when you use these features. They work in different countries. These are Phenom’s sub-processors, the firms that handle data on its behalf. OpenAI processes data for X+ AI features in the United States. Microsoft Azure OpenAI does so in the United States, Canada or Ireland. AssemblyAI types out live speech for Interview Intelligence and X+ Screening. Twilio sends SMS and WhatsApp messages and carries the voice calls for Voice Screening Agent. Google analyses video for the fraud check in the United States. Deepgram, ElevenLabs and LiveKit handle speech in Voice Screening Agent, also in the United States. Tavus supplies avatars for the Interview Agent and Exit Interview Agent. Hyperdoc supplies the meeting bot in Interview Intelligence, in Germany. Ask which of these touch your features and where.
The contract must cover candidate data
Phenom collects candidate data for you. Its privacy policy does not cover that data. So your contract has to say how Phenom handles it. Phenom shares candidate details with other firms only when the contract needs it. Amazon Web Services hosts all Phenom services. The hosting is in the United States, Canada, Ireland or India.
It suits employers hiring across many sites
This section helps you judge whether Phenom fits the way you hire. The customer results are Phenom’s own reports. Treat each one as a claim to check with a reference customer.
Companies hiring across many sites
Volume is where Phenom aims its effort. Phenom aims Phenom Hire at retail, hospitality, healthcare and franchise operators with many sites. In high-volume hiring, Phenom applies the same screening model to a new site on day one. That matters when a new site must hire fast. Phenom reports that Dutch Bros Coffee cut time to fill by 53%, from 28 days to under 10. It reports that Elara Caring saw a 21% increase in hires. Elara Caring also had 92% of screenings completed within one day.
Managers who skip the hiring system
If your hiring managers avoid the hiring system, adoption decides whether any AI helps. Managers open a role from a template, watch approvals and give feedback from a phone. Phenom reports that OmniCable cut requisition creation to less than 90 seconds, from more than four days of emails. OmniCable also reached 80% hiring manager adoption. SSM Health reached a 66% intake completion rate across every role below Director level, starting with no standardised intake process.
Public agencies and finance
A public agency or a financial firm will be asked where data sits. They will also be asked whether the tool is accessible. Phenom sits on top of the systems an agency already runs. It is FedRAMP Ready, a US government cloud security programme. It is built with Section 508 accessibility, the US standard for accessible technology. Phenom also offers data residency options for financial services, which means holding data in a set country.
A single office with few hires
Phenom aims Phenom Hire at multi-location operators. Say you hire a few people a year. If your current system already books interviews and messages candidates, you may not need this layer. Ask your current vendor what it offers first.
No published price, so the contract sets your price
You cannot compare Phenom with a published price, because Phenom publishes no figure. Pricing and RFP questions go through a contact form. Phenom and its customers sign individual Master Subscription Agreements. Under Phenom’s terms these take precedence over the website terms. So your price is whatever you agree in your own contract.
Ask what the price covers. The Standard implementation package comes with the purchase. A Premier package includes a 10-week testing period and four weeks of support after go-live. Data migration, ATS integration and migration consulting, and monthly accessibility audits are services you can buy on top. Phenom Hire runs sourcing on one licence with one training path. The AI and agents are shared across the platform rather than features bought one at a time. Ask which products that covers.
Plan how you leave before you join. Clients can ask Phenom to amend, update or delete a candidate’s personal information. Customers can set what their applications store and purge data from their databases. When a customer removes an application and its database, Phenom keeps the storage for one week and then destroys it. Daily backups are kept for seven days, and weekly tape backups for four weeks. Ask when a purge reaches the backups. Because Phenom syncs both ways with your main hiring system, ask which copy of a candidate record is the master.
Know who you are buying from, because some products are old and some are new. Phenom announced a $100 million Series D led by B Capital Group on 7 April 2021. It has since bought Tydy in July 2024, EDGE in February 2025 and Included in January 2026. It launched Fraud Detection Agent in September 2025. The newest products have a short record with customers. Ask which products customers like you already run.
You could also run hiring steps with agents built on your own systems. We have mapped what that looks like. The HR Agent Map
Eight questions for the demo
Bring these to the demo. The first two matter most. They decide who is accountable for a rejection and whether the fairness audit covers your candidates.
- Which steps can move or reject a candidate with no person involved, and who can switch each one off? Good answer: A written list by product, with an admin setting for each step.
- Can we have the full Fit Score audit, including results for age and disability as well as gender and race? Good answer: The full report, with results for every group our law protects.
- What consent wording do candidates see for face and voice checks, and who on our side can change it? Good answer: Wording we set for each country, with every change logged.
- Where is candidate data processed at each step of the AI features we would use? Good answer: A named country for each outside company, and a way to limit it.
- What does the Standard implementation package cover, is the two-day Bootcamp part of it, and what costs extra? Good answer: A written scope, and a price for every extra, such as migration.
- What do you owe us if uptime falls below 99.5%? Good answer: A stated remedy in the contract itself.
- Which products are live with customers like us, and which launched this year? Good answer: A reference customer for each product we plan to buy.
- How do we leave? What comes out, in which format, and when do backups clear? Good answer: A file format, a deadline and a written date for backups.
Alternatives to Phenom
This section covers eight alternatives, plus the choice to keep what you already run. They split by the decision you are making.
Start with the system you have. Its vendor may sell the same layers. iCIMS made High Volume Hiring generally available on 9 July 2026. It launched a Hiring Agent in Microsoft Teams on 20 October 2026. Greenhouse includes a recruiting CRM, so a prospect becomes a candidate with no import or second login. SmartRecruiters combines an ATS and a recruiting CRM, and SAP sells it integrated with SuccessFactors. Workday Recruiting is sold with HiredScore and Paradox as one suite. Ask your current vendor what it offers before you add a second contract.
Replacing the ATS is a different decision. Avature’s ATS can be set up by region, business unit, brand and hiring model. It is best suited to large enterprises. Eightfold sells Talent Tracking as an ATS that removes the need for a standalone one. Phenom tells buyers that core systems stay where they are, so Phenom can be the smaller change.
For hourly and frontline hiring, look at Paradox and Fountain. Paradox sells a conversational ATS for high-volume hiring. It can automate more than 90% of the hiring process for frontline workers and hiring managers. Fountain presents its ATS as run by an AI called Cue. Cue screens applicants, books interviews and moves people to offer on its own. Fountain’s support articles add that for day-to-day tasks a user approves or adjusts Cue’s planned changes before Cue acts. Its Cue page adds that customers can set approval steps. Phenom promises that humans make every hiring decision. Compare how much each product leaves to people.
https://www.phenom.com/products/phenom-hire · Phenom Hire · read 2 Nov 2026
https://www.phenom.com/products/talent-crm · Phenom Talent CRM · read 2 Nov 2026
https://www.phenom.com/products/x-plus-ai-candidate-screening · Phenom X+ Screening · read 2 Nov 2026
https://www.phenom.com/products/hiring-automation · Phenom Hiring Automation · read 2 Nov 2026
https://www.phenom.com/high-volume-hiring · Phenom high-volume hiring · read 2 Nov 2026
https://www.phenom.com/products/voice-screening-agent · Phenom Voice Screening Agent · read 2 Nov 2026
https://www.phenom.com/products/ai-interviewer · Phenom AI Interviewer · read 2 Nov 2026
https://www.phenom.com/products/fraud-detection-agent · Phenom Fraud Detection Agent · read 2 Nov 2026
https://www.phenom.com/products/sourcing-agent · Phenom Sourcing Agent · read 2 Nov 2026
https://www.phenom.com/products/candidate-concierge-agent · Phenom Candidate Concierge Agent · read 2 Nov 2026
https://www.phenom.com/products/intake-agent · Phenom Intake Agent · read 2 Nov 2026
https://www.phenom.com/products/apptrail · Phenom AppTrail · read 2 Nov 2026
https://www.phenom.com/use-cases/ai-hiring-compliance · Phenom on AI hiring compliance · read 2 Nov 2026
https://www.phenom.com/fit-score · Phenom Fit Score · read 2 Nov 2026
https://www.phenom.com/resource/phenom-fit-score-report · Phenom Fit Score report · read 2 Nov 2026
https://www.phenom.com/ai-ethics · Phenom AI Ethics · read 2 Nov 2026
https://www.phenom.com/use-cases/responsible-explainable-ai-recruiting · Phenom responsible and explainable AI · read 2 Nov 2026
https://www.phenom.com/biometric-data · Phenom biometric data notice · read 2 Nov 2026
https://www.phenom.com/privacy-policy · Phenom privacy policy · read 2 Nov 2026
https://www.phenom.com/security-policy · Phenom security policy · read 2 Nov 2026
https://www.phenom.com/terms--conditions · Phenom terms and conditions · read 2 Nov 2026
https://www.phenom.com/pricing · Phenom pricing and contact form · read 2 Nov 2026
https://www.phenom.com/global-professional-services-packages · Phenom professional services packages · read 2 Nov 2026
https://www.phenom.com/support-packages · Phenom customer care and support packages · read 2 Nov 2026
https://www.phenom.com/HRIS · Phenom HRIS integrations · read 2 Nov 2026
https://www.phenom.com/marketplace · Phenom partner marketplace · read 2 Nov 2026
https://developer.phenom.com · Phenom developer documentation · read 2 Nov 2026
https://www.phenom.com/industries/public-sector · Phenom for the public sector · read 2 Nov 2026
https://www.phenom.com/industries/financial-services · Phenom for financial services · read 2 Nov 2026
https://web.archive.org/web/20260831212018/https://info.phenom.com/sub-processors/ · Phenom sub-processor list, archived copy of 31 Aug 2026 · read 2 Nov 2026
https://ted.europa.eu/en/notice/168253-2025/xml · EU Tenders Electronic Daily, award notice of 14 March 2025 · read 2 Nov 2026
https://www.phenom.com/press-release/Phenom-Prepares-Global-Enterprises-for-the-Post-Pandemic-Race-to-Rebuild-the-Talent-Economy-with-one-hundred-Million-Series-D · Phenom Series D announcement, 7 April 2021 · read 2 Nov 2026
https://www.phenom.com/press-release/phenom-acquires-tydy-expanding-platform-to-seamlessly-onboard-employees · Phenom acquisition of Tydy, 2 July 2024 · read 2 Nov 2026
https://www.phenom.com/press-release/phenom-acquires-edge-strengthening-its-ai-powered-resource-planning · Phenom acquisition of EDGE, 6 February 2025 · read 2 Nov 2026
https://www.phenom.com/press-release/phenom-acquires-included-ai-agentic-analytics · Phenom acquisition of Included, 14 January 2026 · read 2 Nov 2026
https://www.phenom.com/press-release/phenom-first-fraud-detection-ai-agent · Phenom launch of Fraud Detection Agent, 23 September 2025 · read 2 Nov 2026
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj/eng · EU AI Act, Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 · read 2 Nov 2026
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2026/1744/oj/eng · EU Digital Omnibus on AI, Regulation (EU) 2026/1744 · read 2 Nov 2026
https://www.nyc.gov/assets/dca/downloads/pdf/about/DCWP-AEDT-FAQ.pdf · New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, automated employment decision tools FAQ · read 2 Nov 2026
https://rules.cityofnewyork.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/DCWP-NOA-for-Use-of-Automated-Employment-Decisionmaking-Tools-2.pdf · New York City rule on automated employment decision tools · read 2 Nov 2026
https://legistar.council.nyc.gov/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=4344524&GUID=B051915D-A9AC-451E-81F8-6596032FA3F9&Options=ID%7CText%7C&Search= · New York City Local Law 144 of 2021 · read 2 Nov 2026
https://web.archive.org/web/20251210075028id_/https://www.ilga.gov/Documents/Legislation/PublicActs/101/PDF/101-0260.pdf · Illinois Artificial Intelligence Video Interview Act, Public Act 101-0260 · read 2 Nov 2026
https://www.avature.net/applicant-tracking-system/ · Avature applicant tracking system · read 2 Nov 2026
https://eightfold.ai/company/press/press-releases/eightfold-ai-talent-tracking-brings-an-ai-native-ats-to-every-organization/ · Eightfold Talent Tracking announcement, May 2024 · read 2 Nov 2026
https://www.icims.com/company/newsroom/summerrelease2026/ · iCIMS summer 2026 release · read 2 Nov 2026
https://www.icims.com/company/newsroom/fallrelease2026/ · iCIMS fall 2026 release · read 2 Nov 2026
https://www.greenhouse.com/ats · Greenhouse applicant tracking system · read 2 Nov 2026
https://www.sap.com/products/hcm/recruiting-software.html · SAP SmartRecruiters for SAP SuccessFactors · read 2 Nov 2026
https://investor.workday.com/news-and-events/press-releases/news-details/2025/Workday-Completes-Acquisition-of-Paradox-10-01-2025/default.aspx · Workday completes acquisition of Paradox, 1 Oct 2025 · read 2 Nov 2026
https://www.paradox.ai/news/paradox-launches-industry-first-conversational-ats-to-revolutionize-high-volume-hiring-with-chat-and-text-driven-automation · Paradox Conversational ATS launch, 22 March 2023 · read 2 Nov 2026
https://www.fountain.com/ats · Fountain applicant tracking system · read 2 Nov 2026
https://support.fountain.com/en/articles/14426851-cue-overview · Fountain Cue overview · read 2 Nov 2026
https://www.fountain.com/cue · Fountain Cue · read 2 Nov 2026