// for engineering managers who'd rather be shipping
Hire engineers. Skip the back-and-forth.
Engineers don't want another pitch call. You don't want another kickoff call. Tell DirectHire about the role in a quick chat, from your phone. It writes the job, posts it, reads every application, holds the first call, and hands you a ranked shortlist.
No kickoff call. No 40-slide "process". You review one list.
.------------------------------------. | o | | DirectHire_ intake: sr backend | |------------------------------------| | money | | ai > and when does it have to | | ship? | | you > first cut by end of Q1 | | ai > got it. every screen uses | | this bar: | | [x] L5: owned a prod service | | [x] payments or billing in prod | | [x] migrations on live tables | | [x] rust, or go/c++ + wants rust | | [x] has mentored L4s | | ai > ship it? [y/n] | | you > y | | [ok] live. posted. screening. | | ------------ later ------------ | | ai > shortlist ready. 3 above the | | bar, each with a recorded | | call. book 45 min thursday? | | you > yes | | ai > booked. the close is yours. | |------------------------------------| | > reply_ | '------------------------------------'
Nobody on either side of a tech hire wants the back-and-forth.
A tech hire usually runs as a relay: a kickoff call, a JD draft, your rewrite, resumes forwarded in batches, a screen call, a debrief. Every handoff drops a detail -- the team's levels, what breaks if it goes wrong, when it has to ship. The work still needs doing. The relay doesn't.
/* what the engineer gets today */
Hi! Saw your profile and think you'd be a GREAT fit for an exciting opportunity at a fast- growing startup. Do you have 15 min this week for a quick chat?
No stack. No comp. No team. Archived unread.
/* what the hiring manager gets today */
12 resumes matching "Rust" somewhere. 3 can't explain a migration on a live table. 1 is great -- and took another offer while you were on call #7.
Keyword matches, forwarded. Your week, gone.
You do the intake. It does the rest of the pipeline.
01 intake
A chat, not a form.
Start it yourself, from your phone, between standups. The AI recruiter asks what a good tech recruiter asks -- who's on the team by level, what breaks if this hire gets it wrong, when it has to ship -- and pushes back when the team mix says you're hiring the wrong level. Your answers become the bar every screen is held to.
ai > who's on the team, by level?
you > one L6, one L5, three L4s
ai > three L4s on one L5 is thin.
a fourth has nobody to learn
from. make this an L5?
02 post
A job post an engineer would actually read.
Stack, scope, team and band up front. It goes on your careers page, to Google for Jobs, and to the boards that take a feed. For the ones that don't, you get a tracked link per board -- so you learn which one sent people who qualified, not just people.
[ok] [you].directhire.co/jobs/...
[ok] google for jobs
[ok] board feeds you've connected
-> tracked link per other board
?p=K7Q2XA ?p=M3VD9R ...
03 screen
Every application read against your criteria.
Not a keyword match. Each criterion from the intake gets a verdict, and each verdict quotes the line of the resume that decided it. Nobody is thrown away -- they're ranked, and you can see why.
PASS postgres at scale
"zero-downtime migrations on a
2TB orders table"
FAIL payments domain
no billing or payments work found
04 call
The first conversation, held for you.
The ones who clear the bar get a voice screen on their schedule -- a technical conversation about the work, not "walk me through your resume". It's scored on what they said, and it flags answers that sound read aloud.
(*) call 14:02 [candidate]
"we backfilled in batches behind
a feature flag, then dual-wrote
for a week before cutting over"
depth [#######..] recited: no
05 you
One list. Then one call that's worth your hour.
A ranked shortlist, each person with their verdicts and their call. You decide who you talk to, and the close is yours. The AI ranks; it never hires.
#1 [candidate a] 5/5 call ^ #2 [candidate b] 5/5 call ^ --------------- bar --------------- #3 [candidate c] 4/5 ...
Same work. No relay.
+---------------------+--------------------------+--------------------------+--------------------------------+ | | agency search | in-house process | DirectHire | +---------------------+--------------------------+--------------------------+--------------------------------+ | intake | a kickoff call | a kickoff call | a chat you start, on your | | | | | phone | +---------------------+--------------------------+--------------------------+--------------------------------+ | who writes the JD | them, from a template | them, then you rewrite | drafted from your intake; you | | | | it | strike lines | +---------------------+--------------------------+--------------------------+--------------------------------+ | who reads resumes | someone matching | someone, when they get | every one, against your | | | keywords | to it | criteria, with reasons | +---------------------+--------------------------+--------------------------+--------------------------------+ | first call | a pitch | a culture screen | a technical conversation, | | | | | scored | +---------------------+--------------------------+--------------------------+--------------------------------+ | what you see | whoever they forward | whoever they forward | everyone, ranked | +---------------------+--------------------------+--------------------------+--------------------------------+
# intake agency ..... a kickoff call in-house ... a kickoff call directhire . a chat you start, on your phone # who writes the JD agency ..... them, from a template in-house ... them, then you rewrite it directhire . drafted from your intake; you strike lines # who reads resumes agency ..... someone matching keywords in-house ... someone, when they get to it directhire . every one, against your criteria, with reasons # first call agency ..... a pitch in-house ... a culture screen directhire . a technical conversation, scored # what you see agency ..... whoever they forward in-house ... whoever they forward directhire . everyone, ranked
They talk about the work, not to a gatekeeper.
-> Stack, scope and band are in the post, because they were in the intake. -> The criteria they're read against are the ones you set -- not a guess made three handoffs away from you. -> The first call is about how they'd do the job, at a time that suits them. -> The next conversation is with you. The person they'd actually work for.
Questions.
Q: Does the AI decide who gets hired?
A: No. It reads, calls and ranks. Every verdict shows the line it came from, and everyone stays on the list. You decide who you talk to and who you hire.
Q: Which job boards does it post to?
A: Your careers page, Google for Jobs, and any board that takes a feed. LinkedIn and Indeed only take posts from partners, so for those you get a tracked link to paste -- and you still see exactly which board sent which applicants.
Q: I already have an in-house recruiter.
A: Good -- give them the intake transcript and the shortlist, and get them back to closing. The roles nobody has time for are where this pays first.
Q: Can I change the criteria after it's live?
A: Yes. Tell it in the same chat. Everyone already in is re-read against the new list.
$ directhire intake --role "senior backend" ai > who's on the team today, by level?_