The evidence

Why people call, and what the agent takes over.

203 real calls (Feb to Apr 2026, one operator, ~20 plants). Each bar is a reason people call. The dark part is what the agent answers on the call (it used to be "email the recruiter and wait"). The big number is how much of that reason the agent takes over.
The agent answers on the callAlready answered on the call today
Status updates76%of 54% of calls
Onboarding87%of 23%
Assessment problems70%of 10%
Other questions75%of 8%
Rejection reasons33%of 3%
How to apply50%of 2%
Recruiters still own the specifics and every decision.

One call, start to finish

Sarah Kim calls about her status. The full loop, from her question to the answer a human approved. Text, not the live demo.

A candidate on the phone with the Hershey Candidate Care Line

Behind every call is a candidate waiting to hear back. Today, three in four of them just get "I'll email the recruiter."

Real time · while the caller is on the line
1
On the call · Answer

Answer the question, from the knowledge base

CALLERHi, I applied for the Packer role at Bluffton and finished my pre-hire assessment. What happens next?
Searches the Knowledge Base, returns the approved answer
KITTYThanks for calling Hershey Candidate Care. I'm an AI assistant and this call is recorded. After your assessment is submitted, your recruiter reviews it before the phone screen.
2
On the call · Confirm identity

Find the right record before hanging up, revealing nothing

KITTYI'll have your recruiter follow up. What's your full name?
CALLERSarah Kim.
Searches the ATS for "Sarah Kim" → more than one match
KITTYThanks, Sarah. Which role and plant did you apply to?
CALLERThe Packer role at Bluffton.
One record now matches → identity confirmed, silently
KITTYGot it, thank you. Your recruiter will follow up shortly, no need to call back.
Kitty asks only for things the real Sarah would know and searches the ATS live, until exactly one record matches. She never says the role, plant, or status out loud, and she does not hang up until the right record is found. If it cannot be confirmed, she shares nothing and flags the handoff "unverified."
The call ends here. The handoff below runs afterward, and a human approves it.
After the call · async, human-approved
3
After the call · Draft

Draft one handoff for two people at once

Kitty writes a Care Line Calls record and drafts a single handoff: a notification to the recruiter, with a ready-to-send reply for Sarah inside it. Nothing reaches Sarah yet.
Draft · to the recruiterTo: Jessica HoySubject: [Care Line] Sarah Kim, Packer Bluffton
Candidate: Sarah Kim, (260) 555-6847 What she asked: an update after finishing her pre-hire assessment ATS located (read-only): assessment complete, awaiting recruiter review Kitty's read: she is ready to advance, nothing is blocking her Suggested action, for you to do in the ATS: advance her to recruiter review and schedule the phone screen
Open Sarah's record to review
Draft reply to Sarah
Hi Sarah, thanks for your patience. Your assessment is in and your recruiter is reviewing it now; we'll reach out to schedule your phone screen this week.
Send replyEdit
4
After the call · Recruiter handles it

The recruiter does the action, then sends the reply

Jessica opens the record, advances Sarah and schedules the phone screen in her own system, then clicks Send. Kitty never touches the ATS: the human does the action and owns the decision. The whole step takes about a minute.
Jessica: action done in the ATS, reply sent
Open for discussion

Should Kitty eventually do this ATS action herself, or always leave it to a human? For now we keep the action with the recruiter: there is no ATS write yet, and a person should own the decision.

5
After the call · Candidate hears back

Sarah finally gets her answer

Only after Jessica sends it does Sarah get the reply, now with her actual status. One call, no callback, and a person did the action and signed off on every word.
Sent · to the candidateTo: Sarah KimSubject: An update on your Hershey application
Hi Sarah, Thanks for your patience. Your assessment is in and your recruiter is reviewing it now; we'll reach out to schedule your phone screen this week. Talk soon, Hershey Candidate Care

Kitty does the work; a person signs off on every word. She located the record live to confirm it was really Sarah, then drafted the reply and the suggested action; the recruiter did the action and sent it, and only then did Sarah hear back.

Built for a regulated hiring line

The agent assists. People decide. Every call is on the record.

Humans decideAdvisory only, never an employment decision. Designed as a non-AEDT.
No status read aloudThe caller hears general process. The record stays internal.
US data, on AWSInbound, AI disclosed, recorded with consent. TPRM-ready.
Fully auditableEvery call logs a transcript, the action taken, and the reasoning.

In short: the four steps, on your 203 calls

The Candidate Care blueprint, with the real number from your own call log behind each step.

~26%resolved on the spot today

1. Answer, from the knowledge base

Routine questions get a plain answer with no person. Today only about a quarter of calls are resolved live; the agent answers the routine ones instantly, around the clock.

Name + phoneon every logged call

2. Identify, the minimum to route

Every one of the 203 calls already carries the candidate's name and phone. The agent collects just that, never more, and only to route the right recruiter.

~54%are "where am I"

3. Look up status, read-only

Over half of calls ask about status or an interview. The agent locates the record for the recruiter and never reads it back to the caller.

~74%became "email and wait"

4. Hand off, human-approved

Today three in four calls end with the operator emailing a recruiter. The agent drafts that handoff automatically, ready to approve in seconds.

Catherine Kitty Hershey, photographed in 1890
Why we named her Kitty

Meet the real Kitty.

Catherine "Kitty" Hershey, Milton Hershey's wife. Asked years later why he founded a school for children who had no one, he answered: "It was Kitty's idea." They signed its founding deed together in 1909.

A candidate calling about a job is often anxious, and the first thing they hear should be someone who sounds like they care. Hence the name.

The other half of the loop

This line answers the calls coming in. Screening makes the ones going out.

The Candidate Care Line is inbound: a candidate calls with a question, Kitty answers it and leaves the recruiter a handoff. Screening is the outbound side of the same agent: a new application lands in the ATS, the agent reads it against the job, reaches the candidate on WhatsApp or by phone to fill the gaps, and writes the result back onto the record for a recruiter to review. Same rules, opposite direction — facts only, no scores, no ranking, no automatic rejection.

Open the screening demo