Built for recruitment agencies
Every CV ranked. Every applicant answered.
Paste a job spec and drop in the CVs. About two minutes later you have a ranked shortlist with reasons, and a personal email drafted for every applicant, including the ones you turn down.
50 CV scans included, free. No card needed.
Pick anyone on the list, including the two who didn't make it, to see the reasons and the email Aptly drafted for them. This is an example role with invented candidates.
Aisha Rahman
91 Strong shortlistNine years in Azure retail data engineering, with hands-on leadership, streaming and the certification the spec asks for.
Why they stand out
- Led four engineers at Cedarloop Commerce building an Azure platform that processes 42 million records a day, which mirrors Meridian's scope.
- Cut reporting latency from six hours to under 15 minutes with Event Hubs, meeting the streaming requirement.
Gaps to probe
- No evidence of dbt or Airflow, both listed as nice-to-haves.
- Leadership is at team level. No board-level ownership shown.
AI-CV flag: Strong.
Senior Data Engineer at Meridian Retail Group
Hi Aisha, thank you for applying. The Azure platform you led at Cedarloop Commerce, handling 42 million records a day, is very close to what Meridian is building, and I'd like to take your application to the next stage. Could we speak for 20 minutes this week so I can tell you more about the team?
"Aptly is my little superpower. Over 100 applications per role, screened in minutes, with detailed feedback on every candidate."
Khumo Kotsokoane, Technical Talent Partner at LevelUp
Also built with N ABLE International Recruitment Miles Management Services
From job spec to shortlist in about two minutes
Nothing to install, no ATS to connect and nothing to import. Your first shortlist is three steps away.
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Paste the job spec
Use the spec you already have, or answer a few questions and let Aptly write one. It points out unrealistic criteria before you screen anyone.
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Drop in the CVs
PDF or Word, up to 50 at a time. Each one is read in full and scored against your spec, on its own merits.
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Work the shortlist
A ranked list with reasons and gaps, an email drafted for every applicant, an interview guide, and a PDF report in your branding for the client.
Every score comes with its reasons
Aptly scores each candidate from 0 to 100 against your spec and writes down why. You can check its thinking in seconds, and you have something solid to say when the client asks why someone made the list.
- Reasons and gaps
- Up to four reasons taken from the CV itself, and up to three gaps to probe at interview.
- Hidden gems
- A flag on anyone with a credential nobody else in the pile has, even when their score is lower.
- Client priorities
- Tell Aptly what this client weighs most, and the scores follow.
- AI-written CVs
- Every CV is marked None, Mild, Moderate or Strong for signs it was machine-written, with the evidence.
Aptly is instructed never to weigh or mention age, race, gender, religion, disability or other personal characteristics. It assists. The decision stays with you.
Nobody who applies gets ghosted
Any recruitment tool can send a rejection template. Aptly writes a different email to each applicant from what is in their own CV. You read it, change anything you like, and send: one at a time, or the whole list at once.
- Strong shortlistA warm invitation that mentions the experience that got them shortlisted.
- BorderlineAn honest note with two ways forward: a short call about the role, or a clear no with the reason.
- Do not progressA respectful no that names something specific from their CV, so it never reads like a template.
Prefer one standard rejection message for the whole agency? You can set that too.
Good news, you've been shortlisted
Your recruiter has put you on the shortlist for this role. This page updates whenever something changes.
- Applied
- Screened
- Shortlisted
- Interview
- Offered
- Placed
Your client sees the shortlist as it moves
Send your hiring manager one link in your agency's branding in place of PDF attachments. They see the ranked candidates, your reasons and each person's stage, and it updates as you work.
- Comments reach you straight away
- The hiring manager writes on the candidate, and you get a notification.
- They can score candidates too
- Against your competencies, without an Aptly account.
- You choose who can open it
- Viewers confirm their email address. There is no password to set up.
The rest of the desk, in the same place
Screening is where it starts. Aptly carries a permanent role from the first CV through to placed.
- Pipeline board
- Move candidates from applied to placed on one board, with every stage change recorded.
- Candidate database
- Every CV you screen is kept and searchable. Aptly suggests people you already know for each new job.
- Reference checks
- Candidates give their referees, referees answer on a form, and you get one report as a PDF.
- Video introductions
- Ask a shortlisted candidate for a short recorded introduction before you book interview time.
- Interview guides and scheduling
- Questions written for each candidate, with what a strong and a weak answer sound like, plus invites and reminders.
- Scorecards
- Interviewers score candidates against your competencies from a link, and the scores are combined for you.
- Spec CVs
- An anonymised CV in your branding for each person you put forward, with a link for the candidate to check it first.
- Job board
- Your own branded job board. Applications land straight in the job's pipeline.
- Reports and export
- Reports for owners on jobs, pipeline and placements, and your data out as CSV whenever you want it.
Some of these are on paid plans. Compare plans.
"We received a very high volume of applications for a recent role, making manual shortlisting a challenge. Aptly allowed us to apply our evaluation criteria consistently across every applicant and quickly identify the candidates worth interviewing. The results were remarkably aligned with our own judgement and significantly improved the efficiency of the process."
Bryan Miles, Director, Miles Management Services
"Aptly has made a noticeable difference to the way our recruitment division operates. One of the biggest benefits has been the significant reduction in the time it takes to screen and review CVs. Aptly has become an important part of our recruitment toolkit and has helped us work smarter, faster, and more effectively."
Natasha Soares, Recruitment Co-ordinator, N ABLE International Recruitment
Start free. Pay when you need more scans.
A scan is one CV scored. Agencies and in-house teams pay the same prices.
Free
$0
50 CV scans in total, 3 active jobs, 1 seat. No card needed.
Starter
$79 a month
500 scans a month, unlimited jobs, 3 seats.
Growth Most popular
$199 a month
2,500 scans a month, unlimited jobs, 10 seats.
Team
$399 a month
6,000 scans a month, unlimited jobs and seats.
Enterprise from $799 a month. Starter, Growth and Team cost less when billed annually.
Questions before you sign up
Something else? Email hello@aptly.pro.
Is Aptly right for my desk?
It suits agencies and independent recruiters filling permanent roles for several clients at once, especially when a role draws dozens or hundreds of applications. It is a poor fit for retained executive search with a handful of hand-picked candidates, and for desks that are mostly temp or contract. Hiring for your own company? Aptly for in-house teams uses your vocabulary.
Do I need to move off my current CRM or ATS?
No. You can run your whole desk on Aptly, or keep your ATS and add screening to it through the Aptly API. Your existing candidates import from a CSV file, matched on email so a second import updates records and doesn't duplicate them.
How accurate is the scoring?
Aptly scores each CV against your own job spec and shows its reasons, so you can check them. Treat the score as decision support. You remain the recruiter, and your client remains the authority on their role.
What happens to candidate data? Is it GDPR and POPIA compliant?
Yes. Aptly is a data processor, and a Data Processing Agreement is available to every customer. Data is hosted in the EU (Frankfurt). You can delete records at any time, and everything is removed within 30 days of closing your account. CVs are processed with Anthropic's Claude, and your data is never used to train a model. See Security and the Privacy Policy.
Do candidates know AI was used?
That is your call, within your local law. Where the law requires it, you must tell candidates that automated tools are used in screening.
What happens to unused scans, and can I get a refund?
Plan scans reset each month and don't roll over. Top-up packs never expire and are used only after your monthly allowance. There is a 7-day money-back guarantee on your first subscription payment, and you can cancel at any time to stop future charges.
Try it on a role you're working this week
50 CV scans free, no card, and nothing to set up. If it doesn't save you time, you've lost nothing.
Aptly is built by Louis Carr, who has worked in recruitment technology since 2013 and kept seeing the same two problems at every agency: screening took too long, and most candidates never got a reply. More about Louis