01
You post a job.
Describe the role. RoundZero handles the rest. No ATS setup, no keyword filters, no manual screening.
The Time of Résumés is Over · Vol. 01 · Spring 2026
Replace your first interview round with AI
An introduction
The hiring funnel still starts with résumés — a weak signal that's easy to game. Years of experience is a proxy, not a measurement. Great engineers can look average on paper, and weak candidates can fabricate their way past ATS filters. RoundZero cuts through the noise. It evaluates how candidates actually think, not what they claim in a document. What follows is how that works.
SkipResume screening
Cut throughATS noise
EvaluateHow candidates think
GetRanked reports, not files
I.
How it works
02
Candidates apply.
Applicants submit and go — RoundZero takes over. Pre-evaluation runs immediately. Zero handles salary, relocation, visa, and other screening so your team doesn't have to.
03
Ranked reports roll in.
Strong candidates are interviewed by Zero, then you get ranked reports with scores, strengths, and evidence. You're notified the moment they're ready.
04
Focus on the best.
Review only the top-ranked candidates. Every score links to real conversation — no more guessing.
II.
What candidates experience
Pulled from a recent interview
“It noticed I’d been vague about Redis Streams and asked me to draw out exactly how messages were ordered. It felt less like a quiz and more like a conversation with a senior engineer who had already read my résumé.”
— Sarah Chen, Senior Backend Engineer
What the interview is built to do.
- ¶Validate specific claims on the résumé.
- ¶Probe role-relevant judgement, not trivia.
- ¶Follow up on vagueness, the way a human would.
- ¶Stay concise (20–40 minutes, async).
For candidates.
- ¶Get evaluated beyond your resume.
- ¶Show how you think and solve problems.
- ¶Avoid being filtered out by keyword matching.
- ¶Fairer and more meaningful evaluation.
Transcript · Senior Backend EngineerMIN 18:42
ZERO
You mentioned building a real-time notification system. Walk me through the architecture decisions.
SARAH
Pub/sub with Redis Streams for brokering. The tradeoff was latency vs. ordering — we chose at-least-once with client-side dedup.
ZERO
How did dedup hold up at scale? Specifically, what happened on a client reconnect after going offline for several minutes?
SARAH
We kept a sliding window of message IDs in IndexedDB. On reconnect we replayed missed entries and dropped duplicates against the window.
Voice assessment · 5 minCLARITY 78
78
Clarity
72
Articulation
65
Conciseness
80
Listening
70
Confidence
Voice communication is assessed after the text interview and blended into the final communication score (60% voice, 40% text).
III.
See how candidates actually perform
Dossier no. 0481 · Strong hireSarah Chen
Sarah Chen
for Senior Backend Engineer
8.4/ 10
Each candidate comes with a structured report covering reasoning, communication, and relevant experience — with an overall score, key strengths and concerns, and role-specific evaluation.
Technical depth9.1
System design, distributed tradeoffs
Communication7.8
Concise, structured under pressure
Experience8.2
Validated against four prior roles
Ownership8.5
Strengths
- +Deep understanding of distributed systems tradeoffs.
- +Clear, structured communication under pressure.
- +Demonstrated ownership across the rollout cycle.
Areas of concern
- −Limited exposure to observability beyond basic logging.
- −Vague answer on CI/CD pipeline design — flagged for follow-up.
IV.
Ranked, not filtered
After RoundZero, you don’t see applicants — you see ranked candidates.
Candidates are ordered by actual evaluation, not keyword matches or resume quality. Every recommendation links back to real responses and reasoning.
#CandidateRecommendationScore
01Sarah ChenStrong hire8.4
02Marcus JohnsonStrong hire7.9
03Priya PatelConsider7.2
04Alex KimPass5.8
05Diego AlvarezPass5.4
5 evaluated87 in pipeline · still readable
V.
Pricing, plainly stated
Starter $0/ forever Try RoundZero on your next hire. No commitment. | Editor’s pickPro $149/ per month For teams hiring across multiple roles. | Enterprise Custom/ tailored High-volume hiring with dedicated support. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Active job postings | Up to 3 | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| AI job creation | — | Included | Included |
| AI pre-evaluation | All applicants | All applicants | All applicants |
| Deep-evaluated reports | 5 per job | Top fits | Top fits |
| Custom evaluation criteria | — | Included | Included |
| Team seats | 1 | 5 | Unlimited |
| API & integrations | — | — | Included |
| Support | Priority | Dedicated AM |
Starter
$0/ forever
Try RoundZero on your next hire. No commitment.
- Active job postings
- Up to 3
- AI job creation
- —
- AI pre-evaluation
- All applicants
- Deep-evaluated reports
- 5 per job
- Custom evaluation criteria
- —
- Team seats
- 1
- API & integrations
- —
- Support
Editor’s pickPro
$149/ per month
For teams hiring across multiple roles.
- Active job postings
- Unlimited
- AI job creation
- Included
- AI pre-evaluation
- All applicants
- Deep-evaluated reports
- Top fits
- Custom evaluation criteria
- Included
- Team seats
- 5
- API & integrations
- —
- Support
- Priority
Enterprise
Custom/ tailored
High-volume hiring with dedicated support.
- Active job postings
- Unlimited
- AI job creation
- Included
- AI pre-evaluation
- All applicants
- Deep-evaluated reports
- Top fits
- Custom evaluation criteria
- Included
- Team seats
- Unlimited
- API & integrations
- Included
- Support
- Dedicated AM
Cost comparison
Replace a $50,000 recruiting budget with a subscription.
Traditional hiring platforms charge per job, per seat, or per placement — and still leave you with résumés to screen. RoundZero replaces the entire first round with a flat fee that includes evaluation.
PlatformCostNotes
LinkedIn Recruiter$10,800+ / yearPer-seat license, 150 InMails/mo
Indeed Sponsored~$150+ / moPer-job daily budget, no fixed fee
Greenhouse$6,500+ / yearATS license, no evaluation included
RoundZero Pro$149 / monthUnlimited jobs, deep evaluations
VI.
Frequently asked
Letters to the editor
Questions we hear most often, answered with the same plainness we ask of candidates.
Colophon
Run RoundZero before Round One
Start replacing your first interview round today.
Set in
Fraunces & Geist
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Vol. 01
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