For companies without a recruiter
Hire the person,
not the paper.
Every applicant talks with our AI for 10 minutes instead of sending a resume. You get a short list of the ones worth meeting for your role.
- First shortlist free
- No placement fees
- You make every hiring decision
Maya R.
Rebuilt her club's budget tracking so officers could see overspending every month.
1 of 5 on your shortlist
- Daniel A.
- Priya R.
- Jordan O.
- Wei Z.
Hiring is somebody's side job. And the resume stopped working.
Nobody's job is hiring.
At a 40-person company, hiring happens between everything else. It lands on the office manager, a partner, whoever has a free hour. There's no recruiter, and the tools big companies use cost thousands of dollars a seat.
Every application looks the same.
Many applicants now use AI to polish their resumes and write their cover letters. New tools apply to hundreds of jobs for a student in a single day. The pile gets bigger and tells you less.1
2x
Applications per job more than doubled from 2022 to 2025.
3 in 4
hiring managers couldn't spot an AI-written resume in a blind test, even though most thought they could.
Software Finder survey of 403 HR and hiring managers, Nov 2024
$8K to $12K
a year, per seat, list price for LinkedIn Recruiter, the version built for full-time recruiters.
The best person for your job might already be in that pile. On paper, they look like everyone else.
It's easy to fake a resume. It's much harder to fake a conversation.
So we replaced the resume screen with one. Every applicant talks with our AI for 10 minutes. It's live, it follows up on what they just said, and it asks about things they've actually done. You hear how someone thinks, not how well a tool wrote their resume.
We replace the resume pile with a conversation.
12 resumes
12 conversations
How to read a shape
On this page, every applicant is drawn as the shape of one conversation, in a color they keep everywhere. Honey is always Ambees.
- First word
- It starts at the top and runs clockwise to the last word.
- Long answer
- Steady talk pushes the line out.
- Pause
- Silence pulls it in.
- Inner rings
- The same conversation, smaller, turned and calmer, so it still reads when it's small.
- A shape is never a score. No shape is better than another, and a quiet speaker fills the same space as a loud one.
- It can't identify anyone. Ambees never rates accent, tone or confidence.
Your part takes 20 minutes. We handle everything until you meet the right people.
Tell us who you need.
A 20-minute call about the role: what the work is, which skills matter, and what kind of person does well on your team. We turn that into the conversation every applicant will have.
ExampleAudit intern · Summer 2027
- Tie out schedules, chase client documents, support fieldwork.
- Intermediate Accounting
- Excel
- Asks questions early. Stays steady in busy season.
Every applicant has a conversation.
Instead of sending a resume, each student talks with our AI for 10 minutes, built around your role. It follows up on their answers, asking for a real example and the part they played.
ExampleAmbees
You said you took over your club's budget. What wasn't working before you did?
Student
Nobody knew we were over budget until the semester ended.
Ambees
In that, what part did you personally take on?
Meet the right few.
You get a ranked shortlist with a short note on why each person fits. You choose who to interview. You make the hire.
Example- 1Maya R.Rebuilt her club's budget tracking
- 2Daniel A.Two tax seasons at a family CPA office
- 3Priya R.Led a volunteer tax clinic shift
- 4Jordan O.Built his co-op's expense tracker
- 5Wei Z.Treasurer of the investment club
What 10 minutes can tell you that a page can't.
It isn't a quiz. It starts with what someone has actually done and follows up on the details.
What it listens for
- What they actually did, not just the title they held
- How they explain their thinking
- Whether they understand your role and why they want it
Example conversation · Audit internship at a regional accounting firm
Example- AmbeesYou said you took over your club's budget. What wasn't working before you did?
- StudentNobody knew we were over budget until the semester ended. Receipts just went into a folder.
- AmbeesIn that, what part did you personally take on?
- StudentI set up a shared sheet everyone logged to the same week. A fancier tool would've been nicer, but nobody would've used it.
That last answer is the kind of judgment you'd want in an audit intern. It never shows up on a resume.
A shortlist, not a pile.
No dashboard to learn and no software to install. A ranked list for your role, with a few lines on each person, written from their conversation.
- 1Maya R.Junior, Accounting
- 2Daniel A.Senior, Finance
- 3Priya R.Junior, Accounting
- 4Jordan O.Junior, Economics
- 5Wei Z.Sophomore, Accounting
Maya R.
Accounting junior who has kept real books for a 60-member club and wants audit work at a smaller firm.
- Rebuilt her club's budget tracking so officers could see overspending every month.
- Finished Intermediate Accounting I and II.
- Wants a smaller firm where interns do real client work.
- No audit software experience mentioned.
A fancier tool would've been nicer, but nobody would've used it.
Spend your time talking to the right five, not reading the whole pile.
Our AI doesn't hire anyone. You do.
It gives every applicant the same kind of conversation for your role, then ranks and explains. You see the reasoning and decide who to meet. Candidates always know they're talking to an AI.
- Same conversation, same standard, for every applicant
- Every ranking comes with its reasoning
- A skills check before your first interview, not a replacement for it
Why not just post the job?
You can. Here's what each option gets you.
| Post on a job board | Buy a recruiter seat | Hire an agency | Ambees | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What you get | Everyone who clicked apply | A search tool, plus your own time to use it | A few people they found | A ranked shortlist of people we've talked to |
| Who screens | You | You | They do | A 10-minute conversation, then you |
| What it costs | Per post or per click | About $8K to $12K per seat, per year (list price) | A share of the hire's first-year salary | First shortlist free, then $250 a month during Early Access |
| Built for | Volume | Companies with recruiters | Companies that pay per hire | Companies without a recruiter |
Ambees
- What you get
- A ranked shortlist of people we've talked to
- Who screens
- A 10-minute conversation, then you
- What it costs
- First shortlist free, then $250 a month during Early Access
- Built for
- Companies without a recruiter
Post on a job board
- What you get
- Everyone who clicked apply
- Who screens
- You
- What it costs
- Per post or per click
- Built for
- Volume
Buy a recruiter seat
- What you get
- A search tool, plus your own time to use it
- Who screens
- You
- What it costs
- About $8K to $12K per seat, per year (list price)
- Built for
- Companies with recruiters
Hire an agency
- What you get
- A few people they found
- Who screens
- They do
- What it costs
- A share of the hire's first-year salary
- Built for
- Companies that pay per hire
Job boards make more money when more people apply. We only keep customers when the shortlist is good.
Made for teams of 10 to 200 without a recruiter.
If hiring at your company is somebody's side job, this is built for you. Teams like insurance agencies, community banks, accounting firms and advisory firms, and any company hiring college students for internships or entry-level roles.
Probably not for you if
- You have a campus recruiting team
- You're hiring for senior roles
- You need someone next week
Why good students show up.
Students have one conversation and get matched to every role that fits, so they aren't firing off two hundred applications. It's free for them. For a lot of students, a 40-person firm is a better shot than a famous name, and a better place to do real work from week one. The students on your shortlist chose to be there.
Start free. Keep going only if it works.
Early Access · First 10 employers
Free first shortlist, then $250/month
Hiring for more than one role at the same time? Each extra role is $125 a month. Early Access pricing is locked for your first 6 months. Pause between hires or cancel anytime. No placement fees. No per-seat licenses.
Try it on your next roleHow Early Access works
- Share one role you're hiring for, and we'll have a 20-minute call.
- We send you a free shortlist: first names, why each person fits, and a few lines from their conversation.
- Want to meet them? We set up the intros and Early Access starts at $250 a month, month to month.
- Not for you? Walk away. No cost, no contract.
Early Access is open to our first 10 employers. After that, standard pricing will be $500 a month, plus $250 for each extra role.
We take on a limited number of roles so we can do each one well, and we'll tell you upfront if yours isn't a fit.
Why we built this
Friends of ours are building AI tools that send 500 job applications in two days. We kept picturing who's on the other end: the office manager at a 40-person firm who also does the hiring. So we spent this year talking with more than 100 hiring managers and recruiters, and heard the same thing again and again. Both sides are losing to a piece of paper.
Humans deserve to be humans, not judged by a piece of paper.
David Xie
Yiran Hu
Backed by angel investors and a university startup incubator.
Based in the Bay Area.
Common questions
Does the AI decide who gets hired?
No. It ranks applicants and explains why. You choose who to interview and who to hire.
What roles does this work for?
Internships and entry-level roles where how someone thinks matters more than years of experience. If a role isn't a good fit, like a senior hire, we'll tell you upfront.
Where do the students come from?
Ambitious students from top American universities. They sign up on Ambees, have one conversation, and get matched to roles that fit. We grow the pool around the roles our employers are hiring for.
How long until I see a shortlist?
We aim to send it within 2 to 3 weeks of our call.
Can't candidates just use ChatGPT?
Some will try. The conversation follows up on each answer, asking for a real example and what they did themselves, which is harder to fake than a polished page.
How do candidates feel about talking to an AI?
They know upfront, and it's 10 minutes once instead of a new cover letter for every job.
Does this replace my interviews?
No. It's a skills check before your first interview, so the people you meet are already worth meeting.
What does it cost?
Your first shortlist is free. If you want to meet the candidates, Early Access is $250 a month, month to month, plus $125 for each extra role you're hiring for at the same time. Pause between hires or cancel anytime. No placement fees and no seats. Early Access is for our first 10 employers; after that, standard pricing will be $500 a month.
What happens after I make a hire?
You can pause your account at no charge until your next role, or cancel. No fees either way.
Do I need to install anything or change my hiring software?
No. Early Access shortlists come straight to you.
Have a role open? Meet the right few.
Tell us about it in 20 minutes. Your first shortlist is free.