AI/ML Case Study

AI Candidate Screening Using Microsoft Fabric and Azure OpenAI

Client

Client is a fast-growing residential and commercial construction company serving customers across multiple states. Specializing in damage repair and reconstruction services, the client is known for rapid response and expert care.

CLIENT PROFILE
EMPLOYEES: 50+
INDUSTRY: Construction
FOUNDED: 1988

Project Scope

Streamlining Candidate Screening with AI

The client engaged in a pilot AI initiative to improve efficiency in one of its most critical operations: recruitment. While the client had high applicant volume due to strong brand presence and job campaign efforts, the real challenge was no longer about how to attract candidates but how to find the right ones quickly.

The project built a scalable, AI-assisted solution for reviewing and prioritizing applicants directly from the client’s HR platform, powered by Microsoft Fabric and Azure OpenAI. The ultimate objective was to reduce the recruiter workload and enable smarter, faster hiring decisions.

ai candidate screening
ai candidate screening

Key Challenges

  • Overwhelming Application Volume: Hundreds of new applicants can come in overnight, creating significant manual screening demands.

  • Flexible, Evolving Criteria: Different roles like sales, operations, or office management require varied and dynamic screening logic that cannot be standardized.

  • All manual process: Manual review and status tagging in the HR platform is time-consuming and exhausting.

  • General Job Posting: Job titles often don’t reflect the actual qualifications or responsibilities; the screening must dig deeper into the resume content.

Our Solution

AI-Powered Screening, Custom-Built for the Enterprise

The AI solution built for the client offers a powerful, customizable system that integrates directly with the company’s existing IT stack and HR systems. It’s not just a point solution it’s a foundational capability that positions the client for continued innovation across HR and beyond.

Smartbridge has extensive experience with artificial intelligence solutions

What Make it Different?

  • Enterprise-Ready and Seamless: The solution is fully embedded into the client’s Microsoft ecosystem, leveraging Azure and Microsoft Fabric. Unlike commercial SaaS tools, it is internally controlled and adaptable by the company’s IT team, providing data governance, customization, and long-term cost efficiency.
  • Tailored Matching Using Internal Job Descriptions: Instead of relying on public-facing job listings, AI uses rich internal job descriptions, detailing expectations, required qualifications, and business context. This significantly improves the precision of matches and aligns candidate recommendations with real hiring needs.
  • Daily Intelligent Candidate Updates: The system sends concise emails to hiring stakeholders with summaries of the top candidates, filtered by custom rules, scoring algorithms, and resume highlights. Hiring managers no longer wade through hundreds of resumes; they receive actionable insights.

  • Built for Iteration and Flexibility: Filtering parameters such as candidate status (“New” only), application age, and role-specific keywords are fully adjustable. If job requirements change, the hiring team simply updates a spreadsheet. No tech intervention needed.

  • Smarter Decisions with AI Summaries: Using generative AI (Azure OpenAI), the system creates summaries and highlights for top applicants, making it easy to compare and evaluate candidates at a glance.

  • Sets the Stage for Broader AI Adoption: By establishing a robust AI and data infrastructure within Microsoft Fabric, this pilot lays the groundwork for more AI use cases such as employee onboarding, compliance training, and operational workflows.

Key Outcomes

  • 30-minute resume scan of nearly 2,000 applicants, with scoring and filtering, saving hours of manual review.
  • <$0.0001 in OpenAI cost per job, proving the solution is not only powerful but also cost-effective.
  • Real-time user feedback loop to continuously improve ranking accuracy and candidate visibility.
  • Automated rejection messages to eliminate manual administrative tasks.

What’s Possible Now

This AI-driven recruitment solution shows what’s achievable when companies harness their existing technology investments. By putting internal knowledge, custom logic, and enterprise-grade tools to work, companies can:

  • Spend less time screening and more time hiring.
  • Improve quality-of-hire by focusing only on relevant candidates.
  • Empower recruiters and hiring managers with real-time, data-driven insights.

  • Build an AI-enabled foundation that extends beyond recruiting into training, compliance, employee experience, and more.

Keep Reading: Workforce Optimization with Microsoft Fabric’s Data Agent

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