AI screening for IT staffing agencies

IT staffing agencies use Simplehire to run an AI voice screen on a candidate's technical skills before submitting them to a client, with integrity checks matched to the risk of remote contract work. For a remote developer or cloud engineer, we'd use Adaptive or Advanced, require the ID check and a second device, and add desktop proctoring on supported Windows and Mac interviews. A recruiter reviews every report and decides who gets submitted.

Why are remote IT contracts a target for fraud?

Remote contract work hands someone a laptop and system access after a few video calls, and the agency's screen is often the only close look the client gets. The FBI makes the same point. Its July 2025 advisory states that "Contract IT work is a common way that North Korean IT workers procure employment," and that companies outsourcing IT work "are removed from the direct hiring process."

The Justice Department's June 2025 announcement gives a sense of scale. It describes "searches of 29 known or suspected 'laptop farms' across 16 states," and one indictment alleging that the defendants "compromised the identities of more than 80 U.S. persons to obtain remote jobs at more than 100 U.S. companies." Our North Korean IT worker checklist walks through how the scheme works and what to check at each stage.

You don't need a state-backed scheme to get burned, though. In Checkr's September 2025 survey of 3,000 US managers, 35% said someone other than the listed applicant had participated in a virtual interview. The everyday version is a proxy interview: a stronger engineer does the screen and someone else turns up for the work. Our guides on how to spot a proxy interview and deepfake job candidates cover the warning signs.

Run the same checks on every candidate for a req. A candidate's name, accent or where they studied is never a red flag; identity details that don't match are.

What should a technical screen confirm?

A first technical screen should confirm the candidate can talk through real work in each required skill, at the depth the role needs. Simplehire builds the interview from the role's required skills, so be specific when you set it up: "AWS Lambda, Terraform, Python" gives a much sharper screen than "cloud." Use the skills the client will interview on.

The tiers differ in how far they push:

• Basic asks role-based questions on the required skills. It's fine for junior or high-volume first passes.
• Adaptive adds follow-up questions that dig deeper into the candidate's answers, and gives a per-answer AI assessment. A coached candidate can often handle the first question on a topic; the follow-ups are harder to fake.
• Advanced goes deeper than Adaptive on strong answers and can include a coding round.

On Adaptive and Advanced, weak answers aren't probed further, so the report's Areas to probe is where your own call with the candidate should start.

Which tier fits which IT req?

When should you add the coding round?

The coding round is optional on Advanced and scored separately from the voice interview. That separation is useful: you can see a candidate who explains things well but struggles to write code, or the reverse, without one result hiding the other.

Add it when the client will test the candidate's code in their own interview, or when the role is mostly writing code. For roles that are more about analysis, troubleshooting or configuration, such as many security analyst roles, the conversation usually tells you more. If you use the coding round on a remote req, add desktop proctoring on supported Windows and Mac interviews, since outside help on the computer would distort that result most.

Which integrity checks should you require for remote IT roles?

Interview audio is recorded and every alert comes with a screenshot. A person reviews every finding before it affects a decision.

Be clear about what none of this covers. Simplehire's recruiter screen doesn't verify work authorization or visa status, and we don't claim it identifies hardware such as the keyboard-video-mouse switches in the DOJ case. It also can't confirm who does the work after placement. The FBI advises employers to "Capture images for comparison with future meetings," so compare the person at the client interview and onboarding against what you saw at the screen.

A checklist for every remote IT submission

• Before you invite anyone, search your ATS for duplicate resume text, phone numbers and emails. The FBI's January 2025 advisory recommends exactly that cross-check.
• Set the required skills to what the client will actually test.
• Choose Adaptive or Advanced, and add the coding round where code is the job.
• Set the ID check to Required and require a second device. Use desktop proctoring on supported Windows and Mac interviews.
• Read the full report: verdict, Skills demonstrated X/Y, Areas to probe and every integrity alert with its screenshot.
• Hold a live video call with finalists. Ask about their own past projects, three questions deep.
• Write the submission note from Strengths and Skills demonstrated, and tell the client which integrity checks the screen used.
• Ship equipment only to the address on the contractor's ID. If they ask for a different address, the FBI says to "require additional documentation to verify the address."
• After placement, compare the person on client calls with your screening record.

Which IT roles have screening question guides?

Each guide covers what to check at each level, sample questions with strong and weak answers, and red flags:

• Developers: .NET developer, Python developer, Java developer, React developer and full stack developer
• Cloud and data: DevOps engineer, AWS cloud engineer and data engineer
• Testing and platforms: QA automation engineer, Salesforce developer and ServiceNow developer
• Security: cybersecurity analyst

The full list is on the screening questions page.

What does it cost for an IT req?

Say an IT req brings in 30 applicants worth screening. On Adaptive that's 30 × $3, or $90. On Advanced it's 30 × $5, or $150. You pay per screen with no contract, and every account gets 25 free Basic screens a month with no credit card, which you can use for junior first passes. For volume pricing, talk to sales.

Two limits to plan around: Simplehire doesn't connect to your ATS today, so recruiters send links and read reports in Simplehire, and the screen runs in the candidate's browser, not over the phone. The staffing agency guide covers the full workflow and a two-week pilot. When you're ready, start free or see the proctoring details.