Here's exactly what happens when you hire with Fern — start to finish, with nothing hidden. This is the detailed version: where the work happens, where AI does the heavy lifting, and where the final call stays firmly yours.
You create your Fern account and add the details of the role you're hiring for, which only you will see: job title, sector, key requirements — skills, experience, availability, qualifications — and location. You can also choose how important each requirement is to you, which will weigh each requirement differently towards the final score. It takes a couple of minutes.
Once saved, Fern generates a unique application link for that specific role.
Add your Fern application link to your Seek listing description — or Trade Me Jobs, Facebook, or wherever you normally post the role. Applicants can come from anywhere.
The link is what routes every applicant into Fern regardless of where they saw the ad, so you get one unified shortlist instead of managing applications across multiple platforms.
Candidates fill in a short application form: contact details, CV or experience, and a few questions specific to the role.
No account or login is required on their end — it's a one-time form, built to be quick to complete on any device.
This is the part we want to be fully transparent about, since it's where AI does the heavy lifting.
When an applicant submits the form, an automated process uses a 3-layer AI system to screen applicants. AI breaks down the applicant's CV, making sure to include all relevant data, only getting rid of filler words. Next, it goes through each requirement or qualification and scores the applicants 1-5 for each. Finally, it gets all the information and creates a tailored description for each applicant that points out their strengths and weaknesses, which can be seen in the applicant profile. The final scores are created with a mathematical equation to add up the scores and weights. reads their answers and looks at their CV, and compares them directly against the requirements you set in Step 1 — nothing more. It checks things like whether stated experience matches what you asked for, whether availability lines up with the role, and whether the qualifications you specified are present.
The AI only considers — and is given — data that the applicant themselves submits
Every applicant who applies shows up in your Fern dashboard automatically, sorted from strongest to weakest match.
Instead of opening dozens of CVs one by one, you see your full applicant pool ranked in one place, as soon as it comes in.
Fern doesn't just give you a number. Every applicant's ranking comes with a visible breakdown of why they scored the way they did: which requirements they matched, which they didn't, with supporting evidence from the applicant's CV or answers, and how that adds up to their overall rank.
Nothing is a black box. You can see the AI's reasoning for every applicant before you make any decision — and the final call on who to contact is always yours, not the AI's.
Unlocking a role gives you full access to CVs and contact details for every ranked applicant on that role, so you can reach out directly.
Until a role is unlocked, you can still see the ranking and scoring reasoning for every applicant — the paywall only sits in front of contact details, not the shortlist itself.
