Vendors are pitching every AI hiring tool as transformative. Most aren't. Here's the framework I use with clients before any tool purchase.
Question 1. What's the actual measurable outcome you're targeting?
"Better hiring" isn't measurable. "Reduce time-to-hire by 30%" or "lift first-year retention by 5 points" is. If you can't name the metric, you're not ready to buy.
Question 2. What's the current baseline?
You can't measure improvement without a baseline. Most companies haven't measured time-to-hire or quality-of-hire systematically before buying tools. Don't be one of them.
Question 3. What's the failure mode?
When the tool is wrong, what happens? Slower hiring = recoverable. Worse hires = months of damage. Tools where the failure mode is worse hires need much more rigorous evaluation than tools where the failure mode is slower process.
Question 4. How does it integrate with your existing stack?
A great AI tool that doesn't talk to your ATS, calendar, or comp tools creates more friction than it removes. Integration matters more than feature lists.
Question 5. What does the vendor's customer base look like?
Companies similar to yours, in similar growth stages, with similar hiring patterns? Or wildly different? Reference customers in your same context tell you what to expect.
Question 6. What's the exit cost?
If this tool doesn't work, how much pain to remove? Some tools are sticky in expensive ways (data lock-in, workflow dependence, contract terms). Know before signing.
The companies that buy AI hiring tools well treat the decision like any other strategic vendor purchase. The ones that don't end up with shelfware and slower hiring than before.
— Dr. Hosney Adel