How we vet candidates
Application, written task, voice answer, video, a live call with a recruiter, and a reference for finalists. What each step checks, how we score it, and our real numbers.
Every profile we send a client goes through the same six steps. Candidates apply in our Telegram bot; nobody reaches a shortlist without a written task, spoken English, a video and a live conversation with one of our recruiters. Here is what each step checks, how we score it, and the numbers so far.
Our candidate pool in numbers
Counts from our own candidate database on 29 October 2026. We are a new agency and say so: these are applicants and profiles, not placements. The number who passed the live call with a recruiter will be added here once the first round of calls is done. We do not source in Russia or Belarus.
The six steps
1. Application in our Telegram bot
Experience, everyday tools, available hours, expected monthly rate and a short story of the hardest situation they handled at work. An automatic pre-screen stops people outside our four countries and people who cannot work full-time, before anyone spends time on them.
2. Written task
A short email in English for a real situation in the role: up to 120 words in 15 minutes. Each role has five tasks that rotate, so answers cannot be passed around. Typing speed is recorded: an answer pasted in seconds, or one far above the candidate's spoken level, is flagged for a recruiter and followed by one question about the email, answered by voice.
3. Voice answer
60-90 seconds in English on a set question: who they are, their experience, why remote work, the tool they know best. We rate fluency, vocabulary, grammar and clarity. We never rate accent.
4. Video intro
A short video introduction. It is what you watch first when you receive a profile.
5. Live call with a recruiter
15 minutes on video: five minutes on past work with specifics, five minutes of role-play ("I'm the founder; I have three suppliers and a conference in a week. What do you do in the first two days?"), five minutes on expectations: shift, pay, contract, trial period, no parallel work for competitors. We confirm the setup on the same call: laptop, internet, a quiet place. No profile goes to a client before this call.
6. Reference, for finalists
When you have chosen whom to interview, and with the candidate's consent, we call a former manager: what did they do, how many hours a week, would you hire them again? A profile is only ever shown to a client with the candidate's consent.
How we score
Steps 1-4 produce a fit score from 0 to 100. The candidate never sees it.
| Component | Points | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| English | 40 | Written and spoken level on the CEFR scale. The two are combined and rounded down, so a polished email cannot hide weak speech. |
| Experience | 25 | Years in a similar role, plus how relevant and solid the work is, judged from their own story of a hard case at work. |
| Tools | 15 | How many of the role's everyday tools they use, and whether they have the ones the job requires. |
| Hours | 10 | Full-time, and able to hold the shift the client needs. |
| Salary fit | 10 | Their expected monthly rate fits the role's range. |
- 75 or more: invited to the live call.
- 55-74: a recruiter reads the answers and decides.
- Below 55: stays in the pool and is not shown to clients.
On the live call the recruiter scores 0-2 per line:
| Criterion | 0 | 1 | 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spoken English (live call) | Hard to follow | Clear, but hesitant | Fluent and structured |
| Experience in a similar role | Under 1 year | 1-2 years | 2+ years |
| Your tools, used daily | 1-2 of them | 3-4 of them | 5 or more |
| Hours | Cannot cover your overlap | Partly | Yes, confirmed in writing |
| Setup (laptop, internet, quiet room) | Weak | Adequate | Strong |
The full client version of this scorecard, with test tasks you can use yourself, is in our free EA hiring kit.
One task in full
Executive assistant · written task
A vendor sent an invoice for $3,400, but the agreed price was $2,900. Write the email to the vendor.
Up to 120 words, 15 minutes, in English, typed in the bot.
Follow-up by voice (when the email is flagged): "What exactly did you ask the vendor to do, and what will you do if they do not reply in two days?"
What a strong answer does: names both amounts and the agreement they come from; asks for a corrected invoice rather than paying the wrong one; stays polite and firm; gives a date. At C1 the tone is natural and precise with rare slips; at B2 it is clear but some phrasing is unnatural; below that, errors start to blur the request.
What stops a candidate
- An AI-written email they cannot explain. We hire the person, not the tool.
- Weak live English next to a polished video. A video can be rehearsed; the live call cannot.
- No quiet place to work. An assistant takes calls.
- Not ready for the shift. The role is full-time on fixed hours.
- Unrealistic expectations about pay, duties or flexibility.
Hours, honestly
Candidates work a full European day. For the US East Coast they cover the morning to early afternoon, roughly 6 am to 2 pm New York time, which is 4-6 hours of overlap with a normal US working day. We do not promise West Coast or full US-day coverage. We ask about hours in the bot and again on the live call.
No markup. You hire the person directly.
- No markup on their pay. You sign a contractor agreement with the person and pay them directly through Deel, Wise or Payoneer. They work for you, not for us.
- You pay only on the start day. One fee ($2,500 for assistant and support roles, $3,000 for e-commerce operations) on the person's first working day. No deposit, no exclusivity. If nobody starts, there is nothing to pay.
- Free replacement within 180 days: if the person leaves or is let go within that time, we introduce new candidates at no cost until a replacement you accept starts (one replacement per hire, provided our fee was paid on time and the role, hours and pay were not changed without the person's agreement); we replace the person, we do not refund the fee.
FAQ
How do you check a candidate's English?
Not with a certificate or a self-rating. Every candidate writes a short email in English, records a spoken answer and a video intro, and then speaks with a recruiter on a live video call. We rate the written and the spoken level separately and take the lower of the two.
Do you check for AI-written answers?
Yes. An email that was pasted rather than typed, or that reads far above the candidate's spoken level, is flagged, and the candidate answers a follow-up question about their own email by voice. The flag goes to a recruiter; it is never an automatic rejection.
Do you check references?
For finalists, with the candidate's consent: a short call with a former manager. Ask for it when you have chosen whom to interview.
Why don't you publish an acceptance rate?
Because we cannot prove one yet. We publish our real counts instead, with the date, and update them as the pool grows.
What does it cost, and what does the candidate pay?
You pay a one-time fee on the person's first working day ($2,500 for assistant and support roles, $3,000 for e-commerce operations) and nothing if nobody starts. You pay the person directly, $700–1,100 a month depending on the role, with no markup. Candidates never pay Silkstaff anything.