Spark Hire AI Interview Notetaker for recruiting: the Recruit add-on, its consent page and its limits

Spark Hire's AI Interview Notetaker is a bot that joins live interviews on Zoom, Microsoft Teams or Google Meet, records audio and video, and turns the conversation into a structured summary plus optional draft notes the interviewer can accept, edit or reject. As of October 2026 it is in beta and sold as an add-on to Spark Hire Recruit, Spark Hire's applicant tracking system (ATS), which starts at $335 a month billed annually; the add-on's price is not published. It suits HR and talent teams at companies of 50 to 500 employees that use Recruit and want an interview record with a built-in candidate consent page; it is not part of Spark Hire's one-way video product and does nothing for teams on another ATS.

Every fact below comes from sparkhire.com and the AI Interview Notetaker article in Spark Hire Recruit's help center, last updated October 15, 2026, checked in October 2026 and linked.

Where does the notetaker sit among Spark Hire's products?

Spark Hire sells two main products: video interviews, one-way and live, which its AI page calls Meet, and Recruit, an ATS. That page says Spark Hire AI works "across both Meet and Recruit," and the AI features it lists for video interviews center on recorded one-way answers: AI review, transcripts and summaries of candidates' responses. If that is the format you are weighing, our page on one-way video interviews covers how it works and the rules around it.

The AI Interview Notetaker belongs to Recruit, the ATS. Spark Hire's ATS page describes Recruit as built for HR and talent teams at companies with 50 to 500 employees, with "AI Notetaker available as an add-on to draft scorecard-linked interview evaluations." The notes land in Recruit's candidate profile, which is why the notetaker is no use to a team whose ATS is Greenhouse, Bullhorn or anything else.

How does it join an interview?

As a participant. The help article says the notetaker "joins interviews to capture audio and video and create an internal transcript," and lists two supported setups: Spark Hire-hosted interviews using Zoom or Microsoft Teams, and custom meeting links from Zoom, Teams or Google Meet. It warns that some meeting providers, authentication settings or company meeting configurations may stop it from joining. On Teams, Microsoft's admin documentation says detected external bots wait in the lobby by default until an organizer admits them.

Setting it up, from the same article:

1. An owner or admin activates it from the Apps page by selecting the AI Interview Notetaker tile.
2. It is then on for every position. Once activated, it "will automatically join every interview" unless someone disables it in a position's settings.
3. You can remove it from one interview from the interview page, and add it back the same way; that does not change the company or position setting.
4. It leaves empty meetings. If no one joins within five minutes, it disconnects.

It supports interviews in more than 50 languages, from Afrikaans to Welsh, according to Recruit's supported languages page, but transcript downloads are available only for interviews held in English.

How does Spark Hire handle candidate consent?

With a consent step built into the product. The help article offers two options, with a note that the guidance is not legal advice:

• Require consent before the interview. Under Settings, Spark Hire AI, an admin can turn on "Require candidate consent to use AI Interview Notetaker." Candidates then see a page before joining that explains the recording and links to your privacy notice, and they choose "Join the interview" or "Join without recording." The choice is saved in the candidate's activity log.
• Add a notice to the invite. Spark Hire gives sample wording for the video interview invite template, including an offer to interview without the notetaker at no cost to the candidacy.

Use the first option if you can. A recorded yes or no in the activity log is better evidence than an email nobody replied to, and "Join without recording" gives a candidate a real choice. The article also reminds customers to give notice at data collection, citing New York City's Local Law 144; our Local Law 144 guide explains when a note taker falls under it, and recording consent features compared shows how other platforms ask first.

What does the interviewer get after the call?

A summary and a set of suggestions. Spark Hire says the summary groups the conversation into topics: relevant experience, skills and tools, problem solving, communication, work style, motivation, culture and values, and the candidate's questions. It appears next to the candidate's evaluation on the interview page, on the Evaluation tab and in the activity log.

The notetaker then suggests optional draft notes: Pros, Concerns, Further review items and draft scorecard inputs, built from the summary and the role context you provide. They are marked as AI suggestions and only appear for interview-type evaluations. Spark Hire is explicit about what the tool does not do: it "does not make hiring recommendations, classify candidates, or automatically add notes or ratings to a candidate profile," and nothing is used unless the interviewer selects, reviews and submits it.

That design keeps the rating with the interviewer, which is where it belongs. It also means the quality of the scorecard still depends on the interviewer reading the suggestions against what was said; our interview scorecard template shows the evidence-first structure worth holding the drafts to. Check the plan, too: Recruit's pricing table lists customizable scorecards on Growth and Enterprise, not Pro.

How much does it cost?

From Spark Hire's pricing page, as of October 2026:

The starting prices apply to companies with up to 50 employees and rise with headcount, and Recruit is sold only on an annual contract. The add-on's own price is not published. The help article says each account gets an annual interview quota: interviews under five minutes and failed processing do not count, each additional 120 minutes (or part of it) beyond the first 120 counts as another interview, admins get emails when the quota runs low, and the notetaker cannot join once it runs out. Ask for the quota size alongside the price.

Where does it stop for recruiting?

• Recruit only. It is an add-on to Spark Hire's ATS, so teams on another ATS cannot use it.
• Beta. Spark Hire labels it beta; expect changes.
• A visible bot that records video as well as audio, and that some meeting settings can block.
• No phone screens or in-person interviews described. See how to record a phone screen for calls.
• Notes after the call, not during it. Nothing prompts the interviewer while the interview runs.
• A yearly quota and an unpublished add-on price on top of an annual contract.

Spark Hire AI Interview Notetaker at a glance

Sources: AI Interview Notetaker help article, Spark Hire pricing and Recruit ATS page, all as of October 2026.

Who should choose Spark Hire's AI notetaker?

A good fit if:

• You use Spark Hire Recruit, or are choosing it as your ATS.
• You want a consent step candidates click before the recording starts, with the answer logged.
• You want AI to draft notes but never write ratings into a profile on its own.
• Your interviews run on Zoom, Teams or Google Meet.

Look elsewhere if:

• Your ATS is not Spark Hire Recruit.
• You screen by phone or interview in person.
• You want prompts during the interview, or a client submittal afterwards.

We make Interview Signal, one alternative for teams outside Recruit: a Windows and macOS desktop app with no bot that captures Zoom, Teams, Meet and phone screens run through the computer, keeps a question guide on screen and drafts a scorecard with quotes checked against the transcript, though it has no ATS integration, so you paste the notes in yourself. Everything about Spark Hire on this page comes from Spark Hire's own site and help center, linked and dated.