Zeko AI now runs 45% of all first-round interviews, and its shortlist clears the human panel at nearly double the industry rate.
Screening was the bottleneck at scale
Persistent Systems hires software and engineering talent across many business units. First-round screening does not scale without either burying engineers in unqualified candidates or slowing everything down, and Persistent already had two other screening tools and its own hiring panels for the job.
The real question was never whether an AI could conduct interviews. It was whether an AI screen could be trusted enough to own a meaningful share of first-round interviewing, without the panel quietly losing faith in who it sent them.
“That adoption came easy. Teams took to it on their own, and hiring got much simpler across the board.”
Zeko AI earned its place against the alternatives
Zeko AI became a standardized first-round screen, calibrated to each role, at a company that also has two other tools and human panels available for the same job. Today about 45% of all L1 interviews across Persistent Systems run on Zeko AI.
Teams keep choosing it because the shortlist holds up: the L2 pass rate climbed from 69.1% to 76.4% in a single quarter, nearly double the industry range. None of this came at the cost of stability. Volume grew 3.8x in a single quarter, and the pass rate went up, not down, as it scaled.
of all first-round (L1) interviews across Persistent Systems run on Zeko AI, despite two other screening tools and human panels also available.
Source: Zeko AI / Persistent Systems review, Q1 FY2026–27.of Zeko AI-shortlisted candidates pass the human L2 panel, up from 69.1% the prior quarter and nearly double the 30–50% industry range.
Source: Zeko AI / Persistent Systems review.Calibration, a growth pain, and how it was solved
The L2 pass rate climbing from 69.1% to 76.4% traces directly to the first-round evaluation being tuned to what Persistent’s panels actually value, until panels stopped second-guessing the shortlist and started relying on it.
Scaling fast is exactly where quality slips. Bulk-inviting at 3.8x growth pressured the front of the funnel. Holding the line took process discipline: a short practice run for candidates and tighter recruiter briefing before invites went out.
The rollout spanned many business units and hundreds of active roles, with open-house enablement for recruiters and hiring managers and a dedicated point of contact on each side.
A share that keeps widening
The 45% share is itself the durability story. At a company with other screening options and its own panels, teams keep sending nearly half of all first-round interviews to Zeko AI, quarter after quarter, across a widening set of roles and business units.
Scope: figures cover Q1 FY2026–27 (Apr–Jun 2026), from Zeko AI’s business review with Persistent Systems, benchmarked against the prior quarter. “L2 pass rate” = Zeko AI-shortlisted candidates who pass the human L2 panel. The 45% share is the count of L1 interviews Zeko AI conducts relative to all L1 interviews, including other tools and human panels.
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Build a Consistent, Audit-Ready Hiring Process
Standardize interviews across geographies and improve hiring quality with Zeko's AI platform.
Trusted by 150+ enterprises
SOC2 · GDPR · ISO27001
4.8/5 Average Candidate Rating
Act Now
Build a Consistent, Audit-Ready Hiring Process
Standardize interviews across geographies and improve hiring quality with Zeko's AI platform.
Trusted by 150+ enterprises
SOC2 · GDPR · ISO27001
4.8/5 Average Candidate Rating