Hire direct. Skip the agency fee.

See an anonymised shortlist of real, verified, consenting people matched to your role — on skills and aspirations, not CV keywords. No agency at 15–25% of salary. You only pay when someone agrees to talk.

  • Matched on skills, aspirations and motivations — not CV keyword bingo
  • Real, verified, opt-in people — every one chose to be here and can be reached directly
  • Pay per contact, first 3 free — no agency fee, no retainer, no subscription
Real, verified humans Passive Talent Pool Pay only on contact
See your matches — free Book a live demo

No signup to start · Real, verified humans — no bots · 3 free Unlocks on full access

How hiring without a recruiter works Simple pay-per-contact pricing
The honest version

You don’t need an agency to reach great people. You need direct access to the ones who’d say yes.

describe.me isn’t a job board or a black box that screens people out. It’s a career platform where professionals opt in, say where they want to go, and agree to be matched — so you reach motivated, verified people directly, and only pay when one of them wants to talk.

No recruiter required

Hire direct — from role to booked interview

The parts a recruiter charges for — sourcing, shortlisting, scheduling — automated. You keep every decision.

Step 1

Paste your role

Drop in a job title or a full JD. We benchmark it against the live market and search our opt-in pool in seconds.

Step 2

See your shortlist — free

An anonymised, scored list of real, verified candidates matched on skills and aspirations. No signup, no sales call.

Step 3

Unlock and talk direct

Reveal full details only for the people you want — pay per contact, first 3 free. Then reach out yourself.

Automated · Step 4

Interviews book themselves

Pick someone and describe.me runs the scheduling: everyone marks when they’re free, the earliest slot that works for all of them is booked automatically, and calendar invites go out — your interviewers don’t even need an account. The admin a recruiter used to do, done for you.

See automated scheduling
See your matches — free
90%Cost Reduction vs Traditional
78%Candidate Response Rate
70%Passive Candidates
5minAverage Candidate Setup
Authenticity, guaranteed

Real, verified, consenting humans — and interview-ready.

Gartner predicts that by 2028, one in four candidate profiles will be fake. Not here. On describe.me every candidate is a verified person who built their own profile and chose to be matched — so every shortlist is real, and every contact is consented. No bots. No AI-generated applicants. No ghosts. And because we’re a career development platform first, many arrive coached on their goals, strengths and story — stronger candidates, better prepared for your interview.

1 in 4 candidate profiles fake by 2028 — Gartner
0 fake or AI-generated profiles on describe.me
100% consent before any contact is shared
Start matching real people — free
For hiring teams · Free to try, no signup

See your shortlist before you spend a thing.

Tell us the role and watch describe.me work — see the live market, get a ranked shortlist of real, consenting candidates, and only create an account once you like what you see. Then verify your company and your first 3 Unlocks are on us.

Try it for FREE! Book a live demo

No signup to start · Real, verified humans — no bots · 3 free Unlocks on full access

Step 1 · Free, no signup

See the market

Start at the talent preview — no account needed. Enter your role and instantly see the live landscape: realistic salary, the skills that actually matter, and how much genuine talent is out there. A sharper, fairer brief before you spend a thing.

Step 2 · Still free, no signup

Get your shortlist

We run a real match against our live talent pool and email you an anonymised shortlist of genuine, consenting candidates — ranked on true fit and Staying Power, not keyword bingo. A curated top handful, never a flooded inbox.

Step 3 · Under a minute

Create your free account

Like who you’re seeing? Claim your results with a free, email-verified account. No subscription. No card. Just your shortlist, saved and waiting.

Step 4 · Full access

Verify & claim 3 free Unlocks

One quick company check (usually under an hour) opens everything: Unlock the real candidates we matched, run unlimited searches, generate 60-second Smart Match Profiles, and see every Staying Power score. Your first 3 Unlocks are free — reach your best matches on us.

The complete hiring workflow

Benchmark the role. Match the people. Back the ones who’ll stay.

3 steps that turn a job description into a confident hire.

Step 1 · Before you match

Benchmark the role

Tighten the job against the live market before you match — salary, skills, conditions and direction of travel. A stronger, fairer job attracts stronger people from the start.

Role & Salary Benchmarking
Step 2 · When you’ve found someone

Match the people

Multi-layer Smart Matching surfaces and ranks the right people — no keywords, no bias. Then Smart Match Profile turns any match into a 60-second, shareable video that explains exactly why they fit.

Smart Matching Smart Match Profile — the 60-second case
Step 3 · Which to back

Back the ones who’ll stay

Staying Power scores who’ll accept, stay and thrive — built from signals the match score never sees. Spend your Unlocks on the durable bets, not just the dazzling-on-paper ones.

Staying Power score
New · Smart Scheduling

Shortlisted them? Book the interview automatically.

From shortlist to booked interview without a single scheduling email. Everyone highlights when they’re free, the earliest time that works for all of them books itself, and a calendar invite lands in every inbox — and your interviewers never need a describe.me account.

  • No signup for invited interviewers — just a link
  • Timezone-aware, with reminders and calendar invites handled
  • The earliest slot that works for everyone — booked automatically, always yours to override
See Smart Scheduling
describe.me Smart Scheduling — interviewers highlight their availability on a tap-and-drag grid and the interview books itself
The problems we actually solve

Hiring the hard way is broken in 5 expensive ways.

Your inbox is a spam flood

Post a job on a board and you can lose half your week filtering junk applications.

Our answer

A curated top 10, never a flooded inbox. Multi-layer matching hands you the shortlist — not 400 CVs to wade through.

Finding the right skills is the #1 UK challenge

70% of UK employers say finding the right skills is their hardest hiring problem.

Our answer

Multi-layer Smart Matching, not keyword bingo. We understand skills, depth and aspiration — surfacing people keyword search misses entirely.

Most applicants don’t really want the role

Low-intent applications waste your Unlocks, your time and your shortlist.

Our answer

Candidates declare what they want first. When they match, the interest is real — engagement is built in before you spend a penny.

Candidates distrust faceless automation

84% of UK candidates want a human to make the final decision; only 8% think an AI-only call is fair.

Our answer

So a human always does. The matching does the grunt work — the shortlist, the scoring, the benchmarking — and every judgment call stays yours.

Decoding creative CVs eats your day

Every CV is a different shape, with the substance buried under the formatting.

Our answer

Uniform, scannable profiles. Every candidate in the same rich format — so you review 20 in the time it took to decode 3 creative CVs.

The difference

The agency route vs describe.me

Traditional

  • £6,000–£12,000 agency fee per hire (15–25% of salary)
  • Pay on placement — even if the hire doesn’t work out
  • Weeks of CV forwarding and back-and-forth
  • You don’t speak to the person directly until late
  • A shortlist built on keywords, not motivation
  • No insight into who’ll accept or stay

describe.me

  • £0 base cost, pay only per contact
  • Pre-qualified, aspiration-matched candidates
  • Multi-layer semantic matching across many factors
  • Full visibility of aspirations, fit and Staying Power
  • Pay only when candidate agrees to connect
  • 78% response rate

“An agency wanted £8k to fill this role. I pasted the JD, saw three genuinely-matched people the same afternoon, and hired one within a fortnight — no fee, no middleman.”

Priya S.
Founder, hiring a first data analyst

“I’m a hiring manager, not a recruiter — I don’t have time to sift CVs. Seeing a scored shortlist of people who actually want the move, up front, changed how we hire.”

Tom R.
Engineering Manager
Hiring offers

Earn credit. Pay less. Hire smarter.

Referral programme

Earn £10 platform credit for every professional you refer who completes their profile — plus free Unlocks on every referred candidate, forever, across your whole company.

See the referral programme
Pricing

Nothing to pay until you’ve found your candidate.

No upfront cost No subscription No contract No payment until they agree to talk First 3 Unlocks free

A recruitment agency charges 15–25% of first-year salary — £6,000–£12,000 on a £45k hire. describe.me is pay-per-contact: nothing until someone agrees to talk, and your first 3 are free. You keep the fee, and you keep control of every conversation.

See the full pricing

Ready to meet your shortlist?

See real, matched candidates for your role in about a minute. Free, no signup, no agency fee.

Create your hiring account
Prefer a walkthrough? Book a live demo See pricing — pay only on agreed contact

Are you a professional looking for your next career move?

Explore describe.me for Professionals

Run a recruitment agency? See describe.me for Recruiters

Hiring insights

Platform updates, hiring tips, and early access to new features.

Candidates' data stays theirs. Every contact is gated on the candidate's explicit consent. Read the data promise