Lucuma's AI scores every CV against your exact criteria, ranks the strongest candidates, and explains every decision in plain English. The coversheet writes itself. You stay in control.
A recruiter in the UK oil & energy sector ran a senior role through Lucuma. Around 200 applicants went in. In roughly two minutes, Lucuma returned a ranked shortlist of eight strong candidates, each with a clear breakdown of why they qualified. The hiring client was impressed enough to ask to see all eight. Two were placed in the role.
It was great to be able to trust AI with this process and see the detail and qualification behind every candidate. It saved me hours of time too.
Based on a real client screening session. Client anonymised on request. Outcomes vary by role, candidate pool and criteria.
Three steps. No training required. Works with PDF, Word (.docx) and Google Docs exports.
Build a boolean search query, set required keywords, location, nationality and industry filters, and minimum years of experience. Upload a job spec PDF for even more precision.
Drag and drop up to 500 CVs at once. PDFs work best. Lucuma screens each CV against your criteria and only assigns a score when there is sufficient data to do so accurately.
Scored candidates are ranked by category. Any CV without sufficient data to screen accurately is separated into a manual review list, clearly explained, never silently failed. Add the best candidates to your pipeline with one click.
Lucuma scores every candidate out of 100 against four weighted dimensions, the same things an experienced recruiter weighs, then ranks them and sorts them into your categories so you can act in minutes, not days.
Does the candidate's job title, responsibilities and seniority actually match your brief? Lucuma reads titles in context, a Project Manager at a Big Four firm is not the same as one at a five-person start-up, and weighs how closely their recent roles map to the role you are filling.
It separates the years that count for this role from total career length. A construction PM's years count toward a construction PM role; marketing years at a construction firm do not. A 15-year generalist and a 5-year specialist are scored correctly, and the relevant years are shown.
Semantic boolean that reads intent rather than literal words, required keywords with a clear present-versus-missing breakdown, plus location, sector and minimum-years filters. Upload the job spec and Lucuma calibrates the weighting to that specific role.
The quality of employers, chartered status and professional certifications, real achievements versus listed duties, and career stability, the judgement calls that separate a strong CV from an average one.
Each candidate gets a score out of 100, a category you define, a plain-English reason, top strengths, watch-points and a ready-to-paste coversheet summary. You can defend every ranking to your client.
If a CV has no employer names, job titles or timeline, Lucuma sets it aside for manual review rather than scoring it on a guess. No strong candidate is silently rejected.
Nationality and right-to-work are recorded for your compliance only and carry zero weight in the score. Every employer is identified and sector-tagged across 21 industries.
Not a generic HR tool. Built around the real challenges recruiters face when screening hundreds of candidates against complex criteria.
Write queries like (project manager OR programme manager) AND healthcare NOT "entry level", Lucuma interprets them by meaning, not just exact words. A candidate does not need the precise phrase on their CV to match.
AI-poweredEvery employer on every CV is identified and categorised, Technology, Healthcare, Finance, Consulting, Manufacturing and more, using the AI's knowledge of thousands of companies across every industry.
Live intelligenceUpload a job spec and Lucuma calculates how many of a candidate's years are relevant to this specific role. A 15-year generalist and a 5-year specialist are scored correctly.
Precision scoringLucuma only scores a CV when it has sufficient data to do so accurately. If a CV lacks employer names, job titles or a clear timeline, it is flagged for manual review rather than scored on guesswork. You always know which results to trust.
No hallucinationsAdd candidates from results directly into a visual pipeline. Move them through stages, Shortlisted, Interview, Offer, On Hold. Add notes, next actions, priorities and contact details.
No extra tools neededReplace all Lucuma branding with your own logo, name and colours in seconds. Present this as your agency's own proprietary screening tool. Custom domain deployment coming soon on Enterprise.
Agency & EnterpriseOnly 21% of recruiters are confident their AI isn't quietly rejecting good candidates. Lucuma is built to remove that doubt. Every result is explained, auditable and yours to override.
See exactly why each candidate scored what they did, in plain English. Nothing is hidden, so you can defend every shortlist decision to a client or an auditor.
If a CV lacks the data to score fairly, Lucuma flags it for manual review instead of inventing a number. No strong candidate is silently dropped on thin data.
Lucuma ranks and explains. You decide. It sharpens your judgement rather than replacing it, and never auto-rejects anyone on your behalf.
All processing happens in the EU. CV data is not stored after your session and is never used to train AI models. Full GDPR Data Processing Agreement on Agency and Enterprise.
Explainable, human-in-the-loop AI, built for the new UK and EU rules on automated decisions in hiring.
We have compared Lucuma honestly against the most popular alternatives. Here is the full picture.
Generic ATS tools bolt on screening as an afterthought. Lucuma is built from the ground up to screen CVs with the same precision your best recruiter would, just 100x faster.
| Capability | Lucuma | Manatal | Workable | HireVue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Works across all industries | ✓ Any sector | Generic | Generic | Enterprise only |
| Semantic boolean search | ✓ Meaning-based | Keywords only | Partial | N/A |
| Automatic company industry tagging | ✓ Every employer | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Relevant years vs job spec | ✓ Per role | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Accuracy threshold, flags low-data CVs for manual review rather than guessing | ✓ Built in | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Batch screen 500+ CVs | ✓ Unlimited | Per-user limits | Per-user limits | ✓ Enterprise |
| Built-in CRM pipeline | ✓ Included | ✓ | ✓ | Limited |
| White label branding | ✓ From £299/mo | N/A | N/A | Enterprise only |
| ATS integration | ✓ Export now, live sync soon | ✓ | ✓ 280+ integrations | Limited |
| Job board posting / sourcing | N/A | ✓ 2,500+ boards | ✓ 400M profiles | Limited |
| Free trial, no card required | ✓ 14 days | ✓ 14 days | ✓ 15 days | Demo only |
| Starting price | Free, then £99/mo | $15/user/month | $169/month | ~$35,000/year |
Competitor pricing and features based on publicly available information, 2025. Prices shown in USD where applicable. Lucuma is not affiliated with any competitor listed.
Every plan includes the full AI screening engine. Upgrade for more volume, team seats, white labelling and integrations.
14 days, no card required. Full access to test with real CVs.
For independent recruiters and single-desk agencies.
For agencies with multiple consultants and active client delivery.
For large agencies, RPOs, and those white-labelling to clients.
All prices exclude VAT · Annual billing at 2 months free · Need something bespoke?
Numbers based on typical screening sessions, your results will vary by role, volume and criteria complexity.
Join recruitment teams already using Lucuma to save days of manual CV review every month.