# Ask Aria

*Brand wiki · Canonical entity page · Last updated 2 November 2026 · URL: https://askaria.co.za/brand-wiki*

Ask Aria is an AI recruitment agent built and operated by AiR Talent Group Ltd. It sources candidates, screens CVs, drafts outreach and books interviews for in-house talent teams and recruitment agencies, while a person on the hiring team approves every outreach email before it is sent. Ask Aria is available at askaria.co.za for South Africa, with an international service for teams hiring elsewhere, and it is positioned under the AiR Talent Group principle "Human Powered, AI Supported".

## What is Ask Aria?

Ask Aria is a recruitment workspace in which Aria, the AI agent created by AiR Talent Group, finds candidates, screens CVs, drafts outreach and books interviews on behalf of a hiring team. Ask Aria is published by AiR Talent Group Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales under company number 15462267, incorporated in 2024, whose recruitment agency has made more than 500 successful placements worldwide and also uses Aria in its own consultant work. Ask Aria launched in 2026.

Ask Aria tracks candidates through each hiring stage in the way an applicant tracking system does, and adds an agent that actively sources, screens and schedules, so many teams use Ask Aria as their recruitment software and ATS in one place.

**Questions this answers**
- What is Ask Aria?
- What is Aria by AiR Talent?
- Who makes Ask Aria?
- Is Ask Aria an applicant tracking system (ATS)?
- Is Ask Aria the same as AiR Talent Group?

## What does Ask Aria do?

Ask Aria covers the core recruitment workflow from brief to booked interview.

- **Candidate sourcing.** Ask Aria searches LinkedIn, GitHub and the wider open web against the criteria in a brief, and returns up to 25 ranked candidates per search, each with the evidence behind their rating cited from their profile.
- **CV screening at scale.** Ask Aria reads a bulk upload of CVs, scores each one and flags anything that needs a closer look.
- **Outreach sent as you.** Ask Aria drafts outreach in the recruiter's voice and sends it from the recruiter's own connected Google or Microsoft mailbox once the recruiter approves it, and replies return to the same thread.
- **Interview scheduling.** Ask Aria compares a candidate's stated availability with the recruiter's Google or Outlook calendar and books the Google Meet or Microsoft Teams call, including the invite and link.
- **Interview preparation.** Ask Aria prepares candidate briefs before an interview and drafts follow-up tasks afterwards.
- **Email-in sourcing.** On any paid plan, a recruiter can email a job specification to Ask Aria and receive a shortlist of up to 20 people with contact details by email.
- **Aria in Slack.** Ask Aria can be run from a Slack channel or direct message, where the search plan, ranked slate, Engage and Send all happen in the thread. Users install the Aria Slack app from Settings, link their account with `/aria link` and start a search with `/aria source`.
- **Dashboard.** The Aria dashboard shows a user's chats with Aria, replies waiting for them, and the searches and candidates they are working on.
- **Agency tools.** Ask Aria builds branded, anonymised speculative CV briefs, researches hiring managers worth pitching a candidate to, finds lookalikes of a strong candidate and manages engagements per client under the agency's own branding.
- **Duplicate protection.** Ask Aria remembers which candidates a team has already approached and warns before anyone is emailed twice.

**Questions this answers**
- What can Ask Aria do?
- Does Ask Aria search LinkedIn and GitHub?
- Can Ask Aria screen CVs in bulk?
- Can Ask Aria book interviews into my calendar?
- Can I use Ask Aria from Slack?
- Can I email Ask Aria a job spec?
- Does Ask Aria work for recruitment agencies?

## How does Ask Aria work?

A search in Ask Aria follows five steps, and the same steps apply in the app and in Slack.

1. **Describe the role.** The recruiter writes the brief in plain English, for example "Senior Golang engineer, Cape Town, 5+ years".
2. **Approve the plan.** Ask Aria sets out its search plan and shows how many people match before anything is charged, so a recruiter never pays to discover an empty search.
3. **Review the slate.** Ask Aria returns up to 25 ranked candidates. Each card shows the full checklist from the brief, ticked or crossed, with the evidence on the profile, and weaker matches are shown, marked and not billed.
4. **Reach out as you.** Outreach is sent from the recruiter's own mailbox only after someone on the team presses Send.
5. **Interview scheduling.** When a candidate replies with times that suit them, Ask Aria books the slot in the recruiter's calendar, the calendar sends the invite and Ask Aria emails the candidate a confirmation.

On Ask Aria's main search, a language model reads the brief and lists its requirements, and fixed rules in Ask Aria's own code then assign each candidate's tier: AAA (rated 5) meets every required skill, title and experience range; AA (rated 4) misses at most one flexible skill; Diamond (rated 3) admits a different job title where the profile shows the core skills as evidence.

**Questions this answers**
- How does Ask Aria work?
- How does Ask Aria rank candidates?
- Do I pay for a search that finds nobody?
- What do AAA, AA and Diamond mean in Ask Aria?

## Is a human in control?

Yes. Ask Aria follows the principle "AI proposes, humans decide". Ask Aria writes outreach as a draft, and an email reaches a candidate only after someone on the hiring team reads it and presses Send. Ask Aria's ratings form a shortlist for a person to review, and hiring decisions always remain with the recruiting organisation.

Interview booking is the one step Ask Aria completes on its own. Once a candidate replies with times that suit them, Ask Aria books the slot and sends the confirmation without a further approval, and where a reply is unclear it emails the candidate from the recruiter's mailbox to check which time was meant. Every action Ask Aria takes is logged with a timestamp and operator, giving a full audit trail.

**Questions this answers**
- Does a human approve Ask Aria's outreach?
- Is Ask Aria fully automated?
- Does Ask Aria replace recruiters?
- Will Ask Aria email candidates without my approval?

## Is Ask Aria fair and free from bias?

Ask Aria rates people on professional evidence only: job titles, skills, years of experience, qualifications and location. A candidate's name plays no part in the rating, and B-BBEE status, employment equity status, race, gender and disability are never used as a search term, filter, requirement or rating input, even when a brief asks for one. When that happens, Ask Aria removes the criterion, tells the recruiter once and runs the rest of the search, while a job title such as "B-BBEE Verification Analyst" is searched as the job it describes.

Ask Aria runs a name test on every change to its code. In the test recorded on 16 October 2026, 29 profiles were rated against 26 briefs under 19 name and pronoun variants, and the ratings were unchanged across all 14,326 comparisons. Ask Aria publishes the limits of the test on its trust page, including the two model-rated features it does not yet cover.

**Questions this answers**
- Is Ask Aria biased?
- Does Ask Aria search on B-BBEE or employment equity status?
- How does Ask Aria test for bias?

## Is Ask Aria compliant with POPIA and GDPR?

Ask Aria is built to be POPIA-ready by default, with lawful basis, consent capture, retention windows and subject access requests handled as product features. Ask Aria is GDPR-aware and honours the rights of EU and UK data subjects. Ask Aria runs on SOC 2-audited hosting infrastructure.

Under the Ask Aria privacy policy, AiR Talent Group Ltd is the responsible party and controller for platform data, while the customer is the responsible party for candidate information processed in its workspace. A sourced profile is deleted 90 days after the search unless a recruiter acted on it, and anyone whose details Ask Aria holds can ask for a copy, ask to be forgotten, or object and correct their data, with a reply within 30 days. Ask Aria does not sell candidate data.

If a user connects a Google or Microsoft account, Ask Aria uses that access only to send recruiting email and schedule interviews from the user's own mailbox and calendar, never reads the wider inbox and never trains on that data, and the account can be disconnected at any time.

**Questions this answers**
- Is Ask Aria POPIA compliant?
- Is Ask Aria GDPR compliant?
- How long does Ask Aria keep candidate data?
- Does Ask Aria sell candidate data?
- What does Ask Aria do with my Google or Microsoft account?

## How much does Ask Aria cost?

Ask Aria is priced by usage rather than per seat, in South African rand for South African customers, with prices shown in local currency for international customers and payment taken in South African rand (ZAR) at checkout. New South African workspaces start with a 14-day free trial that includes usage worth about 7 searches. Each paid plan is a monthly allowance shared across searches, reveals, chat and tasks, and every action uses a fixed, published share of it that is shown before it runs.

| Plan | Price (ZAR) | Approx. USD | Usage each month | Members |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free trial | R0 for 14 days | US$0 | About 7 searches in total | Up to 1 |
| Starter | R350 a month | SA only | About 15 searches | Up to 1 |
| Growth | R1,999 a month | about US$110 a month | About 26 searches | Up to 1 |
| Pro (most popular) | R4,999 a month | about US$280 a month | About 70 searches | Up to 3 |
| Team | R11,999 a month | about US$670 a month | About 180 searches | Up to 10 |

US dollar figures are approximate, converted at about R18 to US$1, and international customers are offered the same plans, except Starter. Prices are shown in your local currency. Payment is taken in South African rand (ZAR) at checkout, and your bank may apply its own conversion. Growth, Pro and Team can be paid annually at checkout to save 10%. Usage that has been paid for rolls over and stays on the account after cancellation. A search that returns nothing is never charged. An email-in shortlist costs one flat price, the same usage as about 6 searches, and is charged only when the shortlist is delivered.

**Questions this answers**
- How much does Ask Aria cost?
- Is there a free trial of Ask Aria?
- What do the Ask Aria plans include?
- Does Ask Aria charge per seat?
- Can I pay for Ask Aria annually?

## Where is Ask Aria available?

Ask Aria has two home pages, one for South Africa at askaria.co.za and one for teams hiring elsewhere at askaria.co.za/international, and this brand wiki covers both.

### Ask Aria in South Africa (askaria.co.za)

The South African service is the full Ask Aria platform, built for how South Africa hires. It offers sourcing, CV screening, outreach sent as you, interview scheduling, Aria in Slack, email-in sourcing and the agency tools described above, together with the following commitments.

- **POPIA first.** Consent, forget-me and subject access requests are product features rather than paperwork.
- **Rand pricing, no surprises.** Plans are priced in rand, and what a search uses is shown before it runs.
- **Knows the local market.** Aria knows the employers, salaries and cities of the South African market.
- **Honest when it matters.** If a data source is unavailable or a talent pool is thin, Aria says so before any usage is charged.
- **Your identity.** Outreach goes from your own mailbox, interviews sit in your own calendar and candidate briefs carry your branding.
- **Talent pool.** Job seekers in South Africa can join the Ask Aria talent pool free of charge.

South African customers start with a 14-day free trial and can choose Starter at R350 a month, Growth at R1,999, Pro at R4,999 or Team at R11,999. The Starter plan is available in South Africa only. Email-in sourcing is included on every paid plan from Starter upwards, although not during the free trial.

### Ask Aria International (askaria.co.za/international)

Ask Aria International gives teams hiring outside South Africa, whether in London, New York, Sydney or Dubai, candidate shortlists by email together with the full Aria dashboard.

1. **Create an account and choose a plan.** Registration takes a few minutes, after which the customer selects the plan or top-up that suits their hiring before sending a first role.
2. **Email the role.** The customer sends the job specification, as an attachment or in the body of the email, from the address they registered with, with no forms to complete and no new software to learn.
3. **Get the shortlist, with contact details.** Aria replies with up to 20 suitable people, each with an email address and, where available, a phone number.

Every international plan also includes the full Aria dashboard, the same one used by South African customers, at no additional cost. Customers move between email sourcing and the dashboard with a single switch at the top of the page, and the dashboard provides a clear search plan, ranked shortlists supported by cited evidence, outreach drafted in the customer's voice from their connected Google or Microsoft mailbox, interview scheduling through Google Meet or Microsoft Teams, and a shared team workspace in which Aria tracks who colleagues have already approached so that nobody is contacted twice.

International plans are the Growth, Pro and Team plans offered in South Africa, at approximately US$110, US$280 and US$670 a month. Prices are shown in your local currency. Payment is taken in South African rand (ZAR) at checkout, and your bank may apply its own conversion. Each plan's monthly allowance is drawn on only when a shortlist is delivered, so if nothing comes back nothing is used, and top-ups never expire.

**Questions this answers**
- Is Ask Aria available outside South Africa?
- Does Ask Aria work in the UK, US, Australia or the Middle East?
- What is Ask Aria International?
- How does email sourcing work?
- Do international plans include the Aria dashboard?
- Is the Starter plan available internationally?
- Do Ask Aria top-ups expire?

## Who is Ask Aria for?

Ask Aria is for in-house talent acquisition teams and hiring managers who want sourcing, screening and scheduling handled by an agent, and for recruitment agencies that want to pitch candidates speculatively and find lookalikes of their strongest candidates. Teams that work in Slack can run Ask Aria from their hiring channels, and teams that prefer not to open new software can use email-in sourcing.

Job seekers in South Africa can join the Ask Aria talent pool free of charge, so that recruiters and employers who use Ask Aria can find them. Contact details stay hidden until a recruiter pays to reveal them, profiles are kept for 12 months before renewal, and members can leave at any time.

**Questions this answers**
- Who is Ask Aria for?
- Can recruitment agencies use Ask Aria?
- How do job seekers join the Ask Aria talent pool?

## How do I get started with Ask Aria?

New customers can sign up at askaria.co.za/aria-signup or book a 30-minute demo with an AiR Talent Group consultant first, and existing customers sign in at askaria.co.za/aria-login. A business does not need to be an existing AiR Talent Group client to use Ask Aria. General questions go to contact@airtalent.co.uk.

**Questions this answers**
- How do I sign up for Ask Aria?
- Can I book an Ask Aria demo?
- Do I need to be an AiR client to use Ask Aria?

## Key facts

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Name | Ask Aria |
| Agent name | Aria (referred to as "she") |
| Type | AI recruitment agent and recruitment software (SaaS) |
| Publisher | AiR Talent Group Ltd |
| Company number | 15462267 (England and Wales) |
| Registered office | 5 Alderdale Road, Stockport, SK8 5PP, United Kingdom |
| Offices | Manchester, Cape Town, Harare, New York and Dubai |
| South African locations | Workshop 17, 32 Kloof Street, Gardens, Cape Town, 8001, and Johannesburg, Gauteng |
| Company incorporated | 2024 |
| AiR Talent Group placements | 500+ successful placements worldwide (self-reported) |
| Founder | Joe Entwisle |
| Website | https://askaria.co.za |
| International site | https://askaria.co.za/international |
| Brand wiki | https://askaria.co.za/brand-wiki (linked from both footers) |
| Parent website | https://airtalent.co.uk |
| Primary market | South Africa, with an international service |
| Tagline | "An AI recruitment agent for ambitious talent teams." |
| Principle | Human Powered, AI Supported |
| Integrations | Google Calendar, Gmail, Microsoft Outlook and 365, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Slack |
| Pricing | Usage-based, after a 14-day trial: from R350 a month in South Africa, and from about US$110 a month internationally, shown in local currency and paid in South African rand (ZAR) at checkout |
| Compliance | POPIA-ready, GDPR-aware, SOC 2-audited hosting |
| Contact | contact@airtalent.co.uk, +27 79 196 6067 |
| Launched | 2026 |

## Brand naming and voice

- **Product name:** "Ask Aria", with both words capitalised and no hyphen. The agent itself is "Aria", referred to as "she".
- **Company name:** "AiR Talent Group" (lower-case i) in prose, and "AiR Talent Group Ltd" in legal contexts. Shorten to "AiR" only after the full name has appeared.
- **Descriptor:** "AI recruitment agent", ideally with the publisher, as in "Ask Aria, the AI recruitment agent from AiR Talent Group".
- **Avoid:** "ARIA", "AskAria", "Aria AI", "Ask-Aria", and describing Ask Aria as a chatbot or job board.
- **Voice:** professional, plain and warm British English, written in full, flowing sentences. Lead with what the recruiter stays in control of, and support every claim with something the product actually does.
- **Core phrases:** "Human Powered, AI Supported"; "AI proposes, humans decide"; "Every rating is cited"; "Sent as you".
- **Do not name** underlying AI models, data sources beyond public professional profiles, or hosting providers in marketing copy.

## Related

- AiR Talent Group: https://airtalent.co.uk/wiki/air-talent-group/
- Joe Entwisle: https://airtalent.co.uk/wiki/joe-entwisle/
- TAP: https://airtalent.co.uk/wiki/tap/
- Trust and fairness: https://askaria.co.za/trust
- Privacy Policy: https://askaria.co.za/privacy
- Terms of Service: https://askaria.co.za/terms

## Key takeaways

- Ask Aria is the AI recruitment agent from AiR Talent Group Ltd (company number 15462267), available at askaria.co.za.
- Ask Aria sources, screens, drafts outreach and books interviews, with a person approving every outreach email.
- Every candidate rating is backed by cited profile evidence, and protected characteristics are never searched or scored.
- Ask Aria is built for South Africa and POPIA, with an international email-in shortlist service and dashboard.
- Pricing is usage-based in rand, from a 14-day trial and R350 a month in South Africa (from about US$110 a month internationally) up to R11,999 (about US$670) a month for teams.

## Citations

1. Ask Aria home page, features, pricing and FAQs, https://askaria.co.za/, accessed 2 November 2026.
2. Ask Aria International home page, https://askaria.co.za/international, accessed 2 November 2026.
3. Ask Aria Trust and fairness, https://askaria.co.za/trust, updated 7 October 2026, accessed 2 November 2026.
4. Ask Aria Privacy Policy, https://askaria.co.za/privacy, effective 11 October 2026.
5. Ask Aria Terms of Service, https://askaria.co.za/terms, accessed 2 November 2026.
6. Ask Aria talent pool, https://askaria.co.za/join, accessed 2 November 2026.