UKG runs HR, payroll, scheduling, and recruiting for a lot of large hourly employers. If you hire through UKG Pro or UKG Ready, you have applicant tracking and a candidate pipeline already. What you usually do not have is an automated way to screen the volume of applicants those postings generate. That step still runs on phone screens, and phone screens are where high-volume hiring slows down.
Automated screening sits in front of that pipeline. Every applicant gets evaluated the moment they apply, and your team works a scored shortlist instead of a queue of unscreened applicants.
The screening gap in a UKG workflow
UKG is built for scale on the workforce-management side. Its recruiting module gets applicants into a pipeline, but the human judgment step of "is this candidate worth a recruiter's time" is still manual. For the large retail, manufacturing, healthcare, and logistics employers who run UKG, a single requisition can pull hundreds of applicants across many locations. There are not enough recruiter hours to phone screen them, so most applicants wait, and the strong ones take other offers.
An automated screening interview closes that gap. Applicants complete a short async screen on their phone right after applying. Every response is scored against your criteria. Recruiters open a ranked shortlist.
How to use Prelim with UKG today
Prelim runs on shareable screening links, so you can pair it with UKG without a native integration or an IT project:
- In the job posting. Include the Prelim screening link in the requisition description so screening happens as part of applying.
- In candidate communications. Add the link to your application-received message so every applicant gets it automatically.
- At pipeline review. Send the link to candidates already in a UKG pipeline stage and advance the high scorers.
Candidates screen async, Prelim scores them, and you move the qualified shortlist forward in UKG. You can be running the same day.
On integration depth: today this is a link-based workflow that works alongside UKG, not a certified native integration. If your team needs a deeper connection, reach out and we will be straight with you about where that stands.
Why high-volume UKG employers feel this most
The employers who standardize on UKG tend to be large and hourly-heavy, which is the exact profile where the phone screen breaks first. Volume arrives in spikes, the same roles repeat across locations, and turnover keeps the funnel full. This is the high-volume hiring problem, and async screening is the part that scales when phone screening cannot.
The mechanics and the time math are the same ones in our guide on reducing time-to-hire with AI screening: parallel instead of sequential screening, instant scored results, and time-to-first-contact measured in hours instead of days.
What to screen for
For most high-volume UKG roles the filter is availability, transportation, eligibility, relevant experience, and pay alignment. Five to eight tightly scoped questions with clear scoring criteria do most of the work. The more specific your criteria, the more useful the scores.
Getting started
Create a free Prelim account, build a screen for your highest-volume role, and add the link to your UKG requisition or application message. Scored candidates start flowing into your pipeline within a day, with no change to the rest of your UKG configuration.