Candid+

Framing the Problem

Searching for jobs is already stressful - but rejections and silence make it even worse.
Many talented candidates lose confidence because they don’t know why they weren’t selected or how to improve.

on the other hand, recruiters are overwhelmed by massive application loads and lack tools to keep every applicant informed and engaged throughout the hiring process.

As a result, communication breaks down - candidates lose motivation, and companies lose potential talent.

Idea Explanation

Our project addresses this disconnect by transforming the recruitment experience into a transparent, engaging, and feedback-driven journey - where no applicant feels forgotten, and recruiters can maintain meaningful engagement.

Our solution is “Candid+”, an AI-powered engagement assistant that transforms recruitment into a two-way experience.

Candid acts as a personal feedback and communication companion for job seekers. After an interview, it uses advanced AI models to analyse the candidate’s responses and generate personalised feedback on confidence, clarity, and content relevance, providing actionable insights.
At the same time, it helps recruiters stay connected at scale, automatically sending candidates thoughtful updates about their application progress or interview results - replacing silence with meaningful communication.

Implementation

How do all the pieces fit together? Does your frontend make requests to your backend? Where does your database fit in?

The frontend, built with Next.js and React, provides an intuitive and conversational interface. Behind the scenes, our custom API endpoint (/api/interview) processes the user’s transcript and communicates directly with OpenAI’s GPT-4 model. and whisper AI for speech to text transcription

While our current prototype runs without persistent storage, the system is designed to easily integrate with a cloud database.

• Frontend UI → sends transcript → API (React/ Next.js backend)

• API → processes with OpenAI model → generates structured feedback

• Backend → returns AI insights → Frontend displays feedback instantly

Challenges

we hit a few snags while Integrating the AI . Each team member had to learn how to use new technology we were unfamiliar with but the real challenge was the time constraint . bringing our vision into life in a short time felt challenging as our minds filled with endless and exciting ideas regarding the project it was hard to integrate all the features in the such short time.

Accomplishments

Candid isn’t just a tool — it’s proof that a single idea, when paired with creativity and persistence, can make recruitment more transparent, inclusive, and emotionally intelligent.

We've successfully learned to use the new technology required for the project. Our team effectively collaborated, ensuring everyone's opinions were heard and integrated. We accomplished all of our "must-have" features and even some of the "could-have" features.

Functional Achievements

• Built an interactive AI mock interview feature where users can record or type responses and receive real-time feedback scored across confidence, clarity, and content — all powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4 model.

• Developed a live application dashboard that visually tracks a candidate’s journey — from Applied → Interview → Offer — keeping them constantly informed instead of left waiting in silence.

• Implemented an automated feedback system that transforms recruiter “silence” into engaging, transparent updates — making candidates feel seen and valued.

• Created a leaderboard and engagement tracker to gamify progress, encouraging candidates to improve and stay motivated.

• Designed a modular backend architecture (Next.js API routes) ready to integrate with databases and company HR systems for real-world scalability.

Next Steps

Recruiter Deadlines- Set compulsory deadline for recruiters to provide reply, even when rejected.

AI Interview Feedback-AI analyses real interview to provide feedback to the candidate .

Interview Prep Topics-Topic tags on previous questions seen in interviews for candidates to prepare.

Recruiter Feedback- Recruiters submit feedback to rejected candidates after the application process.

AI Candidate Summaries- AI provides interview summaries for recruiters & compares candidates to job requirements to help speed up application processes.

gamifying the application process by adding badges for each milestones to keep candidate engage

Freeze Applications- Recruiters can keep applications in a "waitlist" status instead of outright rejecting them.

Company Briefing- AI recruiting buddy for candidates to learn more about company values, benefits etc.