How to use Microsoft Copilot for recruiting with hyreflow

Many recruitment firms run on Microsoft 365, so Copilot is the assistant already on the desk. Ask it for candidates and you get advice, a Boolean string and a few web links. hyreflow gives Microsoft Copilot the recruiting data it lacks.

Can Microsoft Copilot source candidates on its own?#

Only partly. Microsoft Copilot can read a job description, write a Boolean string and score a CV you upload. It cannot search a people database or look up a personal email.

Microsoft's own overview says Copilot Chat is "primarily web grounded". A Microsoft 365 Copilot licence adds your organisation's emails, meetings, chats and documents. Neither holds candidates you have not met yet, and that is the gap hyreflow fills.

The gain is worth the setup. LinkedIn's Future of Recruiting 2025 report surveyed 1,271 recruiting professionals. Those using generative AI reported saving "about 20% of their work week", though the survey does not measure Copilot or hyreflow specifically.

What does Microsoft Copilot need to become an AI recruiting assistant?#

Microsoft Copilot needs an agent with a recruiting connector attached, and hyreflow is that connector. In Microsoft's world you build the agent in Copilot Studio and add hyreflow to it as a tool. The link between the two is the Model Context Protocol.

hyreflow is an AI sourcing and business development tool for recruitment agencies that runs inside the assistant you already use. Once hyreflow is connected, Copilot can call the data, contact, outreach and ATS tools in the hyreflow catalog. One hyreflow credit balance covers all of them, so there is no separate subscription to each data provider.

You describe the result you want in plain language. The Copilot agent decides which hyreflow tools to call.

How do you connect hyreflow to Microsoft Copilot?#

You add hyreflow to a Copilot Studio agent with the MCP onboarding wizard, then publish the agent to Microsoft 365 Copilot and Teams. Nothing is installed on your computer. The steps below follow Microsoft's guide for connecting an existing MCP server, checked on 6 October 2026.

1. Create or open an agent in Copilot Studio

   Give the agent a clear name such as Recruiting assistant. Open its Tools page.

2. Add hyreflow as a Model Context Protocol tool

   Select Add a tool, then Add new MCP. Name the server hyreflow and paste the server URL from the hyreflow connect page.

3. Describe what hyreflow does

   Write a short description that names the jobs: candidate search, contact details, hiring managers and ATS updates. Microsoft notes that the agent uses this text to decide when to call the server.

4. Choose OAuth 2.0 with Dynamic discovery

   hyreflow registers the client itself, so there is no client ID, secret or API key to enter. Select Create, then Next.

5. Create the connection and sign in to hyreflow

   Choose Create a new connection. Sign in to hyreflow in the browser window and pick the workspace Copilot may act on. Then select Add to agent.

6. Publish the agent to Microsoft 365 Copilot and Teams

   Publish the agent, open Channels and pick the Teams and Microsoft Copilot channel. Keep Make agent available in Microsoft Copilot selected, then select Add channel. Without that option the agent appears in Teams only.

Copilot Studio supports one way of talking to an MCP server. Microsoft's guide states: "Currently, Copilot Studio supports the Streamable transport type." hyreflow uses that transport, so the URL works as it is.

The same steps, kept current, are in the hyreflow setup guide.

Which Microsoft Copilot licence does hyreflow need?#

hyreflow needs a licence that includes Copilot Studio, because that is where the connection is made. The free Copilot chat that comes with Microsoft 365 has no setting for adding an outside connector. On sales calls this is the first Copilot question recruiters ask.

There are two routes, both from Microsoft's pricing page on 6 October 2026:

• Microsoft 365 Copilot. Microsoft says the Copilot Studio included with Microsoft 365 Copilot lets licensed users build and use internal agents "at no additional cost".
• Copilot Studio on its own. Microsoft sells it as a tenant-wide licence in packs of 25,000 Copilot Credits at $200.00 per pack per month. A pay-as-you-go meter is also offered.

Microsoft's Copilot Credits and hyreflow credits are two separate things. Microsoft charges for the agent's answers and actions. hyreflow charges for the recruiting data, and hyreflow plans start at $49 a month for 500 credits (6 October 2026). Ask your Microsoft admin which Copilot licence your firm already holds before buying anything.

What prompt builds a candidate shortlist in Microsoft Copilot with hyreflow?#

Paste the job description into the hyreflow agent, then ask for the outcome and say how you want it run. A good sourcing prompt names the number of candidates, what rules someone out, and which contact details you want.

Behind that one prompt, Copilot runs four hyreflow stages in order.

1. Read the spectitles, must-haves, location
2. Searchseveral people databases
3. Scoreagainst the brief
4. Contact detailsfor those who made it
5. Shortlistranked, with reasons

The full version of this prompt, with each step and its cost, is in the job spec to shortlist playbook. The same workflow in another assistant is covered in How to source candidates with Claude.

What else can Microsoft Copilot do for recruiters with hyreflow?#

With hyreflow connected, Microsoft Copilot also runs the business development side of a desk. Each of these is a hyreflow playbook you start with one prompt:

• Find the hiring manager behind a job advert, with a verified email. See the hiring manager playbook.
• Send a candidate to market, also called an MPC or spec campaign. The walk-through is in How to run an MPC or spec campaign with Claude, and the prompts work the same way in Copilot.
• Build a target account list for a niche and a region. See the target account playbook.
• Get a morning list of new live jobs in your market. See the daily BD brief playbook.
• Push a finished shortlist into your ATS. See the ATS shortlist playbook.

In-house talent acquisition teams are often on Microsoft 365 with Copilot as the only approved assistant. They use hyreflow in Copilot to source for their own open roles and sync candidates into an ATS such as Ashby, Lever or SmartRecruiters.

Most agencies have not connected an assistant to their tools yet. Bullhorn's 2026 GRID Industry Trends Report surveyed nearly 2,300 recruitment professionals and was published in February 2026. It found that only 10 percent of firms have implemented agentic AI across their full workflow.

Where does recruiting with Microsoft Copilot and hyreflow fall short?#

Questions recruiters ask about Microsoft Copilot and hyreflow#