Personalization in Recruitment: Tailoring the Candidate Experience

The field of talent acquisition is evolving rapidly. AI and other tools are equipping organizations to better scale and drive efficiencies in how they source, screen and onboard talent. With these technology advancements, the goal remains the same in terms of hiring the best quality talent while providing the highest level of candidate experience. Taking a personalized approach allows hiring teams to accomplish both of these goals. Recruiters will still play a crucial role in providing a human element, ensuring there is personalization and bringing value to the recruiting process.

In this article, we will explore the impact of personalized recruitment strategies and how organizations can implement them, ultimately leading to better hiring outcomes and strengthening employer brand. To explore this topic, I spoke with Sean McHugh, the Senior Director of Talent Acquisition at Sprinklr. Sean has 20 years of experience with success in leading teams to achieve hiring goals, driving partnerships with executives and hiring managers, leading through change and high growth, and providing strategic and scalable solutions with a focus on candidate experience. Sean's extensive background and expertise make him an informed advisor on the importance and impact of tailored hiring approaches.

Understanding Personalization in Recruitment

Individualization in recruitment sets the stage for more meaningful interactions. Before diving into the specifics of what personalization entails, it is essential to recognize why personalization is important in the recruitment process. Organizations who transform their recruitment interactions with a candidate-centric approach are more impactful in significantly improving overall experience.

How would you define a personal approach in the context of recruitment?

“Personalization within recruitment is really about listening to learn and understand the candidate’s true needs and motivations. From a recruiter’s perspective, each individual may have a different reason for why they are speaking to you, and it is especially important for you to discover their reasoning to personalize their experience. Sometimes the candidate is not even aware of their “why”, and it is the goal of the recruiter to figure this out. This will help with building trust and enabling you to assess fit at a much higher level,” Sean shared.

What are the key elements that make up a personalized recruitment experience?

Sean broke this process down into actionable steps:

1. Discovery: Ask the right questions to better understand a job applicant’s needs and motivations.

2. Transparency: Be direct on aspects of the role or company that may be in misalignment with these expectations.

3. Positioning: Share stories or insights that demonstrate the opportunity as aligning with a candidate’s priorities and inspirations.

To portray this scenario in action, he gave an example, “The candidate may have all the right skills for the position you are filling. And after further discovery, you realize the biggest motivation for them in their next role is to find an organization with less chaos and change. Knowing that change is the norm within your organization, this should be part of the conversation to provide transparency. On the other hand, if the potential hire is thriving for more and an opportunity to be a builder, this can be leveraged to lean into as a selling point,” Sean explained.

Strategies for Personalizing the Recruitment Journey

Implementing talent-focused strategies involves understanding individual motivations, preferences, and career goals to make every interaction meaningful. By customizing outreach and interview experiences, recruitment teams can create a memorable recruitment journey that feels relevant and impactful. This tailored approach helps in attracting top talent and leads to higher candidate satisfaction, resulting in a positive impression of the company. Below, we explore key strategies to elevate experiences.

How can recruiters ensure their efforts to add a personal touch are genuine and not perceived as superficial?

Sean says being genuine stems from taking the time to prepare and equip yourself with the right knowledge in the initial phase of the recruiting process. “Before engaging with any job seeker, the recruiter should conduct a hiring strategy meeting with the leader. During this meeting, they should align on skills and requirements to fill the role. They should also gain a deeper understanding of the team and opportunity by gathering information such as gaps they are trying to fill, challenges to address, management style, and potential for growth,” Sean shared. “They should also be knowledgeable of the company culture and cultural nuances within the team. Without this foundational knowledge, it will be exceedingly difficult to customize the experience in an authentic way,” he continued.

What are some common misconceptions about personalized recruitment?

“Personalized recruitment doesn’t mean you are changing the recruiting process to potentially invite bias. The interviewers, competencies, and interview questions should all remain the same. Rather than changing the process, personalization focuses on goals and ambitions as an indicator of the right fit and a means to sell and better position opportunities,” he explained.

Personal Insights and Experiences

When it comes to personalizing the recruitment process, insights from experienced leaders can provide valuable guidance. Hearing real-world stories of challenges, successes, and innovative solutions helps create a roadmap for others striving to enhance the recruitment experience and build stronger connections with top talent. Here is what Sean had to share about his firsthand experiences.

Can you share a personal experience where customization made a significant impact on a potential hire's decision to join your company?

“One simple example was a recent sales leader we hired. The person explained to me that they were getting bored in their current role as the company they were with was very large and stable, with very little change. They enjoyed working at the company more when they were much smaller, growing, and building,” he shared.

“When we reached the offer process, I knew we were not able to match the candidate’s expectations around equity. Instead, I emphasized how this opportunity would fulfill the unmet need they had expressed in their current company. Specifically, I was able to provide examples of how we are in constant change and looking for builders. I told various stories to outline this point. This resulted in making a very strong hire that came in highly engaged and excited to drive change,” Sean explained.

What are some rewarding aspects from investing in individualized recruitment strategies?

“By personalizing the experience, candidates will feel you did a very thorough job in evaluating them regardless of the outcome. This provides a huge opportunity for employer branding as people are likely to share when they have had a positive experience with your company,” Sean explained. “For those that are hired, recruiters can feel confident they made a great hire, and they have helped someone find a new role that matches their background and fits their needs and motivations. In turn, highly engaged employees lead to increased performance and productivity,” Sean said.

The Path Ahead: Embracing Personalization

As we wrap up our discussion on creating recruitment experiences that are tailored to potential hires, it's important to reflect on the key takeaways and consider how these insights can be applied moving forward. This focus on individualization is not just a trend but a strategic approach that transforms the way companies engage with talent, making every applicant being considered feel valued and understood.

What advice do you have for other talent acquisition leaders looking to start personalizing their recruitment process?

“To summarize, recruiting for me is about discovery. You need to be prepared, seek to understand, and ask good questions in order to become a great recruiter. While the ultimate goal is to make a hire that matches the requirements and responsibilities outlined by the hiring manager, it is equally important to fulfill the unmet needs of the candidate,” Sean said. “In this situation, you end up with not just a satisfied hiring manager, but also a satisfied and more engaged employee. This also makes the negotiation process much easier. You can go into the conversion with much more confidence in knowing exactly how to position the offer. For example, there are times you are going to extend an offer where the total compensation may be below what they are currently making. In this situation, you need to position the offer in way where you are not relying on compensation,” he explained.

What are the most critical first steps for recruiters to start implementing their strategies?

“It starts with strong business acumen and a deep understanding of the position, organization, and department. Recruiters need to be able to answer questions such as, ‘Why would someone want this role?’, ‘Why would someone want to join the company?’, ‘Why would they want to work with this hiring leader?’, and ‘Are there any stories I can share to speak on our company, our culture and values, and the hiring leader?’,” Sean explained.

By maintaining open and authentic communication, organizations can build stronger relationships and create a hiring strategy that stands out. As recruitment continues to evolve, embracing personalization will enhance the job seeker experience, improve hiring efficiency, increase offer acceptance rates, and strengthen employer brand perception. The future of recruitment lies in meaningful, people-first connections. How will your team take the next step toward a more personalized approach?

For more articles from our talent acquisition leaders, visit Sprinklr’s blog here.

About Sprinklr

Sprinklr is a leading enterprise software company for all customer-facing functions. With advanced AI, Sprinklr's unified customer experience management (Unified-CXM) platform helps companies deliver human experiences to every customer, every time, across any modern channel. Headquartered in New York City with employees around the world, Sprinklr works with more than 1,800 valuable enterprises — global brands like Microsoft, P&G, Samsung and more than 60% of the Fortune 100. Sprinklr’s value to the enterprise is simple: We un-silo teams to make customers happier.