How to Empower Recruiters to Create a Better Candidate Experience

Recruiters are often one of the first human connections a candidate makes with an organization. The way they communicate, listen and build trust are the first steps in the candidate experience and can shape how a candidate views the employer long before their first day on the job.

That idea was at the center of the Recruitment Marketing campaign submitted by Stephanie Everson, Senior Recruiter & DEI Specialist at TriWest Healthcare Alliance, in the 2026 Rally Awards program.

This campaign provides valuable lessons that Recruitment Marketers and Talent Acquisition teams can apply to their own work. Stephanie designed and executed an initiative focused on bringing greater belonging, clarity and trust into the recruiting experience. Rather than treating employer brand as something that lives primarily in external marketing, she focused on equipping recruiters to deliver that brand through their everyday interactions with candidates.

Her work included recruiter education, standardized messaging, leadership content and ongoing guidance focused on areas including empathy, bias awareness, belonging and respectful candidate engagement.

I spoke with Stephanie about what inspired the initiative, what she learned about creating behavior change and how her colleagues are putting the human back in Human Resources.

Helping Recruiters Deliver a Better Candidate Experience

Lori: What made you realize there was an opportunity to approach the candidate experience differently?

Stephanie: One of the things that I was seeing was a lack of empathy. As recruiters, we already have the job. The person on the other side might be employed and looking for their next career move or they could be unemployed. We never know who we’re meeting aside from a name on a resume. We don’t know what they’re bringing with them.

I felt that if I could start with recruiters and teach them about belonging, connectedness and empathy for our job seekers, we could have a better experience. We’re not just filling a seat to close out the requisition. We’re getting more personable, connecting with applicants and getting to know them.

They may not be right for this role, but there may be another role in the next couple of months or another department they never thought of applying to.

Lori: You talk about changing the way recruiters think and communicate. What did that look like in practice?

Stephanie: One of the things I started noticing was that we tend to say, “They’re just not a cultural fit.” That irritates me because it really does start with belonging and connectedness. We’re not looking for a cultural fit, we’re looking for a cultural add. Who can add to what we already have to make it better?

It was changing the language and changing thinking.

We also needed to hire veterans and people from diverse backgrounds. Once we knew where to go to get those candidates, we had to know how to talk to them. That’s what this training did.

Lori: Changing established behaviors isn’t always easy. How did you encourage recruiters to try a different approach?

Stephanie: I was very intentional about telling them, “I’m not teaching you anything that you don’t already know. I’m just teaching you something that you may have put on the back burner.”

I’m trying to take you from good to great. I’m not saying that you’re bad, you’re already good, but I want you to be great. These are the tools that you can outfit yourself with. I said, try it for 30 days, prove me wrong.

I had a recruiter come to me and tell me about a conversation he’d had with a candidate. He said, “Instead of ‘What would Jesus do?’ I actually said, ‘What would Stephanie do?’” By the end of that pre-screen, he said the person had shown him his blind spots.

The candidate didn’t get that particular position, but the recruiter passed them on to another department where now they’re having their final interview.

I said, “Look what you did.” I don’t call out your faults. I simply shine a light on them and say, I’m trying to take you from good to great. What tools do you need to get there?

Lori: What does a more human candidate experience actually look like?

Stephanie: I had a candidate who had agreed to a pre-screen, and something was in her voice. I asked how she was doing, and she told me her twin sister was entering the end of her life.

I said, “Your sister deserves your time and attention. Would you like us to reschedule?”

When we met again, her sister had passed. She said she thought she was going to be strong enough to do the interview. I said, “I’m going to ask you a single interview question. We’re just going to talk.”

She shared her military career and some things about her sister. Through that conversation, I was able to learn what I needed to know without asking all of my pre-screen questions.

We ended up bringing her on board. Later, she told the department that if she hadn’t gotten the recruiter she got, she didn’t think she would have accepted the job because I never made her feel like she was a number. It was like having a conversation with a friend.

That’s what I hope to establish when I’m meeting with candidates. We need to go back to being human, put the human back in resources.

Lori: What advice would you give Recruitment Marketers who see an opportunity to improve candidate experience but aren’t recruiters themselves?

Stephanie: I think pairing up with a recruiter or recruiters and asking them, “What are your biggest challenges? If you could put together a to-do list or a dream list of things that would help you be a better recruiter in a shorter amount of time, what would that list look like?”

Then, as a Recruitment Marketer, identify who has the skills to give that to the recruiting department. Maybe it’s the data analytics team that can put together a dashboard so the recruiting team isn’t spending so much time pulling data.

Come in as a consultant. Listen to the pain points and know that of the 10 things on the list, you may only be able to tackle two at the moment. But those two things can make an impact.

Lori: What did you learn from participating in the Rally Awards?

Stephanie: My philosophy is “win or learn” because you always learn something regardless of the outcome.

Measuring the Impact of Candidate Experience

One measurable outcome was increased representation within leadership and other key roles. Through my recruiting efforts, I hired four Black women into Director-level positions across Utilization Management, Referral Management, Provider Services and Contract Administration. I also hired three Black veterans into management and individual-contributor roles.

Those outcomes were important because the initiative wasn’t simply about increasing representation. It was about making sure that once we reached candidates from different backgrounds, our recruiting practices, language and candidate experience supported belonging throughout the hiring process.

Bringing Employer Brand to Life Through Recruiters 

Stephanie’s experience offers an important reminder: candidates don’t experience an employer brand only through your careers sites, social content or campaigns. They experience it through the people representing the organization throughout the hiring process.

For Stephanie, strengthening that experience started with recruiters — giving them the language, tools and confidence to communicate with greater empathy and intention.

Her advice for Recruitment Marketers looking to create similar change is practical: listen to recruiters, understand their pain points and identify where you can make an impact.

And when an initiative doesn’t turn out exactly as expected? Take Stephanie’s approach: Win or learn.

Get Ready for the 2027 Rally Awards

Have Recruitment Marketing or Employer Brand work you’re proud of? The Rally Awards celebrate the strategies, campaigns and people moving our profession forward.

The 2027 Rally Awards open November 2. Start thinking about the work you want to showcase!