Reimagining the Candidate Experience as a Strategic Advantage

BY Ade Akin | May 15, 2025

Jon Stross knew something had to change when a candidate confided with him about applying to 200 roles without getting any responses. 

Stross, the president and co-founder of Greenhouse, laid out how the company is tackling the grim realities of overwhelming application volume, ghosting, and the increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the hiring process. As organizations race to develop the most efficient algorithms, Greenhouse is helping transform what has been a soul-crushing experience for many into an empowering journey. 

“It’s terrible out there to be a candidate,” Stross said during the thought leadership spotlight at From Day One’s NYC talent acquisition conference.  The current hiring market is one where applicants feel like their resumes weren’t even good enough for a response, he says. 

But things aren’t much better on the employer side, as recruiters find themselves sorting through thousands of resumes. Candidates who are worried about being ghosted end up sending generic applications en masse, while recruiters struggle to find desired signals in all of the noise. 

The new dynamic has led to employers increasingly relying on referrals or outbound sourcing, while candidates face a “black hole” of uncertainty. The result is a lose-lose scenario where neither side trusts the process. While AI's role in the hiring process is expected to expand in the next several years, Stross warns that matching AI-generated resumes with AI-scored profiles risks reducing everything to noise. 

Jon Stross, the president and co-founder of Greenhouse, led the thought leadership spotlight

Providing transparency and giving candidates control is one of the strategies Greenhouse uses to combat ghosting and unclear deadlines. “It’s like walking into a deli with 200 people in line. You’d at least know your place in the queue,” Stross said.

Greenhouse increases transparency and gives candidates control by introducing features like real-time application tracking and self-scheduling interviews—features that allow the application process to mimic the clarity of waiting in line at the deli. 

“If you see 200 people ahead of you, you might leave,” Stross said. “But at least you’re making an informed choice.”

Greenhouse also introduced a Quick Apply feature that reduces friction in the application process, allowing candidates to auto-fill applications across Greenhouse-powered companies. This approach respects candidates’ time, reducing  the repetitive data entry style applications. It’s a small but critical step in improving employer brand perception, says Stross.

Surfacing Intent Data

Resumes capture a candidate, but they don’t always clearly reflect their intent. Greenhouse introduces data differentiation by collecting work preferences and a novel “dream job” marker. 

Similar to early admission in college applications, candidates may select one role monthly as their dream job. Recruiters can then filter applicants by their skills and passion, turning the data into a powerful differentiator for both sides. 

“Imagine sifting through 800 applicants and seeing five who marked your job as their dream,” Stross said. “It doesn’t mean they’re qualified, but it shows genuine interest.”  

Stoss suggests making the hiring process a race to the top rather than a descent into full automation. “Some companies are leaning in, building an employer brand that candidates remember,” he said.

Organizations signal their commitment to talent by automating status updates and highlighting positive candidate experiences, reinforcing their brand and boosting candidate loyalty.

Greenhouse is transforming hiring with tools like real-time application updates, centralized task checklists to guide candidates, and autofill capabilities that simplify applying. Personalized alerts and preference-based matching also help connect candidates to the right opportunities faster. These innovations give candidates a clearer path to their dream jobs while making the application process less unpleasant. Richer applicant profiles help recruiters to filter candidates more effectively and reduce their reliance on generic AI scoring that ignores human nuance. 

By embracing transparency, control, and meaningful data, organizations can attract and inspire talent while strengthening their employer brand, says Stross.

Editor's note: From Day One thanks our partner, Greenhouse, for sponsoring this thought leadership spotlight. 

Ade Akin covers workplace wellness, HR trends, and digital health solutions.

(Photos by Hason Castell for From Day One)

Related Stories

Proactive Caregiver Support: Making Data-Informed Decisions That Incorporate Whole-Family Care

Caregiver burnout is “a state of physical, emotional and mental exhaustion that happens while you’re taking care of someone else. Stressed caregivers may experience fatigue, anxiety and depression,” according to Cleveland Clinic.At From Day One’s April virtual conference, Sarah Begley, VP of content at Atria interviewed Kerri Costa, SVP of commercial & growth at Cleo, who shared insights on “Proactive Caregiver Support.” “A caregiver is really anyone taking care of themself through taking care of a child, taking care of an adult, loved one. It really branches across all of life’s journeys,” said Costa. Its broad spectrum makes it essential for employers to provide support. “Caregiving is everything from looking for resources, for education, to support, to finding loved ones, you know meals, providing meals, to being able to just simply help them with understanding how to set up their phone and to have support services that they need,” she said. Kerri Costa, SVP, Commercial & Growth at Cleo, led the thought leadership spotlight (company photo)Being a broad spectrum of people, caregivers face different challenges. But there are some that seem to be common in the workplace. “There’s a sense that if you identify as a caregiver, perhaps you’re less productive or you may have more absenteeism, which is usually not the case. But people don’t go to their HR representatives and say, ‘Hey, I’m a caregiver,’ for fear of that stigma,” she said. “What we find is that 67% of family caregivers struggle to balance their jobs in the caregiving role, and primarily, what we’re hearing from our employer clients is that there’s a lot of need for mental health and support around mental health.” Without proper mental health support for caregivers, there’s an increased risk of burnout. “33% of families that we have identified through our what we call our family health index, are at risk of burnout, and of those, 60% screen positive for our PHQ, which shows signs of depression. That affects not only the need for mental health support, but the loss of productivity on a large scale, as well as the retention of key employees.”Having cared for a parent with dementia and cared for a young child while working full time, Costa knows firsthand the kind of support needed. So what does support look like? Cleo has dedicated support services that provide guides to employees who need assistance with life challenges, says Costa. “Reducing the amount of time that’s spent on logistics can be so helpful in preventing burnout,” she said. “Working with a guide helped me to be able to step back and to once again think through ways in order to make my life easier.” The benefits for employers who are able to provide support are clear. First is mental health, where support is focused on preventing burnout by helping employees with the logistics of finding care and resources. Second is confidence and connectedness—53% of employees reported increased confidence after working with their guide, which improved their ability to manage everything on their plate. The third area is productivity, with high-risk members gaining back over 100 hours of work time, a significant outcome.Organizations can support their employees by first making their organization an environment where access to support is available and that honest discussion is not only happening but encouraged. “It’s hard for people to raise their hand to identify themselves as caregivers when it’s not a maternity leave or family forming situation. Having that conversation with their manager is crucial—it helps employees see the value of open, honest dialogue and gives managers a chance to offer the support that’s truly neededEditor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, Cleo, for sponsoring this thought leadership spotlight. Tabitha Cabrera, Esq. is a writer and attorney, who has a series of inclusive children's books, called Spectacular Spectrum Books.(Photo by Obencem/iStock)

Tabitha Cabrera May 14, 2025

Immersive Learning for Realistic, Judgment-Free Skill Building

Starting a new job or role often means facing a gap between what you’ve learned and what real-world experience demandsA newly licensed real estate agent might know the material but has never sat across from an actual client, and that first deal can be daunting. Or maybe a new manager is about to fire someone for the first time. What if you could practice those high-stakes moments before they happen?Virtual reality and AI are now making it possible, turning knowledge into confidence through realistic, judgment-free training. “I can’t imagine having to fire somebody for the first time and never having done that. It’s probably terrifying, emotional, and scary in a million different ways,” said Jack Makhlouf, VP of partnerships at Moth+Flame.“We try to build simulations for people so they can get a lot of practice. It’s also safe to fail. One of the secret powers of simulations is that you can mess up,” he said.Makhlouf spoke about the advantages of VR and immersive learning with Joe Reta, a partner manager at ArborXR and collaborator with Moth+Flame, during a thought leadership spotlight at From Day One’s Dallas conference. Immersive training has been around for a while. Think flight simulators, for example—something the military and airline industry has used for years. The benefit of this technology, says Makhlouf, is that “you’re physically doing something.” “You’re emotionally engaged in the experience. It’s interactive. It’s multi-sensory. You’re looking. You’re talking. You’re using your hands. It’s very realistic.” And, there are no real world consequences for making mistakes. “You can say the wrong thing and suffer the consequences. But you’re in a judgment free experience, so you’re safe to mess around,” Makhlouf said. Joe Reta, Partner Manager at ArborXR spoke with Jack Makhlouf, VP of Partnerships at Moth+Flame about immersive learningAI immersive learning has only become more intuitive and dynamic. Makhlouf calls it the perfect learning tool. “If I mess up in a giving feedback conversation, I’m going to know why and I’ll get to try again, and it’s going to assess me on tone delivery. It’s pretty advanced that way.”The military knows this and has long been a proving ground for the highest level of simulation-based training because they have “to keep their service members ready at all times,” Makhlouf said. It has also proven valuable in hands-on mechanical training. Makhlouf highlighted a program developed for the Air Force, which trains personnel on the precise steps needed to power up a C-17 cargo aircraft. Before using virtual reality, trainees learned through PowerPoint which led to costly mistakes in the field. “VR is a really great place to practice and fail,” he said. Thanks to immersive training, the Air Force cut errors by 85% and saved an estimated $1.7 million in fuel costs, says Makhlouf.While the upfront investment is significant, Makhlouf says that the ROI makes it worthwhile. “You’ve got to look at the return,” he said. Circling back to difficult conversations in the corporate space, Makhlouf says that both a popular and personal favorite module is in feedback. “Everybody thinks they're good at giving feedback, even positive feedback. But people don't know how to give proper positive feedback.”Building trust is another one. “We know that the relationship between [the] employee and their direct manager has a big impact on engagement. How do you build trust? How do you resolve conflict? How do you increase your emotional intelligence?”The big advantage immersive AI learning has in achieving better results in training, according to Makhlouf, is that people are using their voices, “not clicking answers in a scenario.” “Ironically, the first simulation I ever tried in my previous company was a firing simulation in VR. You’re sitting across the desk from an older guy who’s been inappropriate, and you got to call him in for a one on one, and it's the last straw. It can end badly, and it does end badly if you don't do it right. It can also end really well,” he said. He says they had people crying coming out of the simulation because it was so real.That is how this training is supposed to work, and why it feels so real; it’s immersive. “It is voice driven, whether you’re doing it in VR or tablet or mobile. You're navigating a conversation. You’re getting feedback on the fly—these avatars and actors are talking back to you. You’re in a conversation; it can go well, or it can not go so well. It’s completely up to you.”Wellstar Health System, a client Makhlouf’s company worked with, wanted to boost empathy among staff, so Makhlouf’s team created a simulation where participants’ answers were scored based on their level of empathy, prompting trial and error until they improved. “The first time through, people don’t get 80% or 100%,” he said. But with practice and targeted feedback on skills like empathetic paraphrasing, employees saw steady gains, much like building strength through repeated reps at the gym.What makes immersive training so effective, especially in a VR environment, is the combination of evolving technology and AI, and the fact that the AI avatars are based on real world actors. “So there’s not just some conceptual human prototype being used for AI avatars. They’re people...AI is mimicking facial expressions, their voice, body language and all that. They’re getting scary good.”Makhlouf's advice for companies and HR departments that want to modernize their training modules with immersion learning? “I would not recommend building something custom right off the bat. I would recommend you pilot with content that’s already made, and there’s a lot of content out in the field that’s ready to go off the shelf. So find a piece of content that aligns to your use case or business goal. Pilot it out, prove it out, build your business case. VR or immersive really shines when the use case is very, very strong.”Editor's note: From Day One thanks our partner, ArborXR, for sponsoring this thought leadership spotlight. Matthew Koehler is a freelance journalist and licensed real-estate agent based in Washington, DC. His work has appeared in the Washington Post, Greater Greater Washington, The Southwester, and Walking Cinema, among others.(Photos by Steve Bither for From Day One)

Matthew Koehler May 13, 2025

Making Mental Health Care Work for Workers

“You can’t talk about physical health without talking about mental health. You can't talk about mental health without talking about physical health,” said Gabe Diop, co-founder of Rula. “There’s no way that you can deal with humans and not deal with mental health.”Mental health stands out as both an urgent challenge and significant opportunity for corporate growth investment to allow for more successful organizations. During a thought leadership spotlight at From Day One’s Boston benefits conference, Diop shared that mental health can no longer be treated as separate from physical health, nor can companies afford to address it with half-measures.Diop brings a personal perspective to his advocacy work. Being impacted by substance use disorder within his family, he was exposed to a string of mental health events which shaped his understanding of how mental health affects every aspect of life. With the knowledge of those experiences, his work focuses on creating accessibility to mental health care. While mental health awareness has increased since the pandemic, Diop points to troubling statistics that suggest a crisis in need of immediate attention. According to data he shared, 9% of high school students have attempted suicide, with 20% having seriously considered it. Black children are twice as likely to die by suicide, and only 15% of mothers experiencing perinatal depression receive care, with rates even lower among mothers of color.Diop highlights how personal challenges in all aspects of life inevitably impact workplace performance. “Imagine if employees are going through tough times,” Diop said. “How can that employee possibly be their best self at work? It’s impossible.”Gabe Diop, the co-founder of Rula Health, led the thought leadership spotlight about "Why Mental Health Matters"The disconnect between need and access remains staggering. Primary care physicians report that roughly one third of their patients have a behavioral health component to their care needs, yet most doctors have minimal training in mental health and few reliable referral options.“You get about 30 minutes of training when you’re in med school for mental health,” Diop said. “If the average doctor doesn’t even know what to do, what do you think the average employee or the average person is thinking?”Diop advocates for a “crawl, walk, run” approach that starts with simple interventions. This starts with basic screening during employee physicals, access to therapists through existing health plans, and better awareness of available resources that make an immediate difference.Mental healthcare should be woven into existing healthcare touchpoints that employees already use, from primary care visits to maternity care to chronic disease management, says Diop. For instance, some health platforms for diabetes management have started to incorporate depression screening, yet often lack a clear pathway to care for patients who do screen positive. Accessible platforms like Rula have made it possible to connect a mental health professional, that would have been nearly impossible to find just a few years ago, to a patient’s specific needs. Employers are starting to recognize the business value in addressing mental health more systematically. From reducing healthcare costs to improving productivity, the case goes beyond compassion to clear financial outcomes.But perhaps the most persuasive argument Diop offers is the simplest: mental health affects everyone.As employers look to enhance their benefits packages, addressing mental health doesn’t require reinventing the wheel. Rula’s integration with major health plans already covers over 140 million lives, making it immediately accessible to most workforces, he says. “We serve ages five and above for therapy. We serve ages 13 and above for med management, in all 50 states,” he said. “But if people don't know about it, it doesn’t matter.”Editor's note: From Day One thanks our partner,  Rula, for sponsoring this thought leaderships spotlight. Chris O’Keeffe is a freelance writer with experience across industries. As the founder and creative director of OK Creative: The Language Agency, he has led strategy and storytelling for organizations like MIT, Amazon, and Cirque du Soleil, bringing their stories to life through established and emerging media.(Photos by Rick Friedman for From Day One)

Christopher O'Keeffe May 08, 2025