TalentOS: Building a Scalable Recruitment Platform
Overview
As the inaugural design leader for ZoomInfo’s TalentOS, I spearheaded the creation of a recruitment platform tailored for modern talent acquisition professionals. This initiative involved deep user research, strategic design thinking, and cross-functional collaboration to deliver a product that streamlines candidate discovery and engagement.
Understanding Recruiter Needs
To ground our design in real-world needs, I conducted extensive interviews with recruiters across various industries and roles. Key insights included:
Workflow Preferences: Recruiters desired tools that align with their existing workflows and enhance efficiency.
Tool Utilization: Familiarity with platforms like LinkedIn, Greenhouse, iCIMS, and Indeed informed our competitive analysis.
Challenges Faced: Common pain points included data overload, inefficient search functionalities, and cumbersome outreach processes.
These findings informed our design strategy, ensuring that TalentOS addressed the core needs of its users.
Design Strategy and Execution
Collaborating closely with the product team, we focused on:
Advanced Search and Filtering: Implemented a robust taxonomy allowing users to refine, save, and reuse search criteria, facilitating efficient candidate discovery.
User-Friendly Interface: Designed a table format for candidate lists, enabling recruiters to easily review and interact with top prospects.
Scalable Architecture: Ensured the platform could adapt to evolving recruitment needs and integrate seamlessly with existing tools.
The Design
TalentOS was designed to streamline the way recruiters discover, evaluate, and engage top talent. At the core of this experience is an advanced search and filtering system that empowers users to define precise candidate criteria, save their preferences, and work efficiently across sessions.
The user interface was optimized for clarity and speed:
Advanced Filters give recruiters control over key variables—skills, titles, industries, and more.
Table Format enables fast scanning, selection, and engagement with large candidate pools.
Smart Session Management ensures recruiters can pick up where they left off without repeated setup.
Our design philosophy focused on making TalentOS feel like an extension of the recruiter’s workflow—not a disruption to it.
Search & Filtering
Recruiters operate in high-pressure environments where time is tight and expectations are high. Through extensive user research, we discovered a shared frustration: too many tools buried critical filters in complex UIs or lacked the flexibility to support personalized search routines.
To solve this, we designed a robust, scalable taxonomy and intuitive search experience:
Recruiters can quickly filter by job title, tech stack, location, and company size.
Saved searches reduce repetitive setup and support iterative candidate targeting.
Advanced Search unlocks niche targeting, allowing recruiters to refine results with confidence.
This system underwent multiple rounds of usability testing to ensure it was both powerful for experts and accessible to new users—a crucial balance for growing adoption across teams.
Outcomes