Eightfold AI
Enabling Efficient Outreach
Designing multiple follow-ups for recruiter workflows.
Overview
- Context
- Eightfold's AI could identify ideal candidates, but the existing email system allowed only one follow-up and no scheduled send, so recruiters couldn't act on the matches at scale.
- Decision
- I designed multiple follow-ups and scheduled send that served both high-volume, templated outreach and personalized, one-off follow-ups, without adding complexity to an existing platform.
- Impact
- The features shipped at the end of my internship, deployed to enterprise clients immediately, and lifted candidate response rate by 25%.
The Challenge
One Follow-Up Isn't Enough
For recruiters managing dozens of open positions, the constraints meant constant context-switching and missed timing windows. They needed to manage multiple touch points with candidates without leaving the platform.
Goal
Enable recruiters to manage multiple touchpoints with candidates without leaving the platform.
Research
Understanding Recruiter Behaviors
I interviewed recruiters to understand how they manage their pipelines and identified two distinct outreach strategies the solution needed to support.
Satisficers
High-volume, templated outreach.
“We reach out to a bunch of candidates at once to get a better response rate.”
Maximizers
Personalized follow-ups.
“People respond to my email if I change the content based on their experience.”
The Insight
We couldn't optimize for one group at the expense of the other. The design needed speed for high-volume users while preserving flexibility for those who personalize.
Design Principles
Designing for Both Types of User
Support Both Workflows
Speed for satisficers, flexibility for maximizers. Don't force a choice.
Match Existing Mental Models
Recruiters already have habits. Design with them, not against them.
Design Evolution
Progressive Complexity in Templates
Satisficers needed speed. Maximizers needed options. I designed a collapsible template architecture that shows only essential fields by default, expanding when asked.
Matching Mental Models for Time
Early designs showed follow-up timing as “X days after previous email.” Usability testing revealed recruiters thought differently.
Users preferred “X days after initial email” because it made calculating the full sequence easier. I updated the logic to match their mental model.
Workflow-Aligned Navigation
The original tab design placed follow-up navigation at the top.
Testing showed recruiters composed the initial email first, then thought about follow-ups. I moved tabs to the bottom of the email module to match the natural composition flow.
Result
Launched in August 2019
The features were deployed to enterprise clients immediately, bridging the gap between talent discovery and talent acquisition.
Post-Launch Feedback
Looking forward to playing around with the new feature. If I haven't said it before, I want to say that is an absolute pleasure to be working so closely with Eightfold!
Retrospective
What I Learned From My First Product Design Project
Designing for Incrementalism
Adding features to an existing platform is different from starting fresh. The key was respecting what already worked while expanding capability.
Mental Models Matter More Than Logic
This project established principles I still use: match mental models, support multiple workflows, and scope ruthlessly. The stakes were lower than my later work at Primer, but the lessons carried forward.
Scoping Is a Design Skill
Knowing what not to build was as important as knowing what to build. The MVP shipped on time because we cut the “smart” feature that wasn't ready.