Rebecca Carr is the CEO of SmartRecruiters. Rebecca has over 15 years of experience in recruiting and HR technology, with roles in product development, pre-sales and customer success bringing her a deep understanding and passion for the field. Her infectious energy and strong leadership give her a unique perspective on the role and the organization.
Rebecca started working at SmartRecruiters in September 2014 and has held various positions, including Senior Vice President of Development, Vice President of Product, and Vice President of Solutions Consulting. She worked at Checkr for two years as General Manager of Checkr Pay and rejoined SmartRecruiters in July 2023.
SmartRecruiters streamlines the recruiting process with AI-powered tools that automate tasks, predict needs, and enable faster, smarter talent acquisition. Trusted by more than 4,000 companies worldwide, the platform provides an all-in-one solution for interviewing, hiring and onboarding, with configurable workflows and seamless integrations. SmartRecruiters is designed to simplify recruiting, allowing teams to focus on finding the best talent while delivering real results.
You’ve been at SmartRecruiters for nearly ten years, transitioning from chief product officer to CEO. How has your time as chief product officer shaped your vision and priorities as the company’s CEO?
My tenure as Chief Product Officer has given me first-hand knowledge of the challenges and opportunities customers face when finding, hiring, and retaining top talent. It shaped my belief that great recruiting starts with giving the right people—whether recruiters, hiring managers, or business leaders—the tools to simplify complexity and expand impact. As CEO, my vision is based on this principle: to ensure that SmartRecruiters remains a strategic partner that not only innovates but also changes the way organizations think about and execute recruitment strategies. My top priority is to lead with empathy for our customers, putting them at the heart of every decision as we redefine the future of work.
What unique challenges have you encountered in transitioning from a product-focused role to leading an entire organization? How has your experience prepared you for these challenges?
Transitioning from a product-focused role to leading the company required me to think beyond innovation, embrace more complex operational processes, work broadly to drive strategic alignment, and invest time in prioritizing culture and leadership. One challenge is ensuring that our customer focus extends to every function of the organization. My product background prepared me well – I’ve spent years understanding customer pain points and designing solutions that resonate. This problem-solving mindset, coupled with a focus on collaboration and execution, positions me to address the broader challenges faced by leading SmartRecruiters.
As someone deeply involved in product innovation, how do you plan to balance technological advancements with SmartRecruiters’ broader strategic goals?
Balancing technological progress and strategy is about marrying innovation with purpose. Every new feature we develop must directly support our mission to create recruiting success for every client. For example, our work in artificial intelligence goes beyond algorithms to provide actionable insights that help companies hire smarter and faster. At the same time, our broader strategic focus is on becoming a partner to our clients, extending recruitment into their individual workflows and ensuring SmartRecruiters becomes a trusted pillar of their recruitment process.
With SmartRecruiters investing heavily in AI, what role do you think AI will play in transforming the recruitment industry?
Artificial intelligence is a game changer, allowing us to rethink recruiting from the ground up. At SmartRecruiters, we believe that artificial intelligence has the potential to eliminate inefficiencies, support decision-making, and enhance the entire recruiting experience. This isn’t just about making recommendations, it’s about providing insights that help users make better decisions. Whether by automating repetitive tasks, enabling predictive analytics, or providing proactive guidance, AI can help us transform recruiting into a faster, fairer, and more efficient process.
Can you provide specific examples of how AI and automation will streamline the recruiting process for your clients?
Imagine a hiring manager receiving a Slack notification with a curated shortlist of top candidates ready to review, or a recruiter automatically scheduling interviews without any effort. These are just a few of the ways we’re integrating AI and automation to streamline recruiting. Winston AI provides proactive insights such as candidate prioritization and action alerts, allowing users to focus on making meaningful connections and decisions rather than getting bogged down in logistics. This is recruiting at a higher level—smarter, faster, more humane.
How do you address issues around bias and transparency when integrating AI into talent acquisition tools?
Building trust in AI requires a foundation of fairness and transparency. At SmartRecruiters, we design artificial intelligence systems to reduce bias, combining rigorous testing and explainability features to ensure users understand how decisions are made. We also provide clients with the tools to assess and fine-tune their processes so they can maintain a recruitment framework that is both ethical and effective. Transparency is not just a value, it is a necessity for building organizational trust in solutions that shape the workforce of the future.
You previously emphasized the importance of solving customer pain points such as disparate systems and data silos. What new initiatives or features are being brewed to address these challenges?
Our integrations with Slack, Teams, WhatsApp, SMS and other business tools are designed to unify workflows and eliminate silos, meeting users where they already work or are looking for work. We’re also improving SmartAnalytics capabilities to provide customers with a single source of truth—aggregating data from across the entire recruiting ecosystem and turning it into actionable insights. This ensures that SmartRecruiters is not just a platform, but a hub that connects and supports all parts of the recruitment process.
In an era of increasing competition in talent acquisition technology, how do you plan to position SmartRecruiters as the go-to solution for corporate recruiting?
Our strategy is to lead the way by delivering exceptional value – combining innovative technology with an unparalleled focus on customer success. With the launch of Winston AI, we’re not just enhancing existing processes; We’re redefining the entire category to make recruiting faster, smarter and smarter than ever. By seamlessly integrating into enterprise workflows and delivering transformative insights, we position SmartRecruiters as a trusted partner for enterprises to navigate the complexities of large-scale and volume recruiting.
What do you think will be the decisive factor for the success of companies like SmartRecruiters in the future of recruitment technology?
The decisive factor is the ability to anticipate and adapt to client and candidate needs. Successful companies combine technical excellence with a deep understanding of human behavior, user expectations, and business challenges. At SmartRecruiters, we focus on creating intuitive, adaptable, and impactful solutions that not only solve today’s problems but also evolve to meet the needs of tomorrow’s workforce.
What is your vision for the user experience and functionality of the SmartRecruiters platform over the next five years?
Our vision is to reimagine recruiting as a seamless, collaborative experience. This means giving everyone involved—recruiters, managers, and leaders—the right tools for their jobs. Integration with platforms like Slack and Teams is just the beginning. Winston AI will be key, not by commanding decisions, but by providing context, advice, automation and insights at every step. Think of Winston as a guide and coordinator, ensuring that every action taken is integrated into a unified intelligence system. Over the next few years, we will expand the adaptability and predictive capabilities of our platform, making SmartRecruiters an indispensable tool that not only drives recruiting success, but also how organizations shape their workforce and deliver personalized, integrated experience sets the standard.
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