IntentSignals® takes home gold for Innovation at IHR Supplier Awards 2026

IntentSignals® is Connectr Talent Technology’s latest innovation - a purpose-built suite designed to transform how employers understand candidate motivation before applications are made. And now, it's an award winning solution used with huge impact by GSK, British Airways, Kingfisher Group and more.

Last night, Connectr took home the Innovation Award for IntentSignals at the IHR Supplier Awards - no small achievement in a hotly contested category with 60 entrants and 14 finalists. This win, the first of many we hope signifies to us that employers want a fairer way to reduce high volumes of applications, and IntentSignals makes that happen.

Its creation was driven by a consistent insight emerging from employer and candidate research: hiring is overwhelmed by volume yet still struggles to surface genuine quality until late in the process. Employers described to us receiving thousands of applications, while candidates described applying speculatively, often without a clear understanding of role realities or personal fit. In response, many organisations were resorting to blunt, exclusionary tactics - closing roles early, raising assessment thresholds, or adding extra stages - reducing diversity, damaging trust, and increasing cost.

IntentSignals was designed to solve this problem at its root by addressing an overlooked stage of the hiring funnel: pre-application.

Rather than filtering candidates after they apply, IntentSignals introduces an intent-first approach that helps candidates reflect, self-select,and engage with clarity before accessing an application. The objective is clear:

• Reduce application noise without excluding capable candidates
• Improve quality through motivation and alignment
• Protect candidate experience, trust, and fairness
• Equip employers with deeper behavioural insight & early visibility of quality

To achieve this, our engineering and product teams drew on behavioural science, motivation psychology, and observed the unintended consequences of AI-led screening tools - deliberately designing a human-led alternative that builds trust rather than erodes it.

Where this solution stands out

While the industry increasingly discusses “candidate intent”, most solutions attempt to infer it after an application is submitted or reduce it to opaque automation. IntentSignals is the first solution to surface intent meaningfully before application, with demonstrable impact on application volume while protecting, and in many cases improving, candidate quality.

The suite comprises two key capabilities:

1. Intent Journey - a pre-application intent journey with a unique code feature.
For each role where an employer needs it, candidates are guided through a structured, role-specific journey (bespoke to the employer) that requires reflection on readiness, values alignment, and suitability. Rather than passive content or automated screening, candidates actively demonstrate engagement and understanding before unlocking the application itself via their unique personal application code.

This creates positive friction, prompting candidates to make informed, confident decisions about whether to apply. Crucially, screening out is driven by the candidate, not the employer – making it cost-friendly to scale, inclusive and governance ready.

2. Intent Personas – a behavioural insight dashboard
Built on rich, consented engagement data already captured within the Connectr platform; the dashboard surfaces behavioural indicators of intent across the talent pool. Employers gain visibility into motivation patterns, engagement depth, and readiness - enabling segmentation, activation, and intervention before applications are made.

At a time when trust in hiring technology is under pressure, and regulatory scrutiny of AI decision-making is increasing, IntentSignals demonstrates that insight and fairness are not opposing forces. By focusing on behaviour over time rather than one-off performance, it delivers a more inclusive, transparent, and resilient approach to talent attraction. Regardless of labour market conditions.

For employers this means:

• Reduced application volume without narrowing access
• Earlier visibility into candidate motivation and alignment
• Improved confidence in hiring decisions through human-led insight
• Long-term value beyond short-term market fluctuations
• Hiring teams can use the time-saved to get back to what they do best: creating great candidate experiences with human interactions and fairness.

For candidates this means:

• Greater transparency and understanding before applying
• A fairer, more respectful experience that rewards engagement & preparedness
• Increased confidence through informed self-selection

Candidate feedback highlights the impact clearly:

“Refreshing to see an informative task-based solution that helps individuals understand the role before accessing the application.”

“A very innovative way to let candidates get familiar with the working culture in advance.”

 “I think this process is valuable and useful as it encourages candidates to reflect on the realities of the role, rather than just the appeal of becoming a pilot. It helped me think more carefully about the level of commitment, responsibility and lifestyle involved and confirm that I am prepared for role”

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