Priya Darshini E
Talent Acquisition Specialist
Dubai
Summary
Results-oriented Talent Acquisition Specialist with 3.8 years of experience in end-to-end hiring across Software and SaaS firms. Skilled in sourcing, screening, and onboarding top talent contributing to organizational growth. Handled campus, lateral, and contractual recruitment with a focus on efficiency, stakeholder partnership, and strong candidate experience. Proven track record in building product teams across Engineering, Product, and GTM functions, leveraging innovative sourcing and talent community building. Recognized for communication, problem-solving, and leadership skills, with a passion for aligning talent with business needs using data-driven and AI-powered recruitment practices.
Overview
4
4
years of professional experience
5
5
Certifications
Work History
Talent Acquisition Specialist
Kovai.co
11.2021 - Current
- Full-Cycle Recruitment: Led the end-to-end recruitment process, successfully closing 100+ positions (40+ interns and 60+ full-time employees) across engineering, product, and business functions, contributing directly to scaling multiple product teams from the ground up.
- Technical Hiring Across Products: Recruited for technical roles including Full Stack Engineers, Frontend Engineers, SDET, Data Scientists, UI/UX & Product Designers, Product Managers, and Scrum Masters across three SaaS product suites.
- GTM & Business Hiring: Drove recruitment for GTM functions such as Digital Marketing, Product Marketing, Customer Success, and Support, ensuring balanced team structures to support product growth.
- Campus Recruitment & University Relations: Designed and executed end-to-end campus strategies with Tier 1, 2 & 3 colleges. Served as the Single Point of Contact (SPOC) for career services, managed pre-placement talks, assessments, and placement drives, and built a strong pipeline of early-career talent.
- Collaboration with Hiring Managers: Partnered with business leaders to define role-specific competencies and skill sets, improving quality of hire by 20% and reducing mismatch through refined evaluation processes.
- Talent Pool Development: Built and nurtured a 1K+ candidate talent pool, leveraging proactive outreach, referrals, and community engagement to enhance the hiring pipeline and boost qualified lead identification by 15%.
- Talent Community Ownership: Initiated and managed Kovai.co Talent Community and Careers Portal; streamlined candidate engagement, tracked applications, and positioned Kovai.co as an employer of choice.
- Sourcing Strategies: Leveraged LinkedIn Recruiter, Boolean search, Naukri, Smart Recruiter, Lusha, and Internshala, alongside networking and social media campaigns, to source and engage with passive and active talent across domains.
- Technical Assessments & Screening: Facilitated phone screens, structured interviews, and technical assessments using HackerRank, HackerEarth, and DoSelect to evaluate both technical depth and cultural fit.
- Recruitment Drives & Branding Events: Organized campus drives, walk-in drives, and technical workshops in Chennai & Coimbatore, expanding outreach for hard-to-fill roles and accelerating hiring turnaround time.
- Data-Driven Hiring: Managed recruitment data in ATS (Freshteam) and Excel dashboards, tracking key hiring metrics such as Time-to-Fill (TAT), diversity ratio, and closure rate, and presented insights for leadership reporting.
- Offer Management & Onboarding: Negotiated offers, coordinated onboarding with cross-functional teams, and managed documentation, accommodation, and joining formalities for a seamless candidate experience.
- Process Improvement: Designed and implemented SOPs and PoCs to streamline recruitment workflows and align with organizational goals.
- Feedback & Experience: Built feedback loops with candidates and hiring managers to enhance candidate experience and brand perception.
- Employer Branding: Drove branding through social media, university engagements, and networking events, boosting visibility in the SaaS talent market.
- Market Research & Benchmarking: Conducted talent mapping and salary benchmarking for specialized tech and business roles, aligning pay with industry standards.
- Niche Recruitment: Closed hard-to-hire roles like Data Scientists and TypeScript Developers through tailored sourcing strategies.
- Team Mentorship: Guided junior recruiters on sourcing, interviews, and processes to drive team success.
- Recognition: Received the Stellar Award for outstanding performance in scaling recruitment and strengthening Kovai.co’s hiring strategies.
HR Management Trainee
iFortis Corporate
05.2021 - 07.2021
HR Industrial Trainee
Needle Industries (India) Pvt. Ltd
05.2019 - 06.2019
Education
MBA - HR & Finance
Sri Krishna College of Engineering & Technology
05-2022
B. Com - Corporate Secretaryship
PSG College of Arts & Science
05-2020
Skills
End-to-End Recruitment (Tech & Non-Tech)
Campus, Lateral & Contract Hiring
Candidate Sourcing (LinkedIn Recruiter, Boolean Search, Job Boards)
Candidate Screening
GTM & Product Hiring (Marketing, CS, PM, Designers)
ATS & Recruitment tools (Freshteam, Smart Recruiter, Naukri, LinkedIn Recruiter, GitHub, Stack Overflow, Lusha, Internshala)
HRMS Platforms (HR Stop, GreytHR)
Interviewing & Assessment Techniques
Employer Branding & Talent Community Building
Market Intelligence & Salary Benchmarking
Offer Negotiation & Closure
Stakeholder Management & Vendor Management
Diversity & Inclusion Hiring practices
AI in Recruitment (Chatgpt, Gemini, Text IO, Copilot)
Certification
LinkedIn Learning – Technical Recruiting, Talent Sourcing, Recruiting Foundations
Disclaimer
I hereby declare that the information provided above is true and accurate to the best of my knowledge and belief.
Timeline
Talent Acquisition Specialist
Kovai.co
11.2021 - Current
HR Management Trainee
iFortis Corporate
05.2021 - 07.2021
HR Industrial Trainee
Needle Industries (India) Pvt. Ltd
05.2019 - 06.2019
MBA - HR & Finance
Sri Krishna College of Engineering & Technology
B. Com - Corporate Secretaryship
PSG College of Arts & Science