Enhance Hiring Experience

A dashboard designed to unlock efficiency in the hiring process

company

A Foot in the Door

TEAM

3 UX Designer

duration

2.5 Weeks

ROLE

UX Designer

User interview, competitor analysis, information architecture, wireframe, design system, prototype, user testing, UI iteration

Problem

Employers need a way to quickly access and comprehend crucial recruiting information so that they can stay organized and efficient throughout the recruiting process.

Background & Goals

A Foot in the Door is a job search platform that connects early-career professionals (0–5 years of experience) with employers who value fresh perspectives.

Its founder Keith Francis engaged our team to improve the employer side of the platform by designing a recruiting dashboard to streamline recruiting efforts and attract employers to the platform.

Outcome & Impact

We designed a clickable prototype, tested with potential users, and presented the design to the client within 2.5 weeks.

“This is a game changer compared to tracking information manually. I would love to use this tool!"


- HR Professional

“I am very impressed by the quality of work within 2.5 weeks! At first we were just thinking about a simple dashboard; however, the decision to make it customizable makes so much sense!”


- A Foot in the Door, CEO

“The design looks great! I am already thinking how I can build it.”


- A Foot in the Door, Chief Engineer

Research

After the initial discussion with the client, I identified several key hypotheses that would guide our research:

  1. A visual dashboard that includes recruiting statistics will add value by helping employers quickly understand their hiring performance.

  2. Mobile accessibility is critical, as employers need to view and manage recruiting data on the go.

  3. Including candidate diversity metrics enables employers to perform inclusive hiring practices.

We interviewed 10 individuals with various hiring experiences from different sizes of companies.

What we learned from our screener survey, user interviews, and market research:

Dashboard are standard features offered by existing platforms.

A dashboard that provides recruiting analytics may not be a net new solution for recruiters and hiring managers who have access to Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) or job search platforms like LinkedIn.

There isn't one set of recurring metrics that fits all.

The type of metrics and data that matter vary depending on the employers, the recruiters (agency vs. in-house), the positions, and other factors.

Keeping track of the numerous candidates is a challenge.

Recruiters indicated it was challenging to filter through numerous applications, manage scheduling among multiple parties, and tracking status and recruiting stages.

Diversity is a goal but it is not actively monitored during recruiting.

Most recruiters we interviewed rarely review the demographics of their candidate pool during the hiring process. An exception is one recruiter from a larger company with a specific goal of increasing diversity representation. While our client views diversity as a critical metric to monitor, most recruiters see it as an aspirational goal rather than an actively tracked factor.

Most recruiters access recruiting platforms via desktop.

Although our client showed strong interest in having a mobile design, 85% participants indicated they use desktop for recruiting activities; only 15% indicated they use mobile devices.

Keeping in considerations of our client's vision, we recommended adjustment to the priorities of the design sprint based on user feedback, which our client readily agreed to.

Design Vision

Based on our research findings, the dashboard needs to allow recruiters and hiring managers to:

  • Gain quick insights through intuitive data visualization

  • Create a customizable dashboard with relevant data points

  • Share recruiting progress with stakeholders

We held a design studio to sketch ideas for the dashboard. We also drew inspirations from existing digital dashboards and design conventions of layout customization.

Intuitive data presentation and layout from Monday.com

Intuitive customization of widgets from iPhones

Iteration & Testing

To make sure our design truly meets the users’ needs, we conducted 3 rounds of usability tests to collect feedback. I tested the prototype with 4 users: 3 HR professionals and 1 UX designer, focusing on the following user flows:

  1. Customize the dashboard

  2. Create a filtered view

  3. Save changes to dashboard

  4. Sharing a dashboard


Overall, users find the dashboard visually pleasing and easy to understand, and most of the data presented on the dashboard is helpful information. I identified a few pain points and iterated on different solutions with the team.


More Relevant Dashboard Content and Data

Users would like to see data that is more relevant to the recruiting activities that they need to accomplish on a daily basis.

More Intuitive Filter Function

The design of data filters for each widget created some confusion, which was one of the focal points during iterations.

Clear Call to Action on Data Widgets

Most users didn’t notice the “Customize Dashboard” button or understand its intent until they clicked on it and saw the options to select different data widgets to display on the dashboard page.

Wireframes

Reflection

What went well:

  • Testing project hypothesis with users and starting with the right priorities. While our client had some assumptions on what would be valuable to users. We were able to make design decisions and help our client prioritize based on research.

  • Multiple iterations produced a stronger product. The feedback from user testing helped us identify and rectify any misguided assumptions. Our relentless focus on making incremental improvements was greatly appreciated by the client.


What I wish I had done differently:

  • I struggled with managing the balance between providing a clear usability test tasks and directly telling users what to click on. I wished I had thought through the test script more before facilitating the first round of testing