Hiremate a HR management software for Quality Hiring and recruitment: a UI/UX case study
Project Overview
Company Background
Cubera is an AdTech and Big Data company, with a focus on bridging the gap between advertisers and brands by automating lead efficiency. They specialise in the collection and utilisation of Zero Party Data, which refers to data that is voluntarily shared by users. They have developed a marketing automation platform that is instrumental in achieving this.
What is Hiremate?
Hiremate is an innovative recruitment and hiring management tool designed to streamline and automate the recruitment process for large corporations. It serves as a comprehensive platform that efficiently manages the volume of applications, making the selection process more effective and less prone to human error.
Duration
1 month
Platform
Web platform
Problem Statement
Cubera Technologies receives a high volume of applications for its job openings, making the recruitment and hiring process quite challenging. The current manual process includes posting job openings on various job boards, reviewing resumes manually, scheduling interviews, and making hiring decisions based on the interviewer’s feedback. This approach is not only time-consuming but also prone to bias and errors, leading to missed opportunities to hire the best candidates. So they found out the need for a HR management software that helps HR managers automate the recruitment and hiring process.
Goals
- Automation of Job Posting: To automate the process of job postings across various job boards, increasing efficiency and reach.
- Effective Resume Screening: To implement an effective mechanism for resume screening, reducing the time spent on manual review and increasing the probability of shortlisting the best-suited candidates.
- Streamlined Interview Scheduling: To streamline the process of interview scheduling, coordinating between the interviewers and candidates, and handling rescheduling if needed.
- Objective Hiring Decisions: To introduce a system that collects and analyses interviewer feedback, promoting objective and unbiased hiring decisions.
🔎 Research
The first step in my design process for Hiremate is the research phase, in which I will gather information to better understand the context and users of the system. The aim of this phase is to identify the needs and pain points of our users, as well as to gain a deeper understanding of the current recruitment landscape.
To begin with, I will try to find out the pain points to identify what our users require from a recruitment system. In addition, I will carry out a competitor analysis to see how other HR management systems handle recruitment. This will involve examining the features and functionalities of existing products, as well as identifying areas where they may fall short. I can use this information to identify opportunities for HireMate to differentiate itself and provide a superior user experience.
1. Pain-points
- Time-Consuming: The current process involves manually posting job openings, reviewing resumes, and scheduling interviews.
- Prone to Errors: Manual processes, particularly those involving large amounts of data, are prone to human error. This could lead to overlooking qualified candidates or making mistakes in the hiring process.
- Difficulty Tracking Applicants: Without a centralised system to track applicants through the hiring process, it can be difficult to keep track of where each candidate is in the process and what next steps need to be taken.
2. Competitor Analysis
In the competitor analysis for Hiremate, we examined three popular recruitment software solutions: Keka HR, Breezy HR, and Zoho Recruit. I compared these platforms based on their features and recruitment-specific functionalities.
Regarding visual design, it’s a bit subjective, but here are some observations:
- Keka’s design is modern with a lot of focus on usability and functionality. It has a clean layout with bright colours that make it easy to distinguish different sections and features. The user interface seems straightforward and intuitive.
- Zoho Recruit’s design is clean and professional. It uses a lot of whitespaces and blue accents. The layout is organised, making it easy to navigate. The user interface might seem a bit packed due to the range of features it offers.
- Breezy HR also sports a modern design with a clean interface. It uses a mix of colours, which makes it visually appealing. The layout is intuitive, with a focus on making the recruitment process as smooth as possible.
After comparing the softwares I concluded that a clean UI, light colour scheme, clear call to action, simple user flow will be the main focus points. Because the app would be used by very diverse users therefore it will have to be designed in such a way that it will be easy for everyone to perform the action/function for which the platform is designed.
3. User Flow
User flows are flowchart diagrams that explain the different processes involved in accomplishing a task from your MVP. It lays out steps & actions in a particular order and sequence that the user needs to undertake to get to the end of the task.
A typical Hiremate user flow might start with the HR manager logging into the platform, then proceeding to create a new job posting. After filling out the necessary details for the post and publishing it, the HR manager would then navigate to the candidate management section of the platform where they can review incoming applications, screen resumes, and decide who to move forward in the process.
User flow for posting jobs on different platforms:
User flow for scheduling a call :
This user flow is designed to streamline and automate the hiring process, making it more efficient and reducing the chance of errors or bias. It also ensures that HR managers have all the information they need at their fingertips, helping them to make better hiring decisions.
🧑💻 Ideate
In the Ideation phase of the Hiremate project, I focused on transforming insights gained from the research phase into potential solutions that could address the identified user needs and pain points.
Throughout the ideation phase, my goal was not to develop an immediate perfect solution, but rather to explore as many possible solutions as possible, keeping an open mind for continuous learning and improvement.
1. Sketching
In the ideation phase of the Hiremate project, sketching played a vital role in visualising and refining my ideas. It allowed me to quickly represent the design concepts I had in mind, leading to a deeper understanding of how these ideas would fit into the Hiremate interface.
These sketches were a crucial part of the ideation phase, helping me to iterate on these concepts quickly and effectively, and setting a clear path for the high fidelity design and testing stages.
2. Mid-fidelity Wireframes
In the ideation phase of the Hiremate project, creating mid-fidelity wireframes was a key step in transforming the abstract ideas into more concrete, visualised concepts. This was a crucial part of the design process as it helped to define the structure, layout, and functionality of the Hiremate platform.
Dashboard
The dashboard is the heart of the application and is the first screen that HR personnel would see upon logging in.
The dashboard was designed to provide a quick overview of the ongoing hiring processes. It included elements like the total number candidate application, the number of jobs posted and also meeting schedules.
Posting a job
In the ideation phase, I crafted a mid-fidelity wireframe for the job posting process in Hiremate. Users start by clicking “Create Activity” and choosing “Job Opening”. They fill out job details, and then set screening questions to automate initial resume reviews. Candidates meeting the criteria are shortlisted, while others receive a polite automated rejection. The final step allows users to select job portals for posting, broadening the job’s exposure. This demonstrates Hiremate’s commitment to efficient hiring.
Scheduling Calls
For scheduling calls, I implemented a streamlined process. Users begin by selecting “Create Activity” and choose the “Scheduling meeting” option from the dropdown menu. They then input the necessary details, choose the date and time, and a system-generated email with a Google invite is automatically sent to the email tagged in the details section. This feature simplifies and automates the scheduling process, reducing the time and effort required to set up interviews.
Other Screens
A separate candidate section presents a comprehensive view of all the candidates and their respective statuses in the hiring process, allowing for easy tracking and management. Furthermore, a section showcasing all posted jobs provides a quick overview of active openings and their details, making it a centralised hub for managing recruitment activities.
3. Visuals
This is the most compelling part of the process yet most comprehensive as you need to decide upon the colour palette, typography, so all in all a proper style guide that can represent the brand’s uniqueness and presence.
Typography
In designing Hiremate, I opted to use SF Pro for the font, primarily for its high readability and versatility. It offers an excellent balance between readability and aesthetic appeal, which is essential for an application with a diverse range of users
Furthermore, SF Pro comes with a wide range of weights and styles, allowing for nuanced typography design that can help organise information and guide the user’s eye. Its modern and professional look contributes to a clean, efficient, and user-friendly design, making it an ideal choice for Hiremate.
Colour Palette
In the design of Hiremate, I chose the colour #2D68FE as the primary colour. This colour is a vibrant and energetic shade of blue, which is often associated with trust, reliability, and professionalism. These attributes align well with Hiremate’s brand identity, as it’s designed to be a dependable tool for recruitment and hiring processes. Moreover, this colour provides excellent contrast against lighter backgrounds and text, enhancing readability and usability.
High-fidelity Designs
The goal of creating high-fidelity designs for Hiremate was to bring the earlier sketches and mid-fidelity wireframes to life, adding depth and detail to the user interface. This allowed me to visualise and evaluate the user experience more accurately, considering factors such as visual hierarchy, colour contrast, spacing, and typography.
🧪 Testing
In the testing phase, I was able to gather valuable insights into the effectiveness and usability of Hiremate’s design. Given the limited time and resources, I conducted the testing with two individuals who were knowledgeable about HR management software
During this process, I focused on several key aspects of the platform:
- Navigability: I assessed how easily users could navigate through the platform, find features, and complete tasks.
- Task Completion: I observed how users posted a job, ensuring that the process was intuitive and straightforward.
- Response to Interface: I gathered feedback on the visual design of the platform, including colour choices, typography, and general aesthetic appeal.
Through this user testing, I discovered a notable gap in the functionality: the absence of an option to withdraw job postings from the various platforms. This was a critical find, as it is vital for HR managers to maintain control over their job postings, including the ability to withdraw them when necessary.
Despite the limited testing sample, this stage was invaluable in identifying an essential feature that was missing from the design. This insight will directly inform the iteration phase, where I will refine and enhance the design based on the feedback received.
♻️ Iterate
In the iteration phase, the goal was to take the feedback and insights gathered during testing and use them to further improve the design of Hiremate. The main point of feedback was the need for a ‘withdraw job’ feature, which would allow users to remove job postings from various platforms.
Based on this, I went back to the drawing board and revised the design to include this feature.
1. Solution
In response to the feedback received, I designed a new feature in Hiremate to address the need for job withdrawal. When a user clicks on a specific job, an app slider appears providing the user with more detailed options for that particular job. Among these options is the ability to withdraw the job posting from its specific platform.
This new feature not only resolves the identified issue but also gives users more control over their job postings. They can now modify job details or withdraw the job entirely, directly from the job’s overview, making the process more intuitive and efficient. This adjustment exemplifies the iterative design process, where user feedback directly contributes to the refinement and improvement of the product.
Here are some lessons I’ve learned
- Iterative Design Process: The development of Hiremate underscored the value of an iterative design process. I saw firsthand how each stage of the process, from research to ideation, testing, and iterating, played a crucial role in shaping the final product.
- Testing Limitations: I experienced some of the limitations of testing with a small group of people. While it provided valuable insights, I am sure that broader testing could yield even more diverse and comprehensive feedback.
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