A brand new application management tool
Background
Application Manager is a tool used by recruiters to review, manage, and progress applicants through the stages of the hiring process. It handles large volumes of candidates, often across a wide range of job types; from high-volume roles to highly specialised positions.
The challenge
To design a responsive application manager that allows small to medium businesses to quickly sift and sort through job applications and progressively applicants through the hiring process.
Results
- 508% increase in engagement
- 14.1% Increase in mobile adoption
- 11.7% increase in customer retention
My role
- Lead Product Designer
- Embedded in a multi-disciplinary squad for the recruiter domain
At the start
We already had an application management tool in place, but it wasn’t fit for purpose. It was outdated, unresponsive, and difficult to use across devices. Recruiters found it slow and clunky, which led to a noticeable drop-off in the hiring journey. This wasn’t about launching something new, it was about rebuilding from the ground up. Our goal was to create a modern, responsive framework that worked seamlessly across all verticals, meeting the real needs of today’s recruiters.
Strategic approach
Discovery
A user-centred design process shaped every decision—balancing recruiter needs with business goals like retention and mobile usage. It also allowed us to foster strong cross-functional collaboration and kept stakeholders aligned from start to finish.
We used the following discovery methods to gain a better understanding of the current experience and our users.
MouseFlow
Adobe Analytics
Indepth interviews (IDIs)
Key findings
Drop off on key pages
On site 28% reach Applicant Manager, only 7% view Applicant Details.
Checkbox usage confusion
Misinterpretation of bulk action functionality. 22% clicked on checkboxes, but only 2% downloaded CVs.
Unexpected entry points
Most users landed on Applicant Manager directly from the application confirmation email.
Recruiter workflows
Hiring is not a linear process. There’s a lot of jumping between inbox, CVs and talking to applicants and hiring managers.
Scalability
Recruiters required instant visibility of key details such as work eligibility, desired location and salary expectations.
Inbox as a mental modal
Email was the main tool used throughout the hiring process.
To fully understand and document the recruiters workflow and frustrations, we created a customer journey map of the two main workflows.
1. Email Journey – The entire hiring process is managed using the recruiters inbox.
2. Applicant manager – The journey starts from a confirmation email, but the process is handled using applicant manager.
Design
Collaborating with our cross-functional team, we explored ideas, prototyped, and tested to create a solution that met user needs.
Mapping out task flows and how applicants move between stages of the hiring process.
Wireframes and prototypes
Wireframed and prototyped the ideas from the co-design session with the cross functional team to test and validate with users.
Testing and iterations
I tested the prototype with recruiters and gathered feedback from stakeholders throughout. Their input shaped several key iterations:
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Renamed workflow buckets to match recruiters’ mental models and terminology.
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Refined logic for applicant movement between stages to better support non-linear workflows.
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Redesigned applicant overview cards to improve scannability—helping recruiters quickly decide whether to view details.
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Added smart filters (e.g. right to work and valid driving license) enabling automatic bucketing of unsuitable candidates. Later this included the implementation of screening questions to further assist recruiters
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Adopted an inbox-style UI, already familiar to users, to speed up triage and reduce friction
After gathering feedback it’s time to assess the UX and make the changes required. We did this whilst moving to a higher fidelity. This is a great stage to test micro-interactions and any key design aspects that will affect the UX.
We implemented a lazy load feature after discovering users felt that content wasn’t available to them when it loaded slowly from our servers.
The solution
Once the designs were complete for all verticals and all view points it was time to complete build and start an alpha release to small numbers of sympathetic users. We used trusted clients and our original testers to give feedback when using the product in the real world. This helped to clear up any teething issues in a safer environment.
Results
It took more than a year to release version one of the responsive applicant manager. Straight after release we saw a sharp upturn in people using the platform and a huge increase in those using on mobile and tablet, which was a primary KPI. The trend continued as time past and this is the real success. When released we sent out an email campaign and talked to clients about the new back office which accounted for the quick upturn, but the fact they stayed and continued to use it shows we made a quality, usable product.
Key takeaways
Before responsive applicant manager was released we saw approximately 60,000 visits on desktop to the applicant manager. After the release of the new responsive applicant manager we saw the following results:
130,000 visits per month
After the second month of release
365,000 visits per month
on desktop July the year after
508%
Total increase in 15 months