HIREMATE
Optimizing job search by connecting candidates and recruiters using preference matching.
TEAM
1 UX Researcher
2 Product Designers
MY ROLE
Desk & User Research
Ideation & UX Design
Usability Testing
PROJECT TYPE
Product Design
Concept Design
Hiring Industry
DURATION
6 Weeks
PROBLEM
A lot of competent candidates are left unidentified in the recruitment process due to the large number of job applications.
Choosing this problem space was quite a task for our team, with the goal of designing a social computing system prototype. The team researched various areas that had predominant issues and finally decided on the challenges in the hiring process, as we realized that the hiring process, as of now, is not exactly easy for job-seekers.
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Recruiters have to review hundreds of applications for the job roles posted. Some candidates are not qualified because they do not meet the minimum requirements, and some excellent candidates even get overlooked in the process.
SOLUTION
Matching the preferences of the recruiters and the job-seekers can eliminate candidates getting overlooked
As the main reason for candidates getting rejected is not meeting the minimum requirements, having a tool that matches the preferences of the recruiter and the job-seeker can save a lot of time for both parties.
UNDERSTANDING THE PROBLEM
1. Desk Research
The rise of AI-assisted hiring technologies presents opportunities and challenges, & efficient HR operations and practices are crucial for mitigating financial losses.
6 Research papers were reviewed and the collected data suggested that although employment growth is sluggish and inflation is rising, there remains a significant need for labor.
75% of qualified candidates get rejected
by ATS system(that 94% organizations use) because of incorrect CV formatting.
A firm found out that the ATS software marked 3 of their top 5 employees’ resumes as irrelevant and screened them out of the process.
2. User Interviews
The recruitment process lacks human connection and often leaves candidates longing for direct communication, leading to frustration and uncertainty regarding their applications.
Interviews were conducted with three recruiters and three job-seekers
There are shortages for some job positions in the industry because people are unaware of them and do not understand the job descriptions adequately.
Some positions go unfilled despite the fact that all big and small organizations use strategies to get people to apply for their jobs.
3. Competitive Analysis
Job seekers have to navigate inaccurate suggestions and spend a lot of time creating a perfect job application.
To serve as the foundation of our product explorations, we looked at other applications that are very popular among users to find jobs and make job applications. The main motive of this analysis was to find out if the present products are helping the user get a job efficiently.
Indeed
Inaccurate job Suggestions
These apps don't give accurate job suggestions to the users even after the user puts in all their information.
WayUp
Tedious job applications
The application processes are very long which then becomes time-consuming, tiring and long
DEFINING THE PROBLEM
Pain Points
1
Tedious administrative tasks for recruiters
2
Candidates getting overlooked
3
Confusing job posts, inconsistent job titles
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4
Delayed responses leads to inhumane process
Problem Definition
“How might we reduce the unidentified competent candidates and make the job search process more humane?”
IDEATION
Key product requirement
Product requirements were developed to address the pain points which were discovered from our research:
1
Bridging the gap by matching the needs of both recruiter and candidate by minimizing
the efforts to source suitable candidates and reducing operations.
2
Minimizing the number of overlooked candidates by hiring managers.
3
Reduce the candidate's hassle of getting connected to the right recruiters and vice-versa
4
Building strategies to get candidates to apply for the right kind of jobs.
Brainstorming
50 ideas were generated keeping the product requirement in mind such most of the ideas were fresh and unique.
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The Solution
Connecting candidates and recruiters by matching their job preferences for different job roles.
Key Features
1
Setting up job preferences by both candidates and recruiters
4
Connecting candidates and recruiters via chat.
2
Personalized job suggestions for candidates based on their preferences.
5
List of potential candidates for recruiters based on their preferences.
3
Feedback on rejection from the Recruiter.
6
Filter option to adjust the recruiters' preferences and give them a list of preferred talents.
How the tool works?
THE SOLUTION
Prototype
Recruiter's interface
Job-seeker's interface
Recruiter’s Interface
Preference setting
The recruiter sets up preferences, which consist of location, experience, skills, tools, soft skills, the type of candidate they are looking for, with the key activities they want in a candidate for the job role.
Here, they don’t have to type anything; they just have to choose the options from the drop-down list. There is no keyword matching.​
Potential Candidates
After setting up the preferences, the system gives out a list of potential candidates with percentage matches. The filters in HireMate will allow the recruiter to adjust their preferences and give them a list of best-suited talents.
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The recruiters will only reach out to the candidates which fit best for that job role and adjust the filters based on their requirements.
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Dashboard
The recruiter's dashboard will have all the potential candidates to reach out to for all the posted job roles.
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Candidate profile page
The Candidate Profile page will have all the preferences and needs the recruiter is looking for in a candidate. Based on that, he will reach out to the candidate or make his decision using chat. The system enables the recruiter to make a wise decision to accept or reject a candidate and give feedback.
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Potential candidates for the job
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Candidate's job application
(Not focused on resume)
Chat box
Recruiters can reach out to the candidates they are interested in for different job roles.
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Job-seeker’s Interface
Preference setting
Instead of using the traditional method of applying for a job with resumes, we are letting the candidates set up their job preferences by feeding their experience, skills, education, etc, into the system along with the key activities they want to perform in their new job.
Here, they don’t have to type anything; they just have to choose the options from the drop-down list. There is no keyword matching.
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Dashboard
After setting up the preferences, the system gives the candidate Personalized Job Suggestions along with the percentage match, and they can apply for the job with the Apply button.
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Our system will not eliminate resumes, it will be still there and candidates can apply with their resumes but here we are focusing more on preference matching.
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Past Job Applications
This page will show the status of the previously applied jobs.
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Chat box
The candidate can get inbound from a Recruiter and the chat also gets activated when someone is getting connected to a recruiter.
USABILITY TESTING
Improvement of the interaction design of the system was done to keep it according to industry standards
The prototype was evaluated by UX experts and the users in order the get a comprehensive insight of the product’s UX and getting validation of the product from the users.
Findings: UX Experts
Round 1 testing
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No Skip option on the onboarding process
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No visibility of system status
Round 2 testing
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Some components are not consistent with industry standards (e.g., filters on the right side)
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Interaction design-related issues (e.g., click-over hover, inconsistent use of dropdowns, etc.)
Findings: Users
Round 1 testing
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Privacy concerns for candidates as all recruiters have access to their data.
Round 2 testing
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Need for integrating with existing platforms recruiters use for hiring
FINAL THOUGHTS
Next steps
1
Making the system learn to understand the most prominent reasons for rejects, and giving feedback suggestions to recruiters when rejecting a candidate.
4
Building trust for recruiters and job-seekers to use the system.
2
Integrating recruiters’ calendars to avoid jumping around different tools.
5
Integrating with existing hiring platforms.
3
Research and find more data to evolve preferences for best matching.
6
Integrating chat box with SMS, emails, etc.
Impact
HireMate focuses on matching the preferences of both job-seekers and recruiters than focusing on the resumes, which solves the problem of the ATS systems screening out qualified candidates just because they can't read the resumes
"As a recruiter I do believe that this new concept in hiring candidates would be really useful for us to find the perfect candidate whose preferences match with the company."
"Tailoring my resume for each job application is a tedious process! I would love to use this system where I don't need to make new resumes for every job I apply to."
"On different job boards I get job suggestions for which I don't even have any qualifications or experience for and that is very frustrating when I apply for new positions. But here I can see that I have a % match with every job suggestion which I feel is excellent."
Learnings
This project for me has been the most interesting one by far with lot for learning curves. Here are a few things which I learnt in this course of this project:
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Importance of getting user feedback on the solutions before moving forward with high-fidelity design.
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“Why this?”- Questioning my design decisions.
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Conducting evaluations of the designs with the experts can be game changer.
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Not getting too attached with my designs.
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Importance of iterating.