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Crafting a streamlined applicant tracking system for hiring managers
Introduction
Tribepad is one of the UK’s leading Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), offering sophisticated recruitment and onboarding solutions for prominent brands like the BBC, NHS and Tesco. This project was designed to empower hiring managers, a key stakeholder, by providing a comprehensive overview of candidates and facilitating seamless actions. In early 2020, I was tasked with developing a Kanban system to streamline the candidate progression process. This initiative emerged from a critical need identified by our lead product manager, who recognised the necessity for a more agile application to enhance candidate processing efficiency for hiring managers.
Client
Tribepad
Project Type
Web
Project Duration
3 Months
Project Details
Figma
Miro
Google Slides
Whimsical
Challenges
Our lead product manager in response to feedback from customers experiencing bottlenecks in the candidate processing workflow for hiring managers. While this case study will not disclose all details due to proprietary considerations, I will provide an overview of the design process and key design elements to accurately represent the project.
Goal One - Facilitate seamless processing of applicants by consolidating key functions onto a single page.
Goal Two - Simplify the presentation of candidates' application status, profiles, and interactions.
Goal Three - Streamline the user interface to enhance the overall hiring manager experience.
Problem statement
How might we design new user experiences for hiring managers to streamline the processes of shortlisting candidates, scheduling interviews and sending job offers more efficiently, considering that these managers often have busy schedules and limited time?
User journey mapping
I developed a user journey that mapped the entire journey for a hiring managers key touch points, identifying key touchpoints for hiring managers. Collaborating with the PM, we prioritised critical areas such as interview scheduling, tracking candidate communications and automating interview coordination, which are essential features of an effective ATS. One major pain point identified was the lack of clear labelling for applicant stages. We addressed this by simplifying stage labels to ensure hiring managers could easily track candidate progress throughout the hiring process. One observation I made after this project was considering of user emotions, touch points and additional tasks that hiring managers may encounter. My redesigned user journey focused on empowering hiring managers to efficiently shortlist candidates, schedule interviews and send job offers. The primary goal was to create a seamless and intuitive experience that enables hiring managers to complete tasks more quickly and effectively.
Sketching an intuitive hiring process
Upon being assigned this project, I needed to understand the pain points of Hiring Managers (HMs) to identify areas for improvement in our existing ATS platform. I connected with several of our HM clients and conducted interviews to uncover key issues. Using the ‘How might we’ exercise, I reframed feedback and identified three core themes: automating communication with applicants, enhancing notifications for job openings, and improving UX interactions. In early discussions with project managers, we drew on insights from 'Don’t Make Me Think' written by Steve Krug, focusing on usability principles for efficient experiences. This inspired the development of a single-page experience to provide greater value for HMs. I explored various layout sketches, iterating on design components to find the most effective solution. Throughout the design process, I balanced functionality with a minimal design approach to make the hiring process intuitive. I carefully considered how to present candidates and how to simplify the review and progression of applicants for HMs. I mapped out the hiring journey, identifying key touch points and necessary functionalities to enhance the overall experience.
Key findings
The design allows hiring managers to view the status of each role at a glance and see all candidates in a unified view. It employs a Kanban system with columns representing each stage of the application process, providing a clear visual workflow. Integrated previews of candidate applications, including CVs and social media are available, making it easy to progress candidates through the hiring stages. In this ATS hiring manager board design, significant achievements include defining 12 hiring stages within five core buckets, which offer flexibility for custom steps and ensure a structured progression for applicants. The optimisation of the Applicant UI was critical, introducing efficient applicant cards and application pages that balance essential information with clear calls to action. Integration within the broader Tribepad product ecosystem was also a key focus, ensuring a seamless and cohesive user experience across platforms.
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What's next?
In this project, I developed structured hiring stages and enhanced the applicant UI, seamlessly integrating these improvements into the existing product ecosystem. This comprehensive effort involved close collaboration, skill refinement and navigating constraints, resulting in a user-centric design that maintained a cohesive user experience. Despite the project's broad scope, working within defined constraints allowed us to focus intently on the primary persona—Hiring Managers. This targeted approach streamlined the design process, enabling thoughtful considerations of layout, functionality and interactions. Consistency in user experience was maintained by adhering to the established design system and reviewing the existing design language. Ultimately, the project achieved its goals and provided valuable insights into teamwork and user-centered design. However, it also showed that the applicant card needed more usability testing and additional features to improve its interactivity.