Design Consulting at Cornell ยท 2024โ€“2025

Redesigning a Job Recruitment Platform

Hiring had become fragmented across both sides of the marketplace. I redesigned the recruiter and candidate experiences to reduce friction and create a more connected hiring workflow.

Product DesignerPlatform Redesign2 PMs ยท 3 Engineers ยท 5 Designers

Before

Original Algolink interface

After

Redesigned interface

Surface Ask

Redesign the UI for two user types

Underlying Problem

Two audiences with conflicting needs, no shared design language, no feedback loops

โฑ 3-month timeline๐Ÿ‘ฅ 2 user types, 1 platform๐Ÿ”ง Developer handoff continuity

3 insights that shaped every decision

Via user interviews + competitive audit of 4 platforms

๐Ÿ’ฌ

"Candidates go dark after applying"

Zero post-apply status visibility

โ†’ Design for in-progress states, not just empty/full

๐Ÿ“ง

"Recruiters live in email"

Managers bypassed the tool

โ†’ Reduce platform-switching cost

๐Ÿ”—

"Referrals are high-signal but untracked"

Top hiring path had no structure

โ†’ Surface referral pipeline as first-class feature

What we chose โ€” and what we didn't

Solution

User Impact

Feasibility

Scope Risk

Full dual-dashboard redesign

High

Low

High

Unified navigation + in-app notifications

SHIPPED

High

High

Medium

Email integration only

Medium

High

Low

Referral tracking module

Medium

Medium

Low

Status dashboard widget

Low

High

Low

"We deprioritized the full dual-dashboard redesign due to scope risk โ€” but it would be first to revisit."

The redesign

01

Consumer View

Streamlined test preparation and status tracking for job candidates, replacing a fragmented experience with clear progress indicators and actionable next steps.

Consumer View โ€” Test Center with progress tracking

Streamlined test preparation and progress tracking for candidates

02

Enterprise View

Streamlined referral tracking and applicant pipeline for hiring managers, with stage-based filtering, bulk actions, and clear status indicators.

Enterprise View โ€” Recruitment Pipeline with stage tracking

Streamlined referral tracking and applicant pipeline for hiring managers

03

Design System

Cohesive component library built to support both consumer and enterprise interfaces with shared design tokens.

Design system โ€” colors, typography, border radius
Design system โ€” buttons, icons, inputs
Design system โ€” components, rows, modals

Cohesive component library built to support both consumer and enterprise views

Results

94%

completed tasks without help

โ†‘ from 62% baseline

86%

rated interface a major improvement

"Tested with a small participant group โ€” longitudinal testing would strengthen confidence in these findings."

What I'd do differently

๐Ÿ”ฌ

More research rounds

One usability pass isn't enough to validate a two-sided marketplace

๐ŸŽจ

Design system first

Should have been established week 1, not retrofitted mid-project

๐Ÿ“Š

Business metrics

I'd push to tie UX wins to recruiter retention or time-to-hire, not just task success

hover to grow flowers โœฟ

Maddie Cho ยฉ 2024

โœฆDesigned with care