Dynamic Candidate Profile
Tracking & simplifying candidate data through each stage of a dynamic hiring workflow.
Project Overview:
In early 2020, I was brought on as lead product designer to redesign and relaunch the core candidate profile experience, as part of a broader iCIMS initiative to update the product experience and workflow.
Envisioned as a way to track candidate data points through each and every stage of the hiring process (sourcing, interviewing, hiring, etc,) a successful candidate profile would need to be dynamic; adapting, expanding, tracking, and consolidating a wide variety of candidate data points over time as they become available.
The Problem:
Job candidates have numerous data points generated throughout the hiring process, which all need to be collected and presented in a single location where they can be readily and easily referenced by an iCIMS user in their current workflow.
A successful Dynamic Candidate Profile not only needs to collect and consolidate all of this candidate data in a central location, but it needs to serve as the the core experience which connects the wide array of different iCIMS product experiences together.
Client:
iCIMS
My Role:
Lead Product Designer
Tools Used:
Figma
iCIMS Design System
Launched:
November 2020
Design Goals:
Account for the wide range of iCIMS product workflows, features, and use cases in the revised experience.
Run regular design sprints and user testing sessions to collect and understand project needs and requirements.
Create a core experience which can be iterated and expanded in the coming years.
1. Primary Dashboard View
2. Communications View
3. TalentCloud AI View
Anatomy of the Dynamic Candidate Profile
1. Dynamic Profile Card: This card tracks the core candidate data points across the different areas of the iCIMS experience.
2. Job Experience / Resume View: An overview of the candidate’s job experience, presented in either an expandable timeline view, or a pdf view of the candidate’s resume (accessed via toggle.)
3. Notification Center: This widget collects and lists all of the latest/relevant candidate communications, expanding to accommodate up to four different sources.
4. Application View: Tracks the candidate’s most recent job application(s) in card format, expanding up to a maximum of three as needed.
5. Education & Certification: Includes only the candidate’s most recent/relevant education and certification for quick reference at a glance.
6. Applicant Highlights: This section displays key candidate data points, paired with readily accessible links for jumping into other sections of the workflow.
7. Recommended Jobs: Utilizing Talent Logic’s AI suggestions, this widget populates a constantly updated list of the most relevant jobs for the candidate.
Capturing project requirements and turning them into concept screens, wireframes, and prototypes.
As product designer, one of my many duties involved leading a series of regular design sprints with key project stakeholders where we’d collaborate on visions of what the Dynamic Candidate Profile could be, from which we’d iterate and ultimately agree upon what it should be. These decisions would be collected and recorded as our core stories, features, and project requirements.
From the structure and positioning of the nav bar, to the functionality and priority order of the different dashboard widgets, establishing the final design and functionality of the project was an incredibly iterative and collaborative process between design, product, and development.
One workspace, multiple workflows, and an ever changing profile tracked through each stage of the hiring experience.
While the primary dashboard was designed to fit the needs of each workflow, our designs accounted for two dramatically different profile workflows at the core of the Dynamic Candidate Profile’s experience: Prospective Candidates and Employee Candidates.
The Prospective Candidate
”Prospective” refers to any candidate in the hiring workflow coming from outside of the company, including: traditional applicants, those sourced through outside tools like LinkedIn or Indeed, and internal employee referrals.
The Employee Candidate
”Employee” refers to any candidate already in employment at the hiring company, and their candidacy is usually within the context of internal promotions, role changes, or department transfers.
While each candidate profile is clearly distinguished as one or the other, we designed the Dynamic Candidate Profile from the perspective of a tool that could track the same user’s journey from one type of candidacy to another.
For example, imagine a fresh hire who applies for three roles at a company, is hired for one of them, and then after working in that role for a year they decide to apply for an internal transfer. Their profile would not only track their journey, but emphasize the right pieces of data for each stage of their journey.
2020: the year of fully remote user research and testing.
As you are probably already well aware, 2020 and the accompanying pandemic represented several big shifts in how workforces around the world conduct their business. While the design team at iCIMS was already set up for conducting remote interviews and testing, the shift to 100% remote work and using new tools like Zoom meant a fresh opportunity to revise and rethink the way we collect, analyze, and interpret feedback.
Regular check-ins with iCIMS clients: At least once a week, the design team would showcase an early preview of a tool or feature (via concepts or prototypes) to collect qualitative feedback from groups of iCIMS “power” users whom best represented the wide range of iCIMS users who’d eventually be using our work to do their jobs.
Live, remote user testing sessions: On a bi-weekly cadence, the design team would hold individualized testing sessions with hand-selected users from a wide range of iCIMS backgrounds, including sales engineers, HR managers, and talent sourcers. These sessions would generate valuable qualitative data points from which we would share amongst ourselves, test our assumptions, and iterate upon our designs.
True story: when iCIMS announced Trevor Noah and Mindy Kaling were going to be hosting the INSPIRE conference, I spent at least an entire week nervously looking over my screens and wondering how they’d look being presented by celebrities.
Launching in time for the big release:
INSPIRE 2020
Our project timeline had always been set for a Winter 2020 release, but about midway toward that goal it was announced that iCIMS would be hosting its first ever conference: INSPIRE. While I have worked on high profile projects before, the Dynamic Candidate Profile is the first project of mine to be a key conversation point at a company’s big conference — especially one with actual celebrities in attendance.
This didn’t significantly change the scope of the work already underway, but it did put pressure on us to not only have something ready to launch with (thankfully in an early release state) but also more forward facing designs to be shared publicly with iCIMS users.
In Conclusion:
This project was my quarantine baby, and I’m proud that my hard work will play a key role in the coming years helping real people get back to work.
As of 2021 the project has already been live for several months and will be regularly iterated upon in the coming years. I’ve since passed the torch along to another designer, and moved on to new projects of my own. Given the iterative nature of software as a service, I’m sure the Global Profile I helped design and build already looks even better than where I left it.
But beyond that, I’m incredibly grateful for everything I’ve learned in the trenches working alongside my fellow designers, as we each placed our respective cornerstones and laid a foundation for the new and improved iCIMS product experience.