In 2019, as I was coming off of maternity leave, my manager reached out and asked if I'd want to lead UX for a new (often talked about) mobile app for Hireology. I was ready for a new opportunity and challenge, and since mobile had always been my thing, it felt like a great next step for my career. In previous years, I had been a champion for improving our mobile web experience, designing mobile-first, advocating for mobile to be baked into the QA process, etc. So, of course I said yes, and a couple of weeks later I was back and ready to dive in.

I quickly learned that as far as strategy went, there was none. Personally, I was pleased to hear that leadership wasn't dictating the solution and I was excited about the opportunity to be influential in setting the overall vision and strategy for mobile. In partnership with our UX Researcher, we planned and conducted interviews with customers and non-customers in the hiring space. We sought to gain a better understanding of who is most likely to benefit from a mobile app, and when and why a person might turn to mobile to complete hiring tasks. I used wireframes and eventually mockups to test early ideas and approaches. And I learned the ins and outs of native app design so that I could be an informed and helpful partner to our iOS and Android engineers.

Research revealed that many users struggled with the often-arduous task of reviewing applicants. For some users, it was the issue of not knowing who to review next, and for others, it was a bottle neck in the process that needed to be streamlined. In addition, many Hireology users do not advance or decline their applicants, and ultimately never click hire (even when a hire has been made).

And from our research, a strategy was born. Our target user became the hiring manger and/or recruiter who was most in need of a mobile solution that helped them "keep the process moving." In order to more successfully engage with these non-decision-maker end users, we needed to make the process easier and meet them where they are.

We determined that reviewing an applicant was a major pain point for hiring managers and recruiters, however it is the critical first step in the hiring funnel and used by most of our active user base. So we hypothesized: If Hireology implements an applicant review mobile app, then users will make a decision on applicants in a more timely manner and will have an improved user experience because they are able to do it when and where it is convenient for them.

With confidence in our strategy and commitment to delivering a valuable MVP, I designed and created a pleasant and easy-to-use experience for both iOS and Android. Users are able to easily log in and see their recent applicants, review them all at once or by job, communicate with them via SMS and email, and easily decline or advance those applicants and send them timely follow-up communication.

Through research, design iterations, usability testing, and close partnerships with product and engineering, I was able to help solve a big problem for our users and provide runway for the business. Now over one year past launch, we continue to roll out new features that help hiring managers get their jobs done more efficiently. The mobile app is currently seeing a 10% adoption rate across our entire user base and approximately 35% adoption rate for our hiring manager user types. Most notably, our applicant review feature has decreased 'time to review' from 3 days to less than 1 day.