CASE STUDY · WORKABLE
Letting recruiters act without leaving the candidate
I redesigned Workable’s candidate profile and hiring pipeline so recruiters could email, evaluate and move candidates in place.
ROLE
Product Designer
TEAM
2 PMs, 6 developers · stakeholders: 2 VPs of Engineering
TIMELINE
2019–2021
SURFACE
Web app · HR-tech B2B SaaS
AT A GLANCE
PROBLEM
After years of incremental changes, Workable’s core hiring view could no longer keep up with user expectations or performance standards.
Leaving the profile to act
Key details buried
Slow search at scale
SOLUTION
The candidate database, profile and pipeline became one flow, aligned with a design system that served 10+ product teams.
Act in the profile
Essentials first
Boolean search
IMPACT
3×
Faster CV uploads
600+
Survey responses from a 30+ customer beta
RESEARCH
Context switching, clutter and unreliable tools slowed recruiters down
Through interviews, usability sessions and daily shadowing of recruiters, we found the recurring pain points that shaped the redesign.
I lose focus jumping between tabs
Sending emails, logging evaluations, or updating candidate stages often required leaving the profile view.
Recruiters described this constant context switching as exhausting and disruptive to their workflow.
There’s too much noise on the screen
Key details were buried in disjointed sections with little hierarchy, forcing users to scan endlessly.
Many stressed the need for clarity and a cleaner information structure to speed up decisions.
I don’t trust the tools to work at scale
Bulk actions, advanced searches, and CV parsing often failed or lagged, especially in high-volume hiring.
Recruiters wanted reliable performance and confidence that the platform could handle their workload.
NORTH STAR
One rule guided every trade-off: fewer clicks, less switching
We agreed this north star early with business leadership and engineering.
Recruiters
FOCUS
Managing multiple open roles
NEEDS
Acting quickly without leaving the candidate view
Hiring managers
FOCUS
Faster decisions in interviews and offers
NEEDS
Quick overviews and clear evaluation signals
Agencies & enterprise clients
FOCUS
High-volume hiring across multiple jobs
NEEDS
Advanced search, reliable bulk actions and scalable performance
Design sprint
We kicked off with a 5-day design sprint, bringing together PMs, engineers, and designers. By the final day, we tested concepts with 5 recruiters — validating early assumptions and grounding the redesign in real user feedback.
Business alignment
We prioritized the high-friction workflows that most affected customer adoption and retention.
Design sprint board, day 2: Sketch
Design sprint board, day 3: Decide
EXPLORATION
From sprint sketches to tested flows
After the design sprint, I moved from mid- to high-fidelity wireframes to validate assumptions and refine flows. Using Workable’s evolving design system let us iterate quickly and keep UI patterns consistent across teams.
The goal
Reduce recruiter friction by surfacing the most actionable data upfront, minimizing clicks, and cutting down on context switching.
KEY DECISIONS
What stayed on screen, and what moved into panels
Where do actions live?
Instead of
Separate screens for email, evaluation and stage changes
Chose
Actions in-line, inside the profile
“I lose focus jumping between tabs.” Recruiters called the constant switching exhausting, so I brought emails, evaluations and data edits into the profile.
How is the profile structured?
Instead of
Disjointed sections with little hierarchy
Chose
Essentials first, plus a persistent overview panel on the right
“There’s too much noise on the screen.” I put status, activity and CV first, kept notes and the activity timeline in a right-side panel, and tucked secondary content into collapsible panels.
How do power users search?
Instead of
Advanced search that lagged at high volume
Chose
Boolean and dynamic filters across every candidate field
Agencies and enterprise clients hiring at high volume needed search they could rely on. I designed Boolean and dynamic filters so power users could search across all candidate fields.
Search flow iterations, v1 to v3
FINAL DESIGN
Three views, one continuous hiring flow
After several iterations and recruiter feedback sessions, Workable’s core hiring experience became three connected views — the Candidate Database, Hiring Pipeline and Candidate Profile — so recruiters could find, assess and move candidates in one flow.
Candidate database
A redesigned internal talent pool where recruiters can instantly search, filter, and re-engage past applicants across all jobs and departments. No more waiting for new candidates — every qualified profile is just a search away.
Candidate profile
A redesigned profile consolidates all relevant information — from CVs and feedback to communication history — in one continuous view.
Hiring pipeline
A consolidated workspace that merges evaluation, communication, and stage management into one persistent view, enabling faster, more confident hiring decisions.
The final prototype
Card sorting, tree testing and several rounds of clickable-prototype tests shaped the end-to-end flow, from the pipeline list to actions inside the profile.
RESULTS
Recruiters act in place, and CV uploads got 3× faster
The redesigned candidate profile and pipeline, Workable’s most-used feature, replaced the old view after years of research, testing and betas.
3× faster CV uploads
Removed a major bottleneck for high-volume hiring.
Actions in place
Emailing, evaluating and moving candidates, without leaving the profile.
600+ beta survey responses
Tested in a beta with 30+ customers before it replaced the old view.
Raphael was a reliable team player, always open to feedback and eager to collaborate and refine ideas.
Korina Anna Loumidi, VP of Design at Workable (Lead UX Researcher when we worked together)
