01. Workshop
Initial kickoff workshop with stakeholders, planning key topics and direction.
Project capabilities
Chapter 1
The Brief
As one of the tentpole names in the recruitment CRM’s, JobAdder need no introduction – an industry that requires highly technical and customisable functionality, and a virtually infinite breadth of integrations and features, whilst also needing to be intuitive, simple and pleasurable to use for recruiters at any level of proficiency.
This project was undertaken during my time at Melbourne's premium Web Design Agency, BJM Digital.
The brief was simple and clear:
- UX / User research for a baseline of usage, needs and opportunities for growth
- Define personas – establishing their goals, needs, and usage of the platform
- Reshape branding to feel more bespoke, user-friendly
- Simplify website flows, highlighting most used and unique features
Chapter 2
Research
What did we know,
and what do we think?
Knowledge
- Widely known by nearly all recruitment agencies
- Also used by smaller agencies, but with less focus on add-ons and integrations
- ‘Tells’, rather than ‘shows’
- Doesn’t show ‘how’ it will fix issues for recruiter or candidate
Assumptions
- Utilised across the board by agencies of all sizes agencies
- Considered medium-sized in the space
- Hidden pricing seen as a deliberate, tactical decision
- Focus on volume over quality candidates
- The platform is FAST – not promoted enough!
Process
The research was a qualitative series of interviews sourced from 5 Australian recruitment agencies – from boutique to national established corporates.
Working alongside the client, we liaised with a broad range of recruiters – and more importantly, with different styles and levels of software automation.
Insights
Further investigation into the environments of recruiters in the form of both relatable, personable interviews as well as usability and perception activities revealed a vast array of responses to JobAdder’s platform, and on further digging, their brand voice.
General insight
Loved by larger agencies, but disliked by many boutiques
- High-volume recruiters loved the platform, as it offered them virtually infinite integrations & automations to reach volume quickly
- The smaller, boutique and in-house recruiters steered away from the platform as the functionality and brand voice felt they were actively ignoring agencies who weren’t in the ‘big boy’ league.
General view
Smaller agencies frustrated by lack of customisation
- Boutique agencies know their specialisation is niche, knowledgable and specifically caring of their candidates.
- Needs are wide and varied; one size does not fit all
- They also felt looked down on or marginalised by larger recruitment CRMs, who seemed to only prioritise volume & automation.
(Keeping in mind – this was just the users’ perception, and may not reflect what JA’s priorities really were)
Internal perspective
JobAdder viewed themselves as medium-sized, bespoke
- From a business perspective, JobAdder saw their market position as a medium-scaled SaaS platform, wanting to utilise this brand refresh as a step-up to the large league.
- This was a great opportunity to realign customer sentiment with their own, displaying the strengths and vast flexibility of the platform.
Decision time
From this, our advice was that they could focus on the current existing audience, or pivot.
Option A | Consolidate
Embracing the larger corporate agencies’ positioning and move forward solely as a bulk recruitment platform. This would mean a clearer product roadmap, cutting back on support & ticket count, as well as simpler pricing tiers.
– or –
Option B | Pivot
Catering to the smaller audiences – who, despite being significantly smaller in staff count, were highly numerous, and represented a significant percentage of the pie as a whole.
Based on the qualitative study, the decision was made to pivot, addressing boutiques as a specific user persona.
This meant folding in boutiques agencies as a new and major persona type into the user flows, addressing their unique needs & requirements.
Chapter 3
Design
Streamlined navigation
Targeted personas personas
While there is one end product to be sold – each agency works differently, prioritises different features, and needs to know the platform will work for them.
1. Agency Personas
Targeted agency personas to streamline the user journey for each agency type, scale & workflow.
2. Floated features
Floated pages & articles are one of the best ways putting the right content in front of the right user, especially in the top nav, where users are specifically searching and exploring for tailored content.
Stylised UI displays
Showing the workings
Considerable users remarked that there weren’t enough visuals showing how the platform works.
Based on this feedback, far more stylised elements show off the platform & its features, designed by WolfKing and JobAdders’ internal creative team.
Far more illustrations, displays & animations utilised throughout the site showing the functionality, flexibility & ease of use.
Simplified UI illustrations provided by external agencies as part of JobAdder’s brand refresh.
Illustrations
Creative branding
As part of JobAdder’s rebrand, which was running in parallel with the site redesign, branded elements were created by Dave King’s team at WolfKing.
One of the elements that really stood out were the hand designs – these were a great unique visual mix of bespoke personality, and unique branding, highlighting JobAdder’s simplicity of use. Our recommendation was to push farther in this direction, and create 12-15 separate iterations of these gestures for use across all collateral.
Chapter 4
Outcomes
JobAdder’s multi-phase rebrand and redesign won multiple awards, including SaaS Awards’ Best Product for Recruitment in 2023.
From simplified user flows, unified branding across all collateral, and an internal and externally-aligned understanding of their brand positioning and direction, JobAdder truly did move into another league, establishing themselves as the market leaders in the recruitment space.
2003 SaaS awards
Best SaaS Product for Recruitment was awarded to JobAdder in the SaaS Awards’ 8th annual event.
Faster responses
Far more uptake of demo requests and customer engagement, increasing sales, market share and brand authority.
Greater user experience
From site use, to user feedback based on the research, users love how flexible and adaptive JobAdder has been for their agency.
Stronger brand presence
Unified visual and tonal marketing across the site and other collateral shows the top-tier level of JobAdder’s product platform & support team.
