As Indeed Flex, I hide jobs from non-interviewed candidates so that I don’t waste resources enrolling candidates for positions for which I already have enough interviewed candidates.
AI strategy and product discovery for a high-growth staffing platform
Below is a selection of the AI strategy and product discovery work I contributed to:
- Candidate app (B2C): Workers register, apply for jobs, manage shifts, track earnings and view their ratings.
- Employer portal (B2B): Employers manage venues, post jobs, recruit candidates and control recruitment budgets.
- Recruiter portal (B2E): Recruiters move candidates through the whole hiring process, from interview to job booking.
Generic user research
To address the platform’s challenges, I implemented two initiatives: creating a comprehensive service blueprint and developing recruiter personas. These efforts were designed to streamline workflows, align teams, and ensure the platform was optimised for user needs.
Service blueprint initiative
Enhancing efficiency and collaboration
- Mapping the entire ecosystem: I developed a comprehensive service blueprint that mapped the end-to-end process of Indeed Flex. This blueprint clarified the user journey and also identified pain points across various touchpoints.
- Uncovering gaps and inefficiencies: The service blueprint revealed bottlenecks in workflows, redundant features, and disjointed user experiences.
- Simplifying Onboarding: The blueprint provided a clear, shared vision of how the service operated, simplifying onboarding for new team members.
Recruiter persona initiative
Fostering cross-functional alignment
- Creating detailed, actionable personas: I developed in-depth recruiter personas, capturing their goals, challenges, and workflows. This allowed the team to align product decisions with real user needs, ensuring that features were aligned with the business vision as well as users’ expectations
- Empathy-building workshops: Organised collaborative workshops to educate PMs, POs, and engineers on recruiter personas and their needs, fostering empathy and alignment across teams.
- Shared foundations: A service blueprint and recruiter personas now used by PMs, POs and engineers to prioritise features.
Service blueprint
Personas
Workshop
Worker app audit
The worker app streamlines job search, applications, scheduling, and communication, simplifying staffing management for workers and employers.
Problem statement
UX/UI issues affecting user engagement
- Negative feedback: The worker app received overwhelmingly negative reviews from users.
- Navigation challenges: Users struggled with confusing navigation and disjointed flows, making critical tasks difficult to complete.
- UX/UI dysfunction: Numerous design flaws caused frustration and reduced trust in the app.
- Low engagement: These issues led to low worker satisfaction and limited interaction with the platform.
Solution
Improving usability and engagement
- User flow mapping: Mapped out all user flows to better understand the app’s functionality and identify pain points.
- Expert review: Conducted an expert review to pinpoint critical UX/UI issues and areas requiring improvement.
- Prioritisation: Prioritized fixes based on their impact and complexity, addressing the most critical issues first.
- Streamlined journey: Proposed solutions to streamline navigation and improve task completion flows.
- Enhanced usability: Delivered a more intuitive and user-friendly app, resulting in higher engagement, improved reviews, and a stronger overall worker experience.
Expert review
Streamlining the acquisition journey
The review focused on the acquisition journey, which includes the process from sign-in to job search, application, interview, and onboarding.
Expert review output
Pain points and recommendations prioritisation
Pain points identified
Lengthy Sign-Up Process
- Issue: The sign-up process is lengthy, requiring multiple steps and partner app registration.
- Impact: This creates friction and discourages users from completing the process.
Disjointed Job Search Experience
- Issue: Users struggle to view jobs, with no guidance when no results are found.
- Impact: The search feels incomplete, with limited filter flexibility and no solutions when no jobs match.
Complicated Application Flow
- Issue: The application process is cumbersome with redundant forms and screens.
- Impact: This leads to frustration and drop-offs due to unclear document requirements and status tracking.
Inefficient Interview Scheduling
- Issue: Poor communication and delays in interview scheduling cause confusion.
- Impact: Real-time notification delays lead to uncertainty around interview timing and next steps.
Fragmented Onboarding Experience
- Issue: Onboarding tasks are scattered across sections, making it difficult for new users to stay organized.
- Impact: This results in incomplete profiles, low engagement, and lack of motivation.
Lack of Timely User Feedback
- Issue: Users don’t receive timely or actionable feedback at key stages.
- Impact: This creates anxiety and leaves users unsure about their progress.
Poor UX/UI Design
- Issue: The app’s dated and unintuitive design hampers navigation and task completion.
- Impact: Poor design leads to frustration, inefficiency, and abandonment.
Recommendations prioritisation
High priority:
- Simplify job search and application flow:
Streamline the search process by consolidating filters and improving search relevance.
Reduce the number of steps in the application process, with clear guidance on required documents and next steps. - Enhance interview scheduling and communication:
Introduce real-time notifications and integrate interview scheduling with calendar apps to provide better clarity.
Improve communication about interview details (e.g., time, location, expectations).
Medium priority:
- Revamp onboarding process:
Consolidate onboarding tasks into a more cohesive flow, with clear milestones and progress tracking.
Provide actionable feedback throughout onboarding to keep workers engaged and motivated. - Improve application status tracking:
Introduce a simple, transparent system to allow users to track their application and interview status in real-time.
Low priority:
- Optimize sign-in and registration experience:
Simplify the registration process and reduce the steps required for sign-in. Consider integrating third-party login options (e.g., Google, LinkedIn) to improve user onboarding. -
Redesign the app:
Focus on a clean, modern interface, intuitive navigation, and consistent visual elements that enhance the user experience and usability.
Optimising the job posting experience for employers
Job posting is the process by which employers create and publish job listings to attract candidates. It involves outlining the role, qualifications, and expectations, as well as the required schedule and number of workers needed.
Problem
Inflexible & inefficient job posting flow
- Fragmented flow: Information is spread across screens, requiring users to piece together the process and recall previous inputs.
- Cognitive overload: Unclear steps present too many job details at once, making it hard for users to focus and process the content.
- Disrupted path: Editing requires leaving the current step and backtracking, breaking continuity.
- Lost direction: Users lack visible progression cues, leading to disengagement and support calls.
Solution
Enhanced efficiency, flexibility, and usability of the job posting
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Step cards: Content is broken into three sequential cards, each exposing only the details needed for that moment.
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Beacon labels: Clear titles (“Job Details,” “Review Cost,” “Post”) act as step beacons, keeping users oriented.
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Inline edits: Edits happen within the active card, maintaining flow and eliminating back-tracking.
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Visible progress: Progress is shown at a glance—users advance with confidence and minimal cognitive load.
Highlights
A structured process with two key steps: Job, where the role, location, and requirements are clearly outlined, and Schedule, where dates, shift patterns, and exceptions are established.
Enhanced flexibility: Users can now create schedules with customisable patterns and exceptions all in one place, reducing repetition and simplifying the process.
Simplified screens: Each screen provides focused content to avoid overwhelming users.
Calendar visualisation: A clear view of shifts and exceptions before confirmation. This helps verify schedules and identify errors.
Efficiency for all users: Options like duplicating past jobs or using templates allow advanced users to save time, while first-time users benefit from a guided, intuitive flow.
Results and metrics
Empowering employers to reduce reliance on operational team and recruiters
Higher engagement (+15–25%)
Simplified workflows boost job post-completion rates and reduce drop-offs, limiting the need for operational follow-ups.
Lower operational dependence (-25–30% requests)
With fewer support needs, operational costs decrease while scalability improves.
Improved usability (+20–30% satisfaction)
User-friendly navigation and advanced features empower employers to post confidently and accurately.
Job interview discoveries and improvements
Goal
Optimising the interview process
The primary objective of this research was to streamline the interview process, reducing both time-to-interview and hiring costs. To achieve this, we focused on exploring automation opportunities (interviews without recruiters) and identifying areas for greater efficiency.
Phase 1
Exploring interview efficiency
In the initial phase, we conducted shadowing sessions and interviews with recruiters, alongside surveying job seekers, to assess the current interview process. This helped us identify key pain points, inefficiencies, and opportunities for improvement, particularly in automating parts of the process.
Phase 2
Implementing improvements
In the second phase, we applied the insights gained from the interviews to refine the interview workflow. This included testing and iterating on potential automation solutions to make the process more efficient, and user-friendly for both recruiters and candidates.
Recruiter interview compilation
Recruiter interview shadowing summary
Research summary and outputs
Opportunity 1
Self severed onboarding to stream the interview process
Under onboarding, we regrouped all the tasks that candidates had to complete before their first shift:
- Account setup (profile, job experiences, bank details, etc.)
- Training (tutorials, walkthroughs, etc.)
- Compliance and administrative requirements (form completion, identity verification, document uploads, etc.)
Problem
Fragmented onboarding and interview
Pain points
- Inefficient information handling during the interview: Recruiters sent candidates links for onboarding document uploads and onboarding form completion during interviews. They also manually entered job experience.
- Disorganised onboarding tasks: Tasks were scattered both inside and outside the app, with some occurring before, during, or after the interview.
Impact
- Recruiters: Wasted time, increased workload, and frustration.
- Candidates: Difficulty tracking progress and understanding next steps, leading to a stressful experience and drop offs.
- Business: Increased costs due to inefficiencies and negative impact on the company’s reputation.
Opportunity
Streamline the interview and onboarding process to save time, reduce friction, improve clarity, and enhance the company’s reputation with a modern, user-friendly hiring experience.
Solution
Centralising all onboarding tasks into a hub
- We consolidated all onboarding tasks, both within and outside the candidate app, into a single, easy-to-navigate Onboarding section.
- Additionally, we made onboarding tasks self-serve, allowing candidates to complete them at their own pace.
The Job page is the Onboarding starting point:
- On each job page, the necessary onboarding is listed.
- Onboarding is triggered whenever a user applies for a job that requires it.
The Onboarding is sequential:
- Tasks are structured in a specific order, unlocking step by step to maintain a clear, organised, and logical progression.
- Onboarding tasks are grouped by job roles.
The Onboarding has its own section:
- Incomplete onboardings can be accessed from Home and resumed in the Onboarding section.
- Once a job onboarding is completed, it is marked as ‘Complete‘.
A centralised onboarding management platform for recruiters
A comprehensive list of all onboarding tasks, both completed and incomplete, searchable by candidate, task, employer, date, status, and more.
Key features:
- Task monitoring: Recruiters can efficiently track candidates’ task progression, ensuring they are on track to complete onboarding.
- Candidate support: Easily identify candidates who are blocked and provide the necessary support to prepare them for their shifts.
- Quick validation: Recruiters can quickly verify and validate candidate submissions, streamlining the process.
Results and metrics
Streamlined onboarding for reduced costs and faster candidate readiness
Reduced interview duration (-30%–60%) and recruiter workload
- Centralising document uploads and forms into a self-serve onboarding hub significantly reduced the interview time and post-interview assistance.
- Improved efficiency lowered operational costs and allowed recruiters to focus on high-value activities.
Faster candidate readiness and completion rates (+15-20%)
- Onboarding tasks became self-serve within the app and enhanced engagement, ensuring a steady pipeline of job-ready candidates.
- Reduced bottlenecks and delays, minimising candidate drop-offs by 10%.
Opportunity 2
Reduce non-relevant interviews with a more transparent job search
The current job visibility mechanism restricts users who haven’t passed a successful interview from seeing all jobs. They can only view roles that Indeed Flex struggles to recruit for, leading to dissatisfaction and increased support queries.
Problem
The job visibility paradox
As Indeed Flex…
As a candidate…
As a candidate who hasn’t been interviewed yet, I don’t see any or many jobs on the app:
- I contact the support team to report what I believe is a technical issue so that I can access and explore all available opportunities.
- I apply for any available job to be interviewed so that I can speak with the recruiter and inquire about additional opportunities.
Approach
Addressing the paradox
How might we…
- How might we rebuild trust in job search outcomes to prevent non-interviewed candidates from contacting support and recruiters?
- How might we ensure non-interviewed candidates apply only for relevant, specific jobs?
We believe that…
We believe that by implementing the following solutions, we can address the job visibility paradox effectively:
- Job transparency: Allow candidates to view all job listings but indicate which roles they are eligible/ineligible for.
- Helpful job search: Provide candidates with recommendations and tools to improve their chances of securing a position.
- Self-interview tool: Allow candidates to interview directly in-app, reducing the interview cost.
Design
A transparent job search without dead ends
Search results are helpful and transparent:
- If no jobs are currently available, the platform provides tips and alternative suggestions.
- The job listing showcases all available roles with clear labels indicating candidate eligibility or ineligibility for each position.
- An email alert can be set for each role.
Hiring soon label in job page:
- These jobs are temporarily closed but will reopen for hiring in the future.
- Candidates can explore the job details and sign up for alerts to be notified immediately when the position becomes available again.
Missing qualifications label in job page:
- These jobs are currently unavailable for application due to missing qualifications.
- Candidates can view the required onboarding tasks, complete them, and unlock eligibility to apply for the position.
Additionally, we tested a candidate screening process as an alternative to interviews
We introduced a pre-screening questionnaire to replace interviews for certain jobs. Candidates who met key criteria were invited to onboard (if necessary) and book the job, while others were encouraged to continue searching for relevant opportunities.
Benefits
Time to hire
The time to hire was significantly reduced from 3-4 days to just a few minutes, streamlining the process and decreasing its cost.
Engagement & completion rates
Onboarding completion rates improved, and candidate drop-off during recruitment decreased, indicating better engagement.
Quality & satisfaction
While overall satisfaction remained positive, a slight increase in candidates not showing up for shifts led to some employer dissatisfaction.
Opportunity 3
AI-powered interview management for recruiters
The hiring process is revolutionised with AI-assisted interview automation. Recruiters save time by letting AI handle interviews and generate detailed outputs. Final hiring decisions remain in recruiters’ hands, supported by clear, data-driven insights.
User stories
AI Assistant, not substitution
- As a recruiter, I want a streamlined way to review both AI-assisted and traditional interview results, supported by AI-generated expertise reports, so that I can evaluate candidates quickly and make informed decisions.
- As a Indeed Flex, I want recruiters to be able to play interview video/audio recordings so that they can verify transcripts and ensure the AI-generated insights are accurate before making a final decision.
MVP design
AI-generated interview outputs to help decision-making
Interview dashboard
A centralised list of interviews, searchable by:
- Interview stage (e.g., requires recruiter review, recruiter review completed).
- Candidates, employers, roles, or AI matching scores.
Interview breakdown
- Recruiters can view how well a candidate matches the job requirements.
- Access highlighted interview segments that contributed to the AI matching score for deeper insights.
Recruiter decision
- Recruiters can add notes, certify candidates, and seamlessly move to the next interview.
- Option to return to the dashboard for continued efficiency and streamlined workflow.
Benefits for recruiter
Streamlining hiring with AI and automation
Time savings
Automate interviews while retaining control over decisions.
Enhanced decision-making
Leverage AI expertise reports to evaluate candidates faster and with more confidence and consistancy.
Transparency
Verify AI outputs with video/audio playback for trust and reliability.
Streamlined workflow
Navigate effortlessly between interview dashboards and candidate profiles for maximum efficiency.
Transparent penalty & reward system
Goal
Establish clear consequences and incentives to enhance reliability, engagement, and competitiveness
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Operational impact: Unreliable worker behaviour — such as no-shows, late cancellations, and low ratings — disrupts platform reliability and negatively affects employer satisfaction. Clear guidelines help maintain a dependable workforce.
- Competitive disadvantage: In a competitive market where multiple platforms offer similar job opportunities, the absence of transparent incentives and consequences makes it harder to attract and retain top candidates.
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Reduced engagement: Without clear rewards and consequences, workers may feel undervalued and uncertain about expectations. This can lead to frustration, mistrust, and decreased long-term commitment, ultimately weakening platform engagement and retention.
Solution
A fair penalty and reward system
Introducing a transparent system with penalties to improve accountability and reduce disruptions.
- Point deductions: Each missed shift results in a clear deduction of points, with consequences tied directly to user status.
- Progression from “No Risk” to “Ban”: Users progress through stages based on missed shifts, from with increasing penalties for repeated offences.
- Appeal and redemption opportunities: Users can appeal penalties, offering a second chance to correct their behaviour and remain engaged with the platform.
Alongside penalties, the system rewards workers who consistently meet expectations.
- Bonus points: Users who consistently show up for their shifts are rewarded with bonus points that can improve their status and unlock additional benefits.
- Recognition and incentives: Top-performing users with low or no no-shows will be highlighted, incentivizing responsible behaviour and fostering a positive community atmosphere.
- Promotions and benefits: Users who maintain a high level of reliability will be eligible for special rewards, such as higher pay rates, preferred shifts, or other platform perks.
Design
Rewarding user behaviour
Multiple entry points, including emails, out-of-app notifications, the home page, and the profile section, display the reward level.
On the Rewards page, users can view both their current rewards and the point breakdown that led to each reward.
Users can also view a history of all actions that contributed to positive or negative points.
Penalising user misbehaviour with appeal
If too many negative actions occur, the Reward page displays warning messages based on the severity of the negative actions.
Clear guidance and details are provided for negative actions, with an option for the user to appeal if they believe the penalty was applied in error.
The subtle appeal button guides the user to a form where they can express their concerns. Once submitted, the appeal is reviewed and responded to.
Expected metrics
Impact of penalty & reward system on user behaviour and engagement
Reduction in no-shows and late cancellations (+15–25%)
By implementing a transparent penalty system, the rate of no-shows and late cancellations is expected to drop, as users will be more accountable for their actions. The tiered penalty system and the threat of escalating consequences should encourage more reliable behaviour, reducing disruptions and improving employer satisfaction.
Increased user engagement and retention (+10–20%)
With the introduction of rewards for punctuality and good behaviour, user engagement should increase. Incentives such as bonus points and promotions for top-performing users can drive consistent, responsible actions. The appeal system also encourages users to stay engaged by offering redemption opportunities, which could help reduce churn and increase long-term platform commitment.