Carl Elliott

Vincere.io

Project Overview

Vincere.io is an all-in-one recruitment platform that combines ATS (Applicant Tracking System) and CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tools to streamline recruitment processes. The goal of the project was to create an intuitive and highly efficient platform that could help recruiters track candidates, manage clients, and analyze performance metrics—all from a single, unified interface. As the lead product designer, I focused on creating a seamless user experience that would improve productivity and collaboration for recruitment agencies.  

My role & responsibility

As the product designer, I was responsible for the end-to-end design of a revamped version of Vincere.io, including user research, wireframing and UI/UX design. I collaborated closely with the CEO, stakeholders, product managers, and engineers to ensure the design aligned with business goals and technical constraints. I also led the design system creation to ensure a cohesive look and feel across all components, enhancing usability and scalability for future product expansions.  

Problem statement

Recruitment agencies often juggle multiple tools for candidate tracking, client management, and data analysis. This fragmented approach results in inefficiencies, manual errors, and a steep learning curve for new recruiters. The challenge was to design a platform that consolidated these functions into one integrated solution, reducing friction and improving team productivity. Our goal was to streamline the workflow for recruiters, allowing them to spend more time building relationships and less time managing software.  

Research & discovery

To understand the pain points of recruiters, we conducted user interviews with recruitment agencies, ranging from small firms to large enterprises from varying parts of the world. Key insights revealed that recruiters were frustrated with constant switching between different platforms, which hindered their productivity. We also performed competitor analysis on existing ATS and CRM solutions, noting their limitations in customization and scalability. From this research, we identified three core needs: ease of use, flexibility in workflow customization, and robust analytics for performance tracking.  

Design process

I started by sketching out ideas and creating low-fidelity wireframes to map the user flows for key tasks such as candidate tracking, client management, and performance reporting. After several rounds of feedback and iteration, I created interactive prototypes in Sketch to validate the design with real users. Once we settled on the optimal flow, I moved into high-fidelity UI design, focusing on creating a clean, modern, and intuitive interface. The design process was highly collaborative, involving regular feedback sessions with the development team to ensure technical feasibility.  

Challenges

One major challenge we faced was ensuring that the platform could accommodate the unique workflows of different recruitment agencies from different countries without becoming overly complex. To address this, we designed a flexible, modular system that allowed users to customize their dashboards and workflows based on their specific needs. Another challenge was balancing functionality with simplicity; many users expressed frustration with overly complicated interfaces. We solved this by implementing progressive disclosure, where advanced features are hidden by default but easily accessible to add to the main interface or dashboard. 

User centred design

User feedback was at the heart of the design process. During usability testing, we observed how recruiters interacted with early prototypes and identified pain points in the user flow. Based on this feedback, I made several key changes, including simplifying the candidate tracking process and adding quick-access buttons for frequently used actions. I also designed an intuitive reporting dashboard that provided key metrics at a glance, helping users make data-driven decisions without getting overwhelmed by unnecessary details.

Outcome & impact

Vincere.io revamped was launched successfully, and within six months, it was adopted by over 100 recruitment agencies worldwide. User feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, with many praising the platform for its ease of use and efficiency in managing day-to-day recruitment operations. Internal metrics showed a 30% reduction in the time recruiters spent switching between tools, and agencies reported a 20% increase in successful placements due to improved candidate tracking. Additionally, the customizable reporting features have empowered managers to make more data-driven decisions, contributing to overall business growth.  

Reflection & learnings

This project taught me the importance of balancing flexibility and simplicity in product design. While users wanted powerful features, they also valued a clean and intuitive interface that didn’t overwhelm them with options. The iterative feedback loop with real users was crucial in refining the design and ensuring it met their needs. If I could improve anything, I would have dedicated more time to refining the onboarding experience to help new users get started faster. Moving forward, I plan to explore how Vincere.io can integrate with other HR tools to further enhance its ecosystem.  

Conclusion

Vincere.io has proven to be a game-changer for recruitment agencies, streamlining their processes and improving productivity. The platform will continue to evolve, with planned integrations for third-party tools like LinkedIn and Slack, and additional parsing features to help recruiters identify top talent more efficiently. I’m excited to see how the platform will continue to grow and adapt to the changing needs of the recruitment industry.  

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