Feature integration: 2x faster process
We integrated a new feature into our CRM to make placing candidates twice as fast. By streamlining key steps and improving the user experience, the goal was to dramatically reduce processing time, benefiting both the sales team and the candidates.
Understanding the Business Objectives
Placement International is a cultural exchange company that connects students and young professionals with internships & training programs in luxury hotels and Michelin-starred chefs to promote career growth and cross-cultural exchange.
Conducted stakeholder interviews to understand the company's goals and pain points.
Following this, I charted out the entire Goods and Services plan, aligning it with the business objectives and stakeholder feedback.
Goods and Service plan of the Process
A Multifaceted Organization and My Role
My role was to design a feature within the existing CRM to streamline candidate progress for the sales team and other relevant departments. This feature would enable them to complete all necessary verifications and provide real-time updates and feedback.
Schools & Universities
Engages with colleges & schools, and builds connections within the academic world.
User Portal
Improving the end to end user experience from both external user interactions and the internal tools for the sales team.
Properties & Job offers
Collaborate with high-end luxury properties to arrange placements for candidates.
Rooms, Rentals & Logistics
Assists candidates upon arrival in the U.S., providing resources like rental listings and logistical support.
Understanding the Current Process
Right now, recruiters manually update spreadsheets, send emails for verification, and track statuses across multiple channels.
This causes missed follow-ups and delays, ultimately contributing to candidate drop-offs and the process slows down the conversion process.
Now that's a lot of sheets! And a lot of information to process!
Just imagine the frustration of working on them every day!
Understanding the User
Through user interviews with the sales team and the other department, we identified that unclear onboarding instructions, hidden navigation elements, and a lack of immediate in-app guidance are the primary factors driving candidate drop-offs and delays
Mathew is a seasoned Sales specialist who has been working in the company for 1.5 years now and wants to help students secure their dream jobs in their dream countries.
Painpoints
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Manual spreadsheets are disorganized & lack a centralized system
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Verification processes are slow and need lots of communication
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Difficult to track follow-ups
Goals
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Streamline candidate progress and log everything
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Minimize candidate drop-offs and enhance lead retention
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Help students get their dream job
Understanding the User's Objective
Interviews with sales representatives helped me create a service blueprint to help me understand all the inefficiencies and pain points in the current candidate placement process.
Brainstorming with the Stakeholders
To determine the features to focus on, I led a brainstorming session with stakeholders. We then used affinity mapping to organize the ideas and clustered them into common themes.
Finally, we prioritized features using a 'Nice to have,' 'Should Have,' and 'Must Have' framework to ensure we addressed the most impactful items within our available time.
Key functions to be added included
A centralized dashboard
that consolidates candidate information in real time
Clear status/ progress indicators
that show where each candidate is in the process
Real-time feedback Mechanism
for critical follow-ups and profile verification
Candiate's Tracking System
The solution replaces fragmented Excel sheets with a centralized dashboard that seamlessly integrates with the redesigned CRM.
Feedback System
This reduces email back-and-forth and helps candidates quickly address issues—projected to accelerate candidate verification by up to 20%.