Shortlist is a social impact startup trying to change the way companies in emerging markets find top talent. I worked with them to conceive and launch their first app—a web app that would be used to screen candidates and connect them to potential employers. I worked with the co-founders, Matt and Sudheer to define requirements, site architecture, core UX patterns, all the way to final layouts and visual design. I also developed a light brand—with a logo, colors, tone and voice. I then designed a responsive homepage to help them launch their first markets—Kenya and India
In many emerging markets, finding great new employees can be particularly daunting, not because there are too few candidates, but because it can feel near impossible to sort through the huge quantities of applications. There’s simply too much noise—hundreds of applicants, CVs packed with buzzwords, certifications that are virtually meaningless. All of that makes it hard to find the candidates that are actually qualified for the role.
Shortlist approached me with a novel approach for matching great employees with great companies.
Go beyond the CV.
Instead, Shortlist is focusing on aptitude tests, personality tests, and voice conversations. These are much better indicators of a good candidate/company match.
The best way to get to know someone is to sit down and have a conversation with them, but that is impossible to do with every candidate—or is it? Rather than just collecting a bunch of data from candidates in form after form, I wanted to set the tone that this experience would be a personal one. We decided to collect the core information in a conversational format.
This decision had a few other benefits. First and foremost, it allows Shortlist to have this conversation on any platform, including SMS, which could be a huge opportunity in these emerging markets. Secondly, a conversation can go anywhere. This allows Shortlist to continue to adapt the conversation to the answers of the candidates, adding new questions or more intelligence over time.
We took a modular approach to job postings that allows the single job posting page to contain as much or as little information as we have about the job. In one page you can see information about the specific job, multiple clear CTAs, as well as background information on the company. These job posting pages will continue to grow over time.
