Opportunity
Skill-based recruiting for modern engineering teams
Robin is a recruiting platform concept that enables engineers to showcase real-world abilities through practical assessments, allowing recruiters to evaluate demonstrated skills instead of relying primarily on resumes.
As Lead Product Designer, I led product strategy, UX, visual design, prototyping, and design systems for an eight-week Lean UX engagement. The work explored how practical assessments and skill visualization could improve matching quality while creating a more engaging hiring experience for both candidates and recruiters.
Product Goal
Design a platform that helps recruiters identify qualified engineering talent faster while giving candidates meaningful ways to demonstrate their abilities through practical challenges.
Success would be measured through:
• higher recruiter confidence
• increased candidate engagement
• stronger candidate-company matching
• reduced screening effort
Project Summary
Robin is a concept recruiting platform that helps engineers showcase practical skills through assessments rather than relying solely on resumes.
By shifting hiring toward demonstrated capability, the platform creates stronger matches between candidates and recruiters while making the hiring experience more engaging and transparent.
Solution
Robin introduces a skill-first recruiting experience that combines practical assessments, gamified achievements, and rich candidate profiles to create stronger hiring signals.
Instead of relying primarily on resumes, candidates demonstrate technical ability through coding challenges, competitions, and assessment results that become part of their professional profile.
Recruiters can quickly evaluate demonstrated skills, identify qualified candidates, and make more informed hiring decisions, while candidates gain greater visibility into companies aligned with their interests and expertise.
Product Strategy
Research shifted the problem definition.
Rather than optimizing another job board, Robin focused on helping engineers demonstrate capability through measurable skill-based interactions.
Three strategic principles guided the product:
• Demonstrate skills instead of resumes
• Reward participation through meaningful progression
• Increase confidence for both recruiters and applicants
Design Process
I led this 8-week project from concept/early design to prototypes, user interfaces, and design systems through thoughtful communication, project management, and facilitation.
The nature and timeline of this project largely affected my design approach and that is why I chose more of a Lean UX Design approach.
Research
Time-related challenges and complexities in the job application process were shared experiences for both the tech applicant and the recruiter.
Both the tech applicant and the recruiter faced difficulties in managing time and navigating the job application process.
"My resume may not be perfect, but if I could showcase my skills somehow, I could really stand out." - Tech Applicant
Goal: Understand the pain points & user needs in current tech applicants during the job search
I researched and conducted a competitive audit of software that is either job platforms or uses gamification and leaderboard tools.
Conducting a competitive audit is particularly beneficial for designing a job platform app as it helps identify key features and functionalities that attract and retain users. By evaluating existing job platforms, designers can understand what works well, such as intuitive search filters, user-friendly interfaces, and effective matching algorithms, while also pinpointing areas where competitors fall short.
The research findings of sourcing technical talents revealed how practical assessments and gamified skills boards could make candidates stand out and improve the job application experience.
Both users, the tech applicant and the recruiter, faced difficulties in managing time and navigating the job application process.
Project Direction
Several concepts were explored before converging on a skill-first hiring model.
The final direction combined:
• practical assessments
• skill visualization
• recruiter matching
• gamified progression
into a unified experience that motivated participation while surfacing stronger hiring signals.
Design System
To maintain consistency across applicant, recruiter, and company experiences, I established a reusable component library including navigation, cards, assessment modules, achievement patterns, and profile layouts.
This accelerated iteration during the eight-week engagement while ensuring consistency across evolving product flows.
Prototype
I took all the inspiration and created color palette and mood to build the structure and the look of the user interface. After concept creation, I led the design process to a clickable prototype.
High-fidelity screens established a realistic experience to encourage useful stakeholder feedback.
The detail screen for an applicant's profile displays achievements, current projects, and companies interested in.
Page Creation
I created the following pages: User Profile, Company Profile, Assessment Exploration Page, and Assessment Details.
I highlighted the user's accomplishments in the User Profile.
The idea was to focus on skillsets & leader board, displaying the competitions they already won.
I focused on filtering of candidates in the Company Profile
Showcase the details of the company in a more fun way - LinkedIn but better
Snapshots for Robin’s 3 users: Tech Applicant, Recruiter, and Company.
Product Decisions
The gamification of practical assessments and and interface with badges and points challenge board was chosen to make this platform stand out among other traditional job boards.
I strove to understand the current environment Tech Applicant and Recruiters are facing and in order to highlight the features and goals moving forward.
I designed gamified icons and badges to enhance practical assessments, giving users a sense of achievement. Strategic design decisions transformed practical assessments, adding a new dimension to the evaluation process.Practical Assessments
Replace resume-first evaluation with demonstrated capability.
Practical Assessments
Replace resume-first evaluation with demonstrated capability.
Skill Profiles
Visualize achievements, certifications, and competition results to create richer candidate profiles.
Challenge Boards
Encourage continued engagement while providing recruiters with additional signals of technical ability.
Company Profiles
Help applicants evaluate employers—not just the other way around.
Gamified Icons
I crafted engaging gamified icons and achievement badges to transform the evaluation process by giving users a sense of achievement in the practical assessments.
Achievement Badges
Engineer profiles emphasize skill enhancement, utilizing a Points Challenge Board demonstrating user Achievements and Badges to create a dynamic and rewarding atmosphere.
Practical Assessments
Transforming practical assessments through strategic design decisions was pivotal in creating gamified icons and achievement badges and bringing a new dimension to the evaluation process.
Points Challenge Board
Tech applicants can showcase their practical skills and talents through user profiles and leadership boards. Users participate in challenges, and winners receive job offers or prize awards. Challenges are recommended to users based on their skill sets.
Matching
I highlighted the user's accomplishments in the User Profile. Focus on skillsets & leader board, displaying the competitions they already won.
Expected Product Impact
Although this was a concept project, the proposed solution was designed to:
Although this was a concept project, the proposed solution was designed to:
• reduce recruiter screening effort
• improve candidate visibility
• encourage ongoing participation through assessments
• strengthen matching quality using demonstrated skills
Connecting both the Applicant and the Recruiter make it easier on both ends for companies to find the right talent quickly.
Key Outcomes & Results
- Providing an opportunity to connect users with food accessibility
- Location-Based Solution proved to be a valuable addition
- If I had time I would have liked to include accessibility features
What I Learned
- Social issue it a big thing to tackle, so breaking it down from addressing everything to focusing on the user to get food made it easier
- Building my user experience and design skills through multiple rounds of testing and iteration
- It is crucial to be open to change as you discover new insights because your initial ideas and designs will change
Reflection
This project reinforced that successful hiring platforms require balancing recruiter efficiency with candidate motivation.
If continuing the product, I would prioritize:
• validating engagement through usability testing
• measuring recruiter adoption
• exploring recommendation algorithms for assessment matching
• evaluating long-term effectiveness of gamification
