Helping a client innovate tops our list of best ways to make a living. That’s exactly what we did for the folks at Scoutr. The Scoutr web app ranks and presents best-matched candidates to hiring teams, much like a dating app. Since the release of its MVP (Minimum Viable Product) in August 2018, Scoutr customers are experiencing a 50% reduction in the time it takes to source, interview and make an offer to a candidate, with retention times of new hires exceeding six months. Read on to see how Vaporware helped make all this possible, or see the full Scoutr case study here.
What We Did
Plan
Understand & Discover
The first step in the development of the Scoutr app was a Plan session with the team. They brought their research and a design document to the table, which helped expedite the discovery process. We soon honed in on a problem statement: “Matchmaking ability limits an organization’s success in hiring candidates, and the current candidate experience does not enable better matches.” We then set out to solve the problem, referring back to it as we progressed through the next step: the critical path. Here we broke down the user’s journey through the app, from having the problem to solving the problem -- and the high-level steps in between. We were careful to include all workflows, including the HR manager, hiring manager, and Scoutr admin perspectives.
Get Creative
To explore all possible solutions for the user experience, we Diverged. In Crazy Eights, many iterations of screen layouts for job postings and matching candidate presentation were quickly sketched out and evaluated. This was followed by Storyboarding to dive deeper into process flow and interactions between users.
Converge
The last stage of the Plan process was Converge, where we reviewed all ideation and selected a single version from which to build the prototype. Competing perspectives from the Diverge stage were resolved. Assumptions about the hiring process and product were tracked throughout the Plan process. From there, we agreed on the most important metrics for the Scoutr app, setting baselines and targets for each:
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Recommendation to interview ratio
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Interview to hire ratio
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Time to hire
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Placement longevity
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Net Promoter Score (NPS) of hiring manager
Wrapping up the Plan session, a final storyboard was developed, highlighting specific user actions along the critical path. This storyboard became the basis for the Scoutr prototype.
Prototype
Taking our learnings from the Plan session, the Vaporware design team moved into prototype development. Early client feedback on app screen design and functionality was made possible with the Invision prototyping tool. In addition to internal review, we also obtained feedback from key Scoutr customers. Incorporating user feedback early in the prototype stage -- prior to development -- was helpful not only from a cost-savings perspective but also for the overall quality of the finished product.
The UX/UI design required a seamless experience for two distinct user groups: hiring teams that would primarily be on desktop while creating open positions and job profiles, and hiring managers on mobile devices to view matched candidates and schedule interviews. A third UX for candidates was added in early 2019 (see details below).
Produce
With the prototype approved, it was time to get started producing the MVP. Leading up to the release of the Scoutr MVP, communication was critical. Among our development team, daily tech standups and retrospectives kept us on track. Bi-directional communication on project updates and tweaks were tracked in Asana. Automated quality testing during development, as well as weekly product demos to stakeholders, prevented unwelcome surprises. At the end of six-weeks, the product was ready for release to early adopters. The Scoutr team worked closely with them to measure actual product usage.
The final product is truly a game-changer in the talent acquisition software space...something we’re proud to put the Vaporware stamp on. Success goes beyond Scoutr’s many benefits for hiring teams and candidates:
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Scoutr is more than an in-house recruiting app...it’s a multi-client SaaS. Also called multi-tenancy, the single instance of Scoutr can be used by thousands of organizations, with each company’s data in separate silos. This enables Scoutr to track usage of the app for billing purposes. Scoutr as a Software as a Service (SaaS) also lets them expand beyond their recruiting line of business. Intellectual property in a sellable software package provides a new income stream. Bonus!
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Scoutr is scalable to accommodate a growing feature set and customer base. Built on Rails and hosted on Heroku, it’s easy to add and auto-test new features, in an environment that can automatically scale with increased usage.
Continued Development
In early 2019, a new applicant portal was added. This allows hiring managers to send a unique URL to applicants to apply directly to a position. Applicants are directed to create an account, complete their profile and upload a resume. They may also invite reviews from former managers and co-workers through the portal. Created primarily for Scoutr customers who must integrate with an ATS (Applicant Tracking System), this new additional feature set was completed in only two weeks.
Development is ongoing as of the date of this article. This is just the beginning of the Scoutr software journey, and the Vaporware team is excited to play a role!
