VERTA PRIME
Optimizing the Application Experience to Speed Completion and Reduce Burden
Verta Prime was a top-tier product within Verta, Inc., connecting top tech talent with leading employers. Candidates applied to join the vetted Prime talent pool, while employers paid a subscription to access this exclusive network.
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But the application and profile update process? Long and frustrating. Many candidates abandoned it before completion, and inefficiencies on the internal review side led to unnecessary churn.
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Impact: The redesigned process made it faster for candidates and more efficient for internal teams—reducing friction on both sides.
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For confidentiality, the company name in this case study has been changed to 'Verta.'
Role
Contract UX Designer​
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Duration
3 months
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Team (In-house product design team)
Sr. Product Designer, Product Management, Engineering​​
Deliverables
Findings document
UX brief
Wireframes
User flows
Design documentation
Jira stories/tasks
The application process was frustrating for everyone
Candidates struggled with convoluted forms, missing navigation, and an unpolished visual experience that made the process feel clunky. Many gave up before completing their applications.​ On the other side, internal teams were bogged down by manual talent reviews and redundant tasks, making it harder to do their job. These findings guided a series of sketches to shape my hypothesis.
Applicants faced a maze of steps with no clear sense of their progress or how much was left to complete. On the back end, separate review teams often overlapped tasks after applications were submitted.
Activities & outputs
5 stakeholder interviews, Write UX brief
Quick sketching led to better, faster decisions
Early sketching helped me visualize potential improvements and quickly gather feedback. I used low-fidelity wireframes and annotated decks to explore ideas like reducing steps, adding progress indicators, clarifying messaging, and introducing automation to ease internal workload.
Optimizing the application flow greatly reduced steps to achieve the minimum required completion for a talent review. Introducing automation removed manual work for those internal review teams.
Improvements to navigation, messaging, and wayfinding. Low-fidelity wireframes and annotated review decks helped me iterate and gather feedback quickly.
Activities & outputs
User flow, Wireframes, Design review decks
Testing revealed mostly wins, some pushback
I tested the proposals with internal teams to validate their impact. Feedback was especially positive around speed and ease of completion, and streamlining the form to only collect essential info. The only snag? Automation ideas were promising but raised feasibility concerns with Engineering.
A/B testing improvements as above revealed clear wins in the flow, UI, and messaging, providing ease and speed for candidates and internal teams.
Activities & outputs
A/B testing, Findings synthesis, Findings doc
Finishing strong: A smoother process for all
To ensure continued momentum after my contract ended, I focused on handing off a complete design package—including documentation, annotations, and Jira stories/tasks for Engineering. By the time my contract wrapped up, Engineering had already begun planning implementation.
Given the collaboration, research, and design work delivered, I’m confident these changes would have led to meaningful results post-launch:
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Faster application process → Reduced time to complete
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Increased applicant confidence → Higher completion rate
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More efficient internal workflows → Reduced workload and redundancy
The Verta design language was applied to select wireframes.
Activities & outputs
Design documentation, Jira stories/tasks
If I had more time...
The design already gives applicants a clear sense of where they are and what to do next—but it could’ve been even more approachable with onboarding micro-instructions. Simple, contextual nudges would help orient new applicants to the overall flow and available actions.
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While out of scope for my project, I would’ve loved to explore how talent review dashboards could be redesigned alongside the application flow. Connecting those pieces more tightly could have taken the proposed automation to the next level.
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Lastly, I would’ve liked to be involved in the launch and iteration phases. There’s nothing like seeing how a design holds up in the wild—post-launch research can surface interesting insights.
Conclusion
Working as a contractor with a small, scrappy team offered a unique opportunity to quickly jump in and make an impact. Without prior history, I had to quickly build trust and rapport with the team—focusing on human-centered solutions helped immensely.
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A few key takeaways:
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This project was my top priority, but just one of many initiatives for the rest of the team. Keeping discussions short and focused ensured steady progress.
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Low-fidelity, lightly annotated designs kept things loose and flexible—avoiding a false sense of finality and keeping conversations open.
"Desmond came on board and got to work on a number of large initiatives that would forever shape our product. The time spent working and collaborating with him were some of the most productive months our team has experienced."
— Sr. Product Designer, Verta
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