Social Impact & Innovation
Bridging Talent Gaps: Designing a B2B Portal for DEI Recruiters Hiring Immigrants & Refugees.
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Introduction
Background
Our client, a national non-profit, supports workforce inclusion for immigrant and refugee (I&R) professionals by eliminating employment barriers and advancing their integration into the U.S. economy. They needed support to design and implement a B2B employer portal that would streamline relationships with Fortune 500 recruiters (e.g., Amazon, Google, Cisco) and facilitate the hiring and integration of I&R candidates into the U.S. workforce.
Challenge
In the wake of the Afghan crisis in 2021 and during the ongoing war in Ukraine, our client faced an unprecedented surge in refugees arriving in the U.S., which severely contained the client’s capacity. Their existing manual process for managing relationships with employer partners made it difficult to quickly identify and match talent, leaving them struggling to meet the urgent demand for candidate placement and crisis response.
Goal
The goal was to design an AI-powered B2B digital portal that allowed employers to quickly source and match highly educated immigrant and refugee job seekers with critical talent gaps. By automating the client’s manual processes, the digital portal aimed to streamline hiring, shorten time-to-hire, and help skilled I&R professionals secure meaningful jobs in the U.S., benefiting both the employers and the job seekers.
My Role
As the Product Manager Lead, I oversaw the entire lifecycle of the B2B digital portal project, from initial planning to final delivery. I was responsible for creating the project roadmap, prioritizing features based on client needs and business goals, and developing the execution plan to ensure timely delivery. I conducted stakeholder interviews, facilitated design thinking workshops, led user testing sessions, and coordinated with offshore designers to iterate on the designs, ensuring alignment with user needs. Throughout the project, I regularly presented updates and key deliverables to the client’s CEO, maintaining a strong client relationship and ensuring the project stayed on track. Additionally, I managed day-to-day activities, ensuring high-quality deliverables were consistently met.
Project Timeline: 4 Months
Primary Stakeholders: Client’s CEO and Program Lead, Recruiters from Fortune 500 companies (including Amazon, Google, and Cisco).
Tools Used: Miro, Adobe InDesign, Balsamiq, Microsoft Teams (Planner), Microsoft Office Suite (Excel, PowerPoint, Word)
The Process
Leveraging design thinking methodologies, I structured the project into three essential phases—Discover, Design, and Strategy—to ensure a user-centered approach that thoroughly addressed client needs and delivered actionable insights. This phased approach allowed us to systematically identify and prioritize user pain points, develop and iterate on prototypes that aligned with business goals, and craft a comprehensive implementation strategy that maximized the platform’s impact and scalability.
DISCOVER
Conducted comprehensive user research to identify process pain points and define the product vision, utilizing design thinking to drive insights and validate assumptions.
Facilitated stakeholder interviews and led design thinking workshops with key client representatives and employer partners to gather requirements and prioritize features.
Presented key findings and data-driven insights to over 30 stakeholders, including the CEO, ensuring alignment on the product roadmap and setting the stage for the next phases.
Prototype Screenshots:
DESIGN
Created detailed personas and user journeys to inform product decisions, enhancing the user experience by mapping out the user interaction flow.
Guided the development of 50+ prototypes, ensuring alignment with user needs and business objectives through iterative design and feedback loops.
Defined reporting and analytics features to equip employer partners with actionable data and metrics, enabling them to track and expedite the hiring process effectively.
Developed the information architecture, site maps, and high-fidelity prototypes, providing a clear blueprint for the platform’s structure and functionality.
Designed an on-demand content strategy focused on delivering training and thought leadership in diversity, equity, and inclusion, enhancing the portal’s value proposition.
Led user testing sessions with end users and coordinated with offshore designers to iterate on prototypes, ensuring the final product met user expectations and aligned with business goals.
STRATEGY
Developed a comprehensive product roadmap and implementation strategy, guiding the portal’s development and seamless integration with AI tools to enhance candidate recommendations based on job descriptions and skills.
Defined a maturity model that mapped the employer partner relationship journey, aligning it with the portal’s offerings to ensure a scalable and value-driven user experience.
Crafted strategic recommendations to evolve the business model and partnership structure, maximizing the portal’s value proposition and ensuring long-term sustainability.
Provided strategic guidance on implementing a robust data and analytics foundation, advising on key considerations for integrating AI capabilities to enhance the portal’s functionality and effectiveness.
Outcome
Designed a freemium business model for the portal, creating a potential new revenue stream and broadening access for employer partners.
Enhanced scalability and agility by designing the portal to support a growing number of employer partners, with streamlined processes for onboarding and operational efficiency.
Increased the potential for immigrant and refugee hiring by designing AI-enabled features for candidate matching, on-demand training, thought leadership, and advanced reporting and analytics, aimed at empowering recruiters and diversity, equity & inclusion (DEI) professionals.
Positioned the client for optimized resource allocation by freeing up employees to focus on jobseeker support and crisis response.
Elevated brand perception through a professionally designed, user-centric portal and enhanced professional services, reinforcing the client’s leadership in workforce inclusion.
Empowered 100+ recruiters from top companies like Amazon and Google to efficiently source and integrate over 500 immigrant and refugee job seekers into the U.S. workforce through the launch of a B2B digital portal, significantly improving talent acquisition and reallocating resources toward direct support and crisis response.
Delivered 50+ business-aligned prototypes that addressed user needs, enhancing the design process through extensive usability testing and user interviews, resulting in a more effective and user-friendly platform.
Earned recognition within Accenture’s Intelligence Practice, with the project being showcased as a standout project that effectively leveraged AI-driven solutions to bridge talent gaps and significantly advance social impact initiatives.