Designing a Virtual Interview Platform for Mercer | Mettl
A strategic, end-to-end product design initiative focused on solving enterprise friction in remote hiring.
Overall Background
The foundational context for the project is the rapid evolution of enterprise hiring, driven especially by the shift to a remote-first world. This transition created an urgent need for organizations to implement a robust, scalable, and user-friendly virtual interview platform
Team Behind This Project
Rajat Budakoti
Lead Product Designer
Vishal Sharma
Product Desinger
Duration: 4 months
Target Users: Admins (HR/Talent Acquisition), Interviewers (Hiring Managers), and Candidates (Job Seekers)
Platforms: Web (Desktop)
Our Goals
The core objective was to design a platform that could cater to multiple stakeholders—Admins (HR/Talent Acquisition), Interviewers (Hiring Managers), and Candidates (Job Seekers)—each having vastly different workflows, goals, and technical proficiencies. The goal was to build a unified, role-based platform that would minimize friction and enhance transparency and efficiency across all user journeys.
Challenges
The Mercer | Mettl Interview App project faced distinct challenges across three main user groups: Admins, Interviewers, and Candidates. This project was necessitated by significant friction across the entire interview lifecycle
For Admin (HR/Talent Acquisition Teams) :
• Manual scheduling of bulk interviews is time-consuming and error-prone.
• Limited real-time visibility into live sessions results in operational blind spots.
• Delayed interviewer feedback hampers decision-making and prolongs time-to-hire.
• Existing tools lack role-based access control and branding flexibility, making it hard to personalize enterprise experiences.
For Interviewer (Hiring Managers) :
• Interviewers struggle with complex UIs, missing candidate context, and rigid feedback forms, reducing efficiency.
• The lack of real-time cues or AV alerts leads to disruptions during live sessions.
• High cognitive load during back-to-back interviews makes it harder to stay consistent in evaluations.
For Candidates (Job Seekers) :
• First-time users often experience last-minute technical issues due to unclear AV setup.
• Stress and confusion arise from non-intuitive UI, lack of guidance, and inadequate
pre-interview instructions.
• Post-interview, candidates are left with no feedback loop, reducing their engagement with the
hiring process.
Empathize & Understanding the users
To design a zero-to-one interview experience for a diverse enterprise audience, we anchored our qualitative research around three primary personas. Each role came with unique workflows, frustrations, and priorities. Understanding their distinct mental models helped us design role-specific solutions from the ground up.
Admin Personas
Rajat Budakoti
Product Design Leader | UI/UX & Visual Designer
Creating meaningful digital experiences through user-centered design, strategic thinking, and collaborative leadership.
© 2025 Rajat Budakoti. All rights reserved.
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