CoR & EESC · EU recruitment · 2020–May 2026
Core impact
Recruitment for two EU institutions consolidated into one accessible digital journey
I digitised and consolidated recruitment workflows for the European Committee of the Regions and the European Economic and Social Committee: guided, progress-tracked application forms for candidates, and a workspace where HR teams manage candidate pools and evaluate applications consistently.
Privacy and accessibility were requirements from the first sprint, not a final review. Tech stack: CoR/EESC design-system components, prototyped in Figma.
BSprint 0 & problem discovery
Before any screen was designed, Sprint 0 aligned both institutions on who the platform serves, what success means, and what the existing systems and data rules allowed.
Primary persona
Enterprise persona
Candidates were most likely to stall at long, document-heavy steps where requirements were unclear. HR time was lost consolidating and filtering applications across separate workflows.
CUsability and accessibility audit
I evaluated the existing recruitment journey against the 10 usability rules of Nielsen Norman Group and the WCAG 2.2 AA accessibility standard, then turned each finding into a design response for the new candidate and HR experiences.
| Usability rule | What I evaluated | Design response |
|---|---|---|
| Visibility of system status | Whether candidates could tell where they were, what was saved and what was left to complete. | Progress-tracked steps with clear saved and completed states. |
| Match between system and real world | HR and staff-regulation terminology that external candidates may not know. | Plain-language labels and contextual help next to each requirement. |
| Consistency and standards | Differences between the CoR and EESC journeys for the same tasks. | Shared form, upload and filter patterns from the CoR/EESC design system. |
| Recognition rather than recall | Long single forms that made candidates remember earlier answers and requirements. | Grouped steps and a review summary before submission. |
| Error prevention and recovery | When and how validation errors were shown. | Clear error messages next to each field that say what to fix. |
| Accessibility and contrast | Contrast, keyboard access, labels and focus order (WCAG 2.2 AA). | Text contrast of at least 4.5:1, visible focus, labelled fields and logical tab order. |
DIteration & user testing
Each iteration tested the tasks most likely to block an application or slow down HR review, through usability sessions with 12 participants: HR admins and super users.
| Test scenario | Friction in the legacy flow | Change after testing |
|---|---|---|
| Start an application and complete personal details | Requirements only became clear partway through the form. | A welcome step sets out the documents and effort needed before starting. |
| Upload supporting documents | Unclear which documents and file formats were required. | Required documents and accepted formats shown at each upload field, with inline errors. |
| Review and submit the application | No overview before submitting, so errors surfaced late. | A review summary with links back to each step. |
| HR: filter a candidate pool by criteria | Applications reviewed across separate lists. | One shared data grid with visible, editable filters. |
Candidates wanted to know what they would need before they started, not partway through the form.
The next iteration added a welcome step listing required documents and expected effort, and split the application into shorter, progress-tracked steps.
ESystem architecture & screens
Guided, progress-tracked forms make applications easier to complete, with privacy and accessibility built in from the start. I designed and tested the portal on small phones, down to iPhone SE.
Tools for managing candidate pools, filtering applications, applying role-based access, and supporting consistent evaluation across teams, built from shared data-grid and filter components.
Entry point for new candidates, setting expectations before the application starts.
Plain-language introduction to EU job opportunities and how to apply.
The candidate portal on a compact viewport (iPhone SE).
The full application journey on tablet.
FBusiness impact & retrospective
Aligning two HR teams early, in Sprint 0, made it possible to agree on one candidate journey while keeping room for institution-specific rules.
Bringing privacy and accessibility requirements into the first sprint meant they shaped the form structure, instead of being patched in after development.