Finding a job today is already stressful.

People are sending out applications, tracking responses, preparing for interviews and on top of all that, they’re expected to sit down and carefully craft a resume that passes ATS systems and still looks professional.

Most people don’t have time for that. That’s where resume builders come in.

During my time as a Product Designer at AnalogueShifts (a talent acquisition platform where companies post jobs and candidates apply and track their applications), one of the products I worked on was their AI Resume Builder.

The idea was simple: help job seekers quickly create ATS-friendly resumes on the AI resume builder platform. But in reality, the product wasn’t performing well. Sign-ups were low, and people weren’t converting.

So I was brought in to review the experience and redesign it.

My Role

I worked as the Product Designer on this project. I was responsible for:

• Reviewing the existing product

• Running user research (surveys + informal interviews)

• Defining problems and design opportunities

• Redesigning the UI and user flow in Figma

• Collaborating closely with developers

• Supporting handoff and implementation

I also worked directly with stakeholders through multiple feedback sessions and alignment meetings.

The Problem

Before jumping into design, I did a proper review on the product and started asking questions.

Why were people not signing up? Why were users dropping off?

After reviewing the experience and gathering feedback from users and stakeholders, a few clear issues came up:

1. The UI felt cluttered and confusing

The interface wasn’t very clear. There was too much happening at once, and first-time users didn’t easily understand where to start.

2. No free trial

Users had to commit before really experiencing the product. From research and general user behavior, this was a big friction point. Resume builders are everywhere these days, and because there are so many options, users usually want to test a platform first before deciding to trust or pay for it.

3. Low product awareness

From the surveys, I realized that a lot of users were just discovering the product for the first time. Some didn’t even know about it until they were asked to try it. There wasn’t enough awareness or online presence, so users didn’t really understand what the platform offered upfront.

Research & Discovery

I approached this in a practical way. Since resources were limited, I focused on lightweight but effective research:

• Sent out surveys to users

• Had direct conversations with people who tried the product

• Gathered feedback from stakeholders

• Reviewed competitor resume builders

• Observed how users moved through the current flow

Some early users also tested the product and shared honest feedback.

The biggest insight was simple:

People didn’t feel confident enough to commit because they couldn’t experience value early. And even when they tried, the UI made things harder than necessary.

Defining the Direction

After presenting findings to stakeholders, we aligned on two main goals:

1. Introduce a free trial / limited access so users could experience the product before committing

2. Redesign the interface to be clearer, simpler, and more guided

The focus wasn’t just to make it look good but mainly to make it easy to use.

Design Process

I redesigned the resume builder with clarity in mind.

My approach was:

• Reduce visual clutter

• Make the steps more obvious

• Guide users through resume creation instead of overwhelming them

• Improve hierarchy and spacing

• Make actions clearer (what to click, what to fill, what’s next)

I designed and prototyped everything in Figma, then worked closely with developers to make sure what I designed was feasible and could be implemented properly.

We had regular check-ins to align on behavior, edge cases, and constraints.

Validation

To validate the redesign, I shared the updated version with users who had interacted with the previous experience and gathered qualitative feedback.

I also reviewed the flow with developers to assess usability from both user and implementation perspectives.

The feedback showed clear improvements:

• Users said the flow felt more structured and easier to follow

• The UI was clearer and more intuitive

• The free trial feature made them more willing to explore the product

• Navigation felt simpler compared to the previous version

Developers also confirmed that the new design improved overall usability and reduced friction across key flows.

These insights helped validate that the redesign addressed the original problems and created a more accessible experience for users.

Outcome

After launch:

• The resume builder felt more approachable

• Users were more interested because of the free trial

• The interface became simpler and easier to navigate

• Stakeholders were satisfied with the direction

For me, the biggest win was turning a confusing experience into something more realistic and usable.

What I Learned

This project reinforced a few important things for me:

• Even good ideas fail with poor UX

• Users need to feel value early

• Simplicity beats complexity

• Small changes (like adding a free trial) can have big impact on the product

• Collaboration with developers early saves time later

It also strengthened how I combine design thinking with validation not just designing screens, but making sure solutions actually work for users.