How Redesigning an IM Feature Boosted Recruitment Efficiency

Introduction

With instant messaging rapidly evolving, online communication has become the norm. In the recruitment industry—one of the five essential livelihood sectors—pre‑interview communication is crucial for improving hiring efficiency, and adding personalized features to this step has become a competitive advantage for B‑side products.

PC User Pain Points

Data shows that over half of users operate on PC. Currently, 58 Recruitment’s functions are split between a VIP management backend and a PC enterprise portal, forcing recruiters to toggle between resume handling and candidate communication, which severely reduces efficiency. The existing IM function in the backend only supports basic chat, meeting the minimal need of “typing on a computer.” Since IM replies account for nearly half of platform interactions, enriching this feature with multi‑dimensional assistance can drive better decision‑making. The product team therefore integrated the enterprise portal’s resume function into the backend IM and added various auxiliary features to create a personalized recruitment experience and set a new industry benchmark.

Product Strategy Analysis

Using user flow analysis, the current IM scenario involves four entry methods (mobile sync, candidate‑initiated, B‑side direct chat, etc.). After communication, recruiters can perform actions such as interview invitation, job invitation, resume screening, and status tagging. The redesign merges these pre‑ and post‑communication steps, allowing recruiters to chat, view resumes, and proceed to the next screening step within a single interface.

Design Goals

Based on the IM usage scenario and product strategy, three design goals were established:

Precise layout for a single‑screen operation, setting the interface size to 1100×490 px (derived from a 1366×768 px laptop screen after accounting for browser chrome and UI elements).

Clear visual hierarchy to maintain the basic chat structure while accommodating new content, including refined color, typography, and layered information using a cross‑grid method.

Comfortable integration of multiple new functions, such as a drawer‑style resume view for seamless side‑by‑side chatting and selective icon‑based actions to reduce mis‑operations.

Conclusion

Scenario‑based analysis enabled designers to pinpoint user pain points and define precise design objectives, leading to incremental solutions that enhanced both efficiency and user satisfaction. After launch, B‑side users showed improved read‑to‑reply speed, validating the redesign. Ongoing efforts will continue to empower personalized recruitment and foster a healthy hiring ecosystem, solidifying 58 Recruitment’s leadership in the market.