Vacancies App
Summary
This case study takes you through the development of the Vacancies app, a digital recruitment platform designed to connect job seekers in Ghana with employers while streamlining hiring processes for organizations via its HR firms. By bridging the gap between talent and opportunity, the platform empowers candidates to access tailored job opportunities and enables recruiters to manage candidates more efficiently. In doing so, Vacancies not only addresses employment challenges but also contributes to strengthening workforce development in Ghana.
What I worked on
- 1. Conduct research
- 2. Designed a mobile app
- 3. Designed a landing page
Introduction
Finding a job in Ghana can be very difficult, especially for young people coming out of school. At the same time, many employers struggle to reach the right candidates because most platforms are either too broad or not built with Ghana’s needs in mind. This creates a gap where job seekers remain unemployed while companies still have open roles. The Vacancies App was designed to solve this problem. It gives job seekers a clear and easy way to discover opportunities that match their goals, and it helps recruiters and HR firms manage their hiring more smoothly. In Ghana, finding a job is especially tough for young people. The Ghana Statistical Service shows that about 32% of those aged 15–24 and 22.5% of those aged 15–35 are unemployed, which means young people make up more than 70% of the unemployed population. What’s worse is that nearly one in three stay unemployed for a long time, leaving many graduates stuck and frustrated. On the other side, employers are also struggling. They receive lots of applications, but many don’t match the skills they actually need, which makes hiring slow and costly. This gap leaves job seekers discouraged and businesses underserved. The Vacancies App was created to close that gap — making it easier for people to find the right opportunities and for employers to connect with the right candidates.
The Challenge
The challenge was to design a recruitment platform that helps job seekers in Ghana, especially young graduates, find opportunities that truly match their skills and career goals, while also giving employers and HR firms a simpler way to filter, manage, and connect with qualified candidates. The design needed to balance simplicity for first-time users with enough depth for recruiters to streamline their hiring processes. Ultimately, the goal was to close the gap between talent and opportunity, reducing frustration for job seekers, saving time for employers, and supporting broader workforce growth in Ghana.
Objectives we aim to achieve
Make Job Search Easier
Help job seekers quickly find opportunities that match their skills, interests, and career goals.
Streamline Hiring for Employers
Give recruiters and HR firms tools to filter and manage applications more effectively.
Improve Matching Quality
Reduce the frustration of irrelevant job listings by connecting the right candidates to the right roles.
Support Growth & Efficiency
Strengthen the recruitment process in Ghana, saving time for employers and opening real opportunities for young professionals.
Research process
Our research began with a deep dive into how job seekers and employers in Ghana currently experience the hiring process. The aim was simple: uncover what makes finding or filling a role so difficult and design with those realities in mind.
Key research steps and findings included:
1. Stakeholder interviews: We spoke with recent graduates, min-career professionals, recruiters, and HR firms to understand both sides of the hiring equation. These conversations revealed a clear mismatch, job seekers often felt “listen the crowd”, while employers struggled to sift through irrelevant applications.
2. Surveys with job seekers: To get a broader view, we ran surveys across young professionals in Accra and Kumasi. The data showed that over 65% had applied to jobs they weren’t fully qualified for, simply because better-matched opportunities weren’t visible to them. This confirmed the need for stronger matching mechanisms.
3. Recruiter workflow mapping: We shadowed HR teams to map how they manage applications from posting a role to final shortlisting. The process was highly manual, with recruiters spending up to 40% of their time filtering CVs. This reinforced the importance of tools that cut down repetitive tasks.
4. Secondary research: We analysed laboratory market reports from Ghana’s Statistical Service and the World Bank, which highlighted persistent youth unemployment rates and skills mismatches. These findings gave context and urgency to the design problem.
Together, these insights made one thing clear: the problem wasn’t just “more jobs” or “more applicants”. The real issue was poor visibility and weak matching, a design gap we set out to close.
Identified pain points
Limited job visibility
Most platforms surface generic or outdated listings, making it difficult for candidates to discover roles that fit their skills and aspirations.
Weak application feedback loops
Job seekers rarely receive updates after applying, leaving them uncertain about their status.
Mismatch of skills and roles
Many candidates lack clarity on whether their qualifications match a job description.
High volume of irrelevant applications
Recruiters reported spending up to 40% of their time filtering unqualified CVs.
Manual shortlisting workflows
Most HR teams still manage applicants with spreadsheets or email chains.
Difficulty assessing soft skills & cultural fit
Employers lack tools to evaluate beyond the CV.
Solution Design
The challenge was to design a platform that balanced simplicity for job seekers with efficiency for recruiters. The guiding principle was to create a clear, trustworthy, and human-centered experience, where both sides save time, reduce frustration, and connect meaningfully.
Problem Solved
Overwhelming and scattered job options.
A simple, organized place to explore opportunities.
The homepage serves as a centralized hub, showing recommended jobs, active applications, alerts, and saved roles all in one view. Keeps job seekers engaged and reduces drop-offs by surfacing relevant jobs upfront.
Problem Solved
Mismatched roles and irrelevant applications.
A faster, more accurate way to discover fitting opportunities.
Search and filters help candidates find roles by skills, location, and preferences. Smart recommendations reduce noise and highlight relevant jobs.
Problem Solved
No feedback loop after applying.
Clarity about their application progress.
Users can track the status of their applications (submitted, under review, shortlisted, rejected). Notifications update them in real time.
Problem Solved
Scattered applicant data and lack of personalization.
Control over how they present themselves and what jobs they see.
Job seekers can update CVs, skills, and career preferences. Recruiters can view structured profiles, making evaluation easier.
Onboarding
homepage
Search Jobs
Dashboard
Learn
Services
Profile & Settings
Impact & Results
Increased Employer Efficiency
Employers using the platform report a 30–40% reduction in time-to-hire compared to traditional recruitment channels. This comes from the platform’s ability to filter unqualified applications and provide recruiters with more relevant candidates. For the business, this means higher client retention among HR firms and employers, since faster recruitment cycles directly translate into cost savings.
Higher Job Seeker Engagement & Retention
With more tailored job recommendations and better feedback loops, job seekers return to the app more frequently. On average, active users engage with 3–5 job listings per week, compared to about 1–2 on traditional classifieds or social media listings. This higher engagement increases monthly active users (MAU), boosting the platform’s visibility and advertising value.
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