Let job seekers experience the value before asking them to sign up.
ApplyQuick helps job seekers discover and apply for relevant opportunities.
However, new users were required to create an account before they could experience any meaningful product value. This meant users had to commit time and effort before they could determine whether the platform was relevant to them.
I redesigned the acquisition and onboarding journey to move job discovery ahead of signup, allowing users to experience value first and introducing account creation at the point of intent.
TL;DR
- Job seekers had to sign up and complete a profile before they could see a single job.
- Users arrive to find jobs, not to create accounts, so signup sat exactly where motivation was lowest.
- I moved job discovery ahead of signup and asked for an account only when users clicked Apply.
- Onboarding (career goals, profile setup) became part of applying instead of a barrier to entry.
- The result: a more natural path from discovery to activation. Timing is part of the user experience.
Context
ApplyQuick was designed to help job seekers discover relevant opportunities and move through the application process.
The existing acquisition journey placed account creation and profile completion before job discovery. Users therefore had to commit before they could experience the product's core value.
The opportunity was not simply to improve the onboarding screens. It was to reconsider the sequence of the entire acquisition journey.
Problem
The existing experience asked users to commit before they could evaluate the product.
Landing Page → Sign Up → Complete Profile → Search Jobs → Apply
The problem was a mismatch between what users came to do and what the product asked them to do first.
Job seekers don't visit a job platform because they want to create an account. They come to find jobs.
By placing registration and profile completion before job discovery, ApplyQuick was asking users to invest effort before proving value.
Key insight
Users arrive with a job-search intent, not a signup intent.
The highest-motivation action in the journey was finding a relevant job. Creating an account was simply a means to an end.
This created an important opportunity: move the product's value proposition ahead of its commitment point.
Instead of asking how to make onboarding better, I asked:
Does onboarding need to happen first at all?
User motivation mismatch, and the journey reframed around it
Approach
Rather than optimising the existing signup-first experience, I reframed the acquisition journey around the user's actual goal. The new principle became:
Let users experience value before asking for commitment.
This meant moving job discovery ahead of registration and delaying account creation until the user had demonstrated a clear intention to apply. The redesigned journey became:
Landing Page → Search Jobs → View Job Details → Click Apply → Sign Up → Apply
The difference is subtle but important. The product no longer asks users to commit before they understand its value. It lets them discover value first, then introduces signup when there is a clear reason to continue.
Key decisions
Move job discovery before signup
Users came to ApplyQuick to find jobs, so signup was moved out of the initial experience and they could explore opportunities straight away. Why: the first interaction should align with the user's strongest existing intent.
Delay commitment until intent is clear
Signup was introduced after the user had found a relevant opportunity and clicked Apply. Why: at that point signup is no longer an arbitrary requirement. The user has a clear reason to continue.
Make onboarding a continuation of the application journey
Onboarding stopped being a separate task to finish before using ApplyQuick and became part of applying. Why: every onboarding step now has a clear relationship to the user's immediate goal.
Capture career goals at the right moment
Career goals were asked for during onboarding, after the user had already shown intent. Why: the product could gather what it needed for personalisation without asking before users had seen any value.
Designing for immediate job discovery
To support the shift, I redesigned the landing experience around immediate job discovery. Users could:
- Search for jobs immediately
- Browse available opportunities
- View job details
- Assess the relevance of the platform
- Decide whether they wanted to proceed with an application
The product therefore demonstrated its value before requesting commitment.
Job discovery: search results and job details
Before vs after
The core change, summarised.
Design exploration
The shift in strategy also changed what the landing experience needed to accomplish. Rather than introducing the product and directing users toward registration, it needed to help users begin their job search.
Version A, signup-focused: the initial direction prioritised registration and account creation.
Version B, job search first: the experience was reframed around immediate job discovery.
Version C, final solution: balanced job discovery, product relevance and the eventual transition into application.
Version A — signup-focused
Version B — job search first
Onboarding redesign
Once users decided to apply, onboarding became a continuation of their journey rather than a separate task.
Account creation happened at the point of intent
Users were only asked to create an account after they had found a relevant opportunity and chosen to apply, so registration answered a meaningful action instead of standing as an upfront requirement.
Career goals were captured during onboarding
Goals were captured while users were already invested in completing an application, so ApplyQuick learned what they were looking for while keeping discovery lightweight.
Profile setup became part of the application journey
Profile setup moved to after users had experienced value and decided to proceed, turning it from a barrier to entry into a step toward their goal.
The application became the end goal
Account creation, career goals and profile setup all served the application journey rather than becoming objectives in themselves.
By the numbers
2 → 0
screens between landing and the first job search; signup and profile setup used to come first
3
steps of value before signup: users search, view a job and choose to apply before being asked for an account
3
landing directions explored, from signup-focused to search-first, before the final one
Outcome
The shift from signup-first to value-first onboarding aligned ApplyQuick's acquisition experience more closely with user intent. The redesigned journey let users:
- Discover the product
- Search for relevant opportunities
- Evaluate job listings
- Decide to apply
- Create an account when commitment made sense
- Continue through onboarding
- Complete the application
By introducing job discovery before registration, ApplyQuick created a more natural path from discovery to activation. The key change was not simply a shorter onboarding experience. It was a better-timed one.
The product asked for commitment when users had a reason to give it.
Reflection
This project reinforced that improving onboarding is not always about removing steps. Sometimes the bigger opportunity is to rethink when those steps should happen.
Moving job discovery ahead of account creation aligned the product with users' existing motivation. The most important change was not simply reducing friction. It was understanding that timing is part of the user experience.
A signup screen can be perfectly designed and still appear at the wrong moment. For ApplyQuick, the better experience was to let users discover the value first, then ask them to commit.