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Sertie: designing a smart career development platform

Introduction

In today’s job market, candidates struggle to present themselves authentically. Traditional platforms reduce them to dry data within standardized PDF files, while their story, values, and potential remain hidden.

Sertie is a web application born out of the desire to change that. It was designed as a digital platform that empowers candidates to move beyond the traditional CV, tell their professional story, and discover jobs that truly align with their goals.

My role: As the UX/UI designer, I was responsible for defining the entire user experience: from user flows and wireframes to UI components and visual identity, all the way to the final design of key screens.

My role on Sertie

  • UX Strategy & Flow
    Mapped the end-to-end candidate journey, from initial sign-up through profile completion, matching and CV analysis.
  • Visual & UI System
    Created Sertie’s style guide: typography scales, color palette, iconography, spacing, and component usage, ensuring consistency across all screens.
  • Wireframes to Final UI
    Sketched low-fidelity layouts, iterated mid-fidelity wireframes, and final design screens for all core flows.

The problem

While defining the platform, we identified three key problems candidates face:

  • Inability to present themselves holistically: Candidates had no way to showcase their values, soft skills, and personal story elements often crucial for finding the right employer.
  • Tiring and unclear process: Building a profile on existing platforms is often exhausting. Users easily get lost in complex forms, with no sense of progress or understanding of what their final profile will look like.
  • Total lack of feedback: Candidates don’t know where they stand compared to others, how suitable they really are for a given position, or what they should improve to leave a stronger impression.

The solutions: key features

To solve the identified problems, we designed the platform with several
key features that together create a unique experience.

Guided and structured profile

Instead of confusing forms, we created a step-by-step onboarding process that makes input easier. The Sertie profile combines biographical data, soft skills, reflective responses, and professional goals into a coherent presentation that employers can quickly understand and assess. Throughout the process, users can always see their progress.

“Dissect & Improve” real-time profile analysis

This is the heart of the platform and a direct answer to the lack of feedback.

  • Visual analysis: Through charts and scales, users are visually shown their strengths and potential weaknesses.
  • Concrete tips: The platform automatically analyzes the profile and offers specific, actionable suggestions for improvement, greatly reducing uncertainty in the application process.
  • Competitiveness insights: The job-matching mechanism shows how a user’s profile ranks for specific positions and what’s missing for a perfect fit.

Connecting to growth opportunities

Sertie is not just a job search tool it’s also for long-term professional growth. Users have access to an “upskilling” section where they can choose areas for development, receive course recommendations, and directly request support from mentors. This positions the platform as an active career partner.

Lessons learned and personal development

Sertie is more than a job application platform; it’s a tool for self-presentation and career development. Through a carefully designed flow, users gain a sense of confidence and clarity, while the platform brings insight and value back into the hiring process.
For me as a designer, working on the Sertie project was an opportunity to contribute to something that directly impacts people’s lives not just professionally, but in terms of confidence, growth, and self-expression.
The greatest challenge, and also the greatest reward, was turning complex data into a simple, understandable, and encouraging user interface.