Joe Torres

Project: Ropes & Gray Digital Recruitment Site Redesign

Ropes & Gray: Attracting Talent

PROBLEM

Understanding the Recruitment Process

Before we could begin tackling the recruitment site experience, we first needed to understand where Ropes & Gray fit within the highly competitive recruitment landscape. Our digital and brand strategy teams conducted qualitative interviews (with a mix of 15 recent associates and law students) and assessments of Ropes & Gray talent brand assets to begin identifying the underlying needs and desires that attract the ideal Ropes & Gray candidates. 

The team identified the following core themes: 

1. The Digital Experience: Associates are savvy. They’re acutely aware that every firm’s website is trying to ‘sell them’; when online their first priority is to get to the exact information they’re looking for.

2. Students are looking for the ‘inside track’ on what life is like at the firm they’re considering.

3. Differing levels of awareness about the firm and what it offers across different offices shape a recruit’s perception about the opportunities at the firm. 

4. Many recruits don’t know what they want to do in their career, but feel that Ropes & Gray provides the latitude and the environment they’re looking for to guide them without creating undue pressure. 

5. In-person contact has a heavily-weighted influence in determining how a student opts to select Ropes over another firm—firm culture is a critical factor.  

PROCESS

Understanding the Role of Digital in the Recruitment Process

Prior discovery research was heavily focused on the broader recruitment experience, but did not deeply explore the website experience.  Armed with a sound understanding of the recruitment process and a stronger understanding of candidate perceptions and expectations, we then explored the digital landscape in greater detail.  

Additional Discovery Activities

Competitive Analysis

Assessment of competitive digital landscape across the key firms appealing to similar candidates to better understand their strategic approaches and the visual expression of their recruitment site experiences.  

Site Audit

I performed a heuristic review of the recruitment site and identified key usability issues, documented the existing information architecture, and created a component matrix to understand the parts and pieces that comprise the existing site experience. 

Analytics Review

I reviewed engagement data via Google Analytics including region-specific data to understand the volume of traffic from key identified target law school regions.

User Interviews

To better understand job candidate usage of the recruitment site, I led semi-structured interviews with 8 participants across key US and UK offices to better understand the following: 

• Early stage firm research and interaction with the Ropes and Gray site generally

• Website experience: understanding of content and navigation, and the ability to complete core tasks identified by the client team

• Overall site perceptions and preferences

Key Interview Findings: 

• Most participants conducted a combination of firm research and usage of aggregator sites (such as Chambers and Vault) to conduct firm research prior to applying for a position

• Participants were primarily seeking concrete examples of work and distinguishing metrics 

• Opportunity to create clearer pathways to regional content and structure pages to more easily guide users to areas of importance

• All participants noted that the site felt generic and dated visually

• Participants noted the need to convey a more personal touch with added clarity around career development

• The GO (Global Opportunities) program is enticing to recruits and exemplifies the global work that the firm does

Identifying Recruitment Site Goals

Following discovery research activities, we synthesized key findings into overarching website goals, and collaborated closely with the client team to identify and prioritize primary tasks and site content (including the elimination of a significant amount of existing content) to begin creating the new recruitment site experience. 

Overarching Goals

1. Attract new talent to the firm

2. Provide an overview of the Ropes & Gray story and provide pathways to relevant audience-specific content

3. Showcase the firm’s commitment to client service, diversity, and public service

4. Clearly convey the work culture at Ropes & Gray and the firm’s global reach

5. Reinforce the benefits of working at Ropes & Gray and building a career at the firm

6. Highlight people stories to create a stronger connection with recruits and their peers

Restructuring the Digital Experience

Based on the findings from discovery and user research, the design of the site was generally considered outdated and generic, and users could not easily locate important information on the site.  The information architecture did not allow for easy wayfinding and was constrained by design limitations imposed by the parent site structure and its common components.  The site relied heavily on sidebars and accordions to contain the content the client team needed to convey, while much of the content on the site was deemed irrelevant and disingenuous by recent recruits.  

The structure of the new recruitment site needed to be flexible enough to support a new visual direction introduced by recruitment campaign efforts, while also allowing for flexible components used across page templates that can support future campaigns.   

By taking into account the primary goals, tasks, and content priorities of the site, I created a significantly more simplified navigation structure focused primarily on Regions, Firm Culture, and People--the most critical pathways in guiding potential recruits to relevant firm information.  Then, I identified the necessary page templates required to build the site. 

SOLUTION

Defining & Designing the Solution

Sketching & Wireframing

With the framework and structure of the digital experience built and the necessary content identified, the next step was to piece together the puzzle.

During this phase I led several rounds of collaborative sketching and ideation with the team—primarily our Digital Strategist and Creative Director. Collaboration was an integral part of this project and continued to be invaluable for exploring and articulating ideas.  This process culminated in formalized desktop and mobile wireframes for all identified templates with common components, taking into account the goals for the site, information intent, page hierarchy, and functionality.  I built the wireframes (and client wireframe presentations) within Figma while creating a common component library for efficiency across build sprints and design.   

Design

Ropes & Gray realized the need for a bold, forward-thinking cross-channel recruitment campaign and selected a bold approach presented by our visual design team. The final designs were rooted in a campaign strategy called “Unmatched” which placed the firm’s people—their attributes, personalities, and expertise—in full view using a playful color palette and hand-lettering style throughout the experience. 

Building the Experience

Functional Specification 

The final piece of this project was building the new recruitment site. The Functional Specification document was a critical piece for both gaining final alignment with the client on site functionality and providing our development team with the details to build the back-end CMS structure.  

Throughout the design phase of the project, I collaborated closely with the front– and back-end developers, QA, and the client to refine and iterate this document. 

Functional Specification included definition on the following:

• General Site Behavior

• Global Elements

• Common Site Components

• Final Designs and Functional Notes

Outcomes

The recruitment site is live and has seen significant improvements in engagement across pages due to the simplified pathways presented on the redesigned site. As a result of the success of the recruitment site, our thoughtful approach, effective cross-functional collaboration, and a happy client, the firm is now partnering with our team to redesign their entire digital experience on ropesandgray.com.