Elevate Talent

Challenging the norm of PDF delivery in the executive search industry to deliver a superior digital experience with user-centric, responsive micro-sites

Client:
Elevate Talent
Role:
UX Strategy, UI & Interaction Design

Situation

THE CHALLENGE

In executive search, job descriptions have traditionally been delivered as static PDFs. At Elevate Talent, we aimed to elevate our clients' market presence by creating highly customised job briefs. Although of high visual quality, the PDF format created friction on smaller screens and failed to meet evolving expectations for digital experiences. Issues included:

  1. PDFs require deliberate structuring to meet accessibility standards;
  2. they are often not optimised for mobile-first engagement, making it difficult to consume on mobile;
  3. limited storytelling and brand differentiation;
  4. and no engagement tracking
THE OPPORTUNITY

The opportunity was clear: rather than simply optimising the PDF, we could challenge the format entirely and create a superior digital experience that better serves both users and business objectives.

It also presented a chance to elevate Elevate Talent's premium brand positioning, along with that of the client organisation, by surpassing competitors to deliver a best-in-class experience.

Research

Research consistently indicates that static PDFs pose accessibility and usability challenges when compared to responsive web experiences.

  1. Mobile usability:
    Over 60% of professional content is now accessed on mobile. PDFs are not inherently responsive, often requiring zooming, panning, and horizontal scrolling.
  2. ‍Accessibility compliance:
    Many PDFs fail WCAG standards unless specifically structured with tagged content, semantic hierarchy, and screen-reader optimisation.
  3. ‍Cognitive load:
    Dense, linear PDF layouts increase reading fatigue compared to structured web content with clear hierarchy and progressive disclosure.
  4. ‍Engagement tracking:
    Web experiences allow behavioural analytics that can help lead to an improved, customised experience, whereas PDFs offer limited insight.
  5. Page speed & friction:
    Attachments create an additional download step, increasing friction and abandonment risk.

Understanding key stakeholders and users

The design process focused around reducing friction and enhancing the experience for two key groups:

  1. Senior executive candidates
    Often time-poor and extremely busy, these candidates require content that is easy to parse and adaptable to their needs, whether they are digital-native executives who are mobile-first or leaders who prefer to print and markup by hand.
  2. Client organisations
    Clients anticipate a premium service and representation in the market for both their organisation and the opportunity. Since executive search doesn't deliver a physical product, there is an even greater expectation for clarity and polish, making the quality of touchpoints crucial.

Solution

STRATEGIC PIVOT:

For Elevate Talent's most high-profile searches, we transitioned from static PDF documents to modular micro-sites that offered a more streamlined digital experience. This enabled us to:

  1. Create fully responsive content that adapts to the user, whether they are using a desktop in the office or a mobile device on the go.
  2. Create clearly structured content that utilised expandable sections and navigation to aid scannability to allow for quicker reading.
  3. Share a premium digital destination, a hub that allows users to learn more through embedded content and external links.
  4. Establish a foundation that allows Elevate Talent to harness data to drive continual improvement, and adhere to accesibility best practices.
  5. Deliver content that visually aligned with clients premium positioning, allowing us to focus on the smaller details that bring delight to the experience

This shift delivered a more accessible and intuitive experience, aligned with modern device behaviours and accessibility expectations — helping the client present opportunities in a way that resonates with senior candidates.

Impact

Results:
  1. A clear solution that addressed common problems users faced in order to deliver a modernised, digital experience.
  2. A new tier of product that helped retain key clients, and continued to market Elevate Talent as an industry leader.
  3. A format that aligned the quality of presentation and delivery with the seniority of the clients and the roles being offered.
  4. A changed of positioning, from “document review” to “digital experience"

By challenging the assumption that candidate briefs must be PDFs, we built a higher-value digital experience that better serves both users and business objectives. Helping further position Elevate Talent as a modern, digitally fluent executive search partner.

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