Topin Tech: Empowering Skill-Based Hiring and Learning
Topin Tech: Empowering Skill-Based Hiring and Learning
Contributed to UX design and user research for a dual-sided assessment platform that helps companies evaluate potential hires and enables universities to benchmark student readiness—bridging the gap between education and employability.
Introduction
Topin Tech was created to solve a growing disconnect:
🎯 Companies struggle to assess real-world skills during hiring.
🎯 Universities lack tools to evaluate students beyond classroom performance.
The platform enables companies to create job-relevant assessments while allowing universities to monitor and improve student readiness for real-world roles.
As the Product designer, I collaborated with the core product and design teams to define, validate, and refine key user flows and interfaces across the platform. My focus areas included onboarding, assessment UX, student dashboards, and improving task completion rates through better information hierarchy and interaction design.
Introduction
Topin Tech was created to solve a growing disconnect:
🎯 Companies struggle to assess real-world skills during hiring.
🎯 Universities lack tools to evaluate students beyond classroom performance.
The platform enables companies to create job-relevant assessments while allowing universities to monitor and improve student readiness for real-world roles.
As the Product designer, I collaborated with the core product and design teams to define, validate, and refine key user flows and interfaces across the platform. My focus areas included onboarding, assessment UX, student dashboards, and improving task completion rates through better information hierarchy and interaction design.
Challenge
The Topin team conducted foundational research with stakeholders from industry and academia. My role involved assisting in research synthesis and interface testing. We identified three critical problem areas:
1. Operational Challenges
🔹 High volume of unqualified applicants overwhelmed hiring teams.
🔹 Interviews relied too heavily on resumes and not enough on actual skills.
🔹 Universities lacked platforms to validate or showcase student capabilities.
🔹 Students had little exposure to industry-standard assessments.
2. Strategic Challenges
🔹 Skill gaps between academic output and industry needs.
🔹 Recruiters defaulted to pedigree-based filtering.
🔹 Students lacked timely feedback and context on performance.
🔹 No unified ecosystem for tracking job readiness and real-world learning.
3. Product Challenges
🔹 Existing tools were clunky, generic, and not purpose-built.
🔹 Poor UX led to high drop-off during assessments.
🔹 Platforms lacked customization for domain-specific evaluations.
🔹 Feedback loops were delayed and impersonal.
Challenge
The Topin team conducted foundational research with stakeholders from industry and academia. My role involved assisting in research synthesis and interface testing. We identified three critical problem areas:
1. Operational Challenges
🔹 High volume of unqualified applicants overwhelmed hiring teams.
🔹 Interviews relied too heavily on resumes and not enough on actual skills.
🔹 Universities lacked platforms to validate or showcase student capabilities.
🔹 Students had little exposure to industry-standard assessments.
2. Strategic Challenges
🔹 Skill gaps between academic output and industry needs.
🔹 Recruiters defaulted to pedigree-based filtering.
🔹 Students lacked timely feedback and context on performance.
🔹 No unified ecosystem for tracking job readiness and real-world learning.
3. Product Challenges
🔹 Existing tools were clunky, generic, and not purpose-built.
🔹 Poor UX led to high drop-off during assessments.
🔹 Platforms lacked customization for domain-specific evaluations.
🔹 Feedback loops were delayed and impersonal.
The Business Challenge
Without reliable skill-first platforms:
❌ Recruiters mis-hire or miss out on potential talent.
❌ Students fail to understand their real-world preparedness.
❌ Universities face lower placement rates and brand decline.
Topin Tech sought to fill this ecosystem gap with a single platform that connects talent, training, and hiring into one measurable pipeline.
The Business Challenge
Without reliable skill-first platforms:
❌ Recruiters mis-hire or miss out on potential talent.
❌ Students fail to understand their real-world preparedness.
❌ Universities face lower placement rates and brand decline.
Topin Tech sought to fill this ecosystem gap with a single platform that connects talent, training, and hiring into one measurable pipeline.
Solution
An Assessment Ecosystem Built for Skill-First Hiring & Education
1. Operational Enhancements
✅ Assessment Toolkit
Companies and universities create domain-specific assessments.
Auto-grading + expert review hybrid system.
✅ Responsive Test InterfaceMobile-friendly, low-distraction design.
Support for multiple question types (MCQ, coding, subjective).
📌 My Contributions:
✔️ Redesigned student test interface for readability and flow.
✔️ Improved information hierarchy for timers, progress bars, and submission states.
✔️ Co-developed onboarding journey with visual feedback and accessibility in mind.
2. Strategic System Alignment
✅ University-Industry Collaboration Tools
Dashboards for placement teams to monitor student performance.
Institutions can run mock assessments in partnership with hiring teams.
✅ Skill Benchmarking Engine
Graph-based view of strengths and development areas.
Leaderboards and badges to incentivize performance.
📌 My Contributions:
✔️ Participated in user interviews and helped synthesize journey maps.
✔️ Worked with the team on aligning dashboard UX for placement officers.
✔️ Contributed to early concepts of gamification and feedback mechanics.
3. Product Layer Improvements
✅ Design System & Interaction Library
Built for scale, speed, and consistency across teams.
✅ Behavior-Driven FeedbackStudents receive detailed performance breakdowns.
Personalized learning recommendations based on assessment results.
📌 My Contributions:
✔️ Helped build components in Figma for test cards, response modals, and loading states.
✔️ Conducted UI reviews and prototyped key user flows for usability testing.
✔️ Assisted in refining mobile-responsive layouts.
Solution
An Assessment Ecosystem Built for Skill-First Hiring & Education
1. Operational Enhancements
✅ Assessment Toolkit
Companies and universities create domain-specific assessments.
Auto-grading + expert review hybrid system.
✅ Responsive Test InterfaceMobile-friendly, low-distraction design.
Support for multiple question types (MCQ, coding, subjective).
📌 My Contributions:
✔️ Redesigned student test interface for readability and flow.
✔️ Improved information hierarchy for timers, progress bars, and submission states.
✔️ Co-developed onboarding journey with visual feedback and accessibility in mind.
2. Strategic System Alignment
✅ University-Industry Collaboration Tools
Dashboards for placement teams to monitor student performance.
Institutions can run mock assessments in partnership with hiring teams.
✅ Skill Benchmarking Engine
Graph-based view of strengths and development areas.
Leaderboards and badges to incentivize performance.
📌 My Contributions:
✔️ Participated in user interviews and helped synthesize journey maps.
✔️ Worked with the team on aligning dashboard UX for placement officers.
✔️ Contributed to early concepts of gamification and feedback mechanics.
3. Product Layer Improvements
✅ Design System & Interaction Library
Built for scale, speed, and consistency across teams.
✅ Behavior-Driven FeedbackStudents receive detailed performance breakdowns.
Personalized learning recommendations based on assessment results.
📌 My Contributions:
✔️ Helped build components in Figma for test cards, response modals, and loading states.
✔️ Conducted UI reviews and prototyped key user flows for usability testing.
✔️ Assisted in refining mobile-responsive layouts.
Conclusion
Topin Tech is enabling a performance-first ecosystem for hiring and education. It helps students prove themselves through skills, not scores—while giving recruiters and universities a reliable assessment engine.
Platform Milestones
📈 Initial Pilots: 3 hiring partners, 2 universities
👨🎓 120+ candidates assessed within 3 months
🎯 Scalable to B2B and B2C use cases with strong early retention metrics
My contributions as a Product designer helped shape the test experience, onboarding, and institutional dashboards. By aligning usability with strategic business goals, we ensured that Topin Tech delivers not only on performance—but also trust, transparency, and growth.
Conclusion
Topin Tech is enabling a performance-first ecosystem for hiring and education. It helps students prove themselves through skills, not scores—while giving recruiters and universities a reliable assessment engine.
Platform Milestones
📈 Initial Pilots: 3 hiring partners, 2 universities
👨🎓 120+ candidates assessed within 3 months
🎯 Scalable to B2B and B2C use cases with strong early retention metrics
My contributions as a Product designer helped shape the test experience, onboarding, and institutional dashboards. By aligning usability with strategic business goals, we ensured that Topin Tech delivers not only on performance—but also trust, transparency, and growth.
My Role in this Project!
My Role in this Project!