Hire the person, not the paperwork
Building ReelWork from a founder's idea into a video-first hiring and shift marketplace for Melbourne's hospitality and retail venues. Candidates introduce themselves on video, venues shortlist in seconds and shifts get filled without a single CV.
Hospitality hires on a vibe. CVs can't carry one.
Venues in Melbourne hire baristas, chefs and floor staff all year round, often for tomorrow. A CV tells them where someone worked. It says nothing about how they talk to a customer at 7am.
Translating a founder's idea into a product people trust
ReelWork started as a founder's conviction that local hiring should start with a person, not a document. My job was to turn that conviction, and the business behind it, into flows a nervous candidate and a busy manager would both use.
I was the design decision maker. I worked side by side with the founder and the engineers, turning the founder's ideas and the business goals into product, always from the user's side of the screen.
V1 was three apps. V2 had to be one product.
The first version split candidates, employers and admins into separate mobile apps, 95 screens in all. It put video at the centre of hiring. It could not fill a shift, pay anyone or run on a manager's laptop.
Four people, two sides, one hire
A candidate who has never written a CV, a manager hiring between services, an operator running four venues and the team keeping it all safe. Each got flows built around the moment they open the app.
A reel in one sitting, without the stage fright
Four short profile steps, then three guided clips instead of one nerve-racking take. Step through every screen, record each clip and watch it go live.
Name and suburb. Errors appear on the field, in plain words, the moment you leave it.
Shortlist between services, on any screen
A live feed of verified local people, filtered by role, distance and days. Every reel ends in one of two actions, and contact opens only when the candidate says yes.
From posted to paid, without a single text message
One shift moves through six states, and the venue and the worker see the same one at the same time. Play it through, including the 15 minute hold and what happens when it runs out.
Role, date, time, pay and a short note. Multiple dates in one go for regular gaps.
Safe enough that both sides come back
A two-sided marketplace lives or dies on trust. Reels are reviewed before venues see them, work rights are checked and contact is always mutual.
One system, four surfaces
iOS, Android, the venue web app and the marketing site all run on the same colour styles, type and components, taken straight from the Figma file.
Five calls that shaped the product
Every one of these had a reasonable other side, usually from the business or from one half of the marketplace. Make your call first, then see ours and what it cost.
If I took another pass at the venue loop
A separate exploration, not shipped. The most expensive moment for a venue is the gap between finding someone good and booking them, so this concept closes it.
Today a manager scrolls the feed and keeps a mental list. In this concept every reel gets a decision: Yes, Maybe or Pass, one at a time, with keyboard shortcuts on desktop.
What we measure, and what comes next
The signals the product was designed around, the roadmap from the founder's plan and what I would carry into the next zero to one.
Review, hold and payout are where trust is won or lost. Those screens got as much care as the feed.
