I joined eBay just as the company was ramping up recruitment for UX. To drive that, we created a new site – design.ebay.com – profiling our design leaders. I created the page for Kevin Lee.
The goal of the site was to show potential employees the type of people they’d be working with. Kevin seemed serious at first, but lit up when i asked about the blazing-orange Formula One remote control car behind his desk.
It turns out he has a whimsical, playful side, and doesn't take himself seriously at all. That gave me an idea for a clever reveal; I asked Kevin to bring a suit to work, and we took the car out for a photo shoot on the lawn outside.
The design tells a story. It starts with a seriously-dressed man. As the viewer scrolls down, it turns out he's having a blast with a toy car.
It leads right to the call to action. Don’t let your initial impression of eBay fool you, we’re having a lot of fun, and we'll definitely welcome you here!
We had a blast. We both had fun with the whole process of creating it, and I contributed to a site I was proud to send to potential hires.
The site worked. Several candidates (and even a few hires) specifically mentioned the site when sharing reasons why they wanted to work at eBay.