Home Depot · Path to Pro Network · 2024–2025
Rethinking Job Search for Skilled Tradespeople
Company
The Home Depot
Role
Lead UX Designer
Methods
Design Sprint, Competitive Analysis, Usability Testing
Platform
Web & Mobile
01
The Brief
The Path to Pro Network was growing on the hiring side. Contractors and business owners were finding skilled labor through the platform — but the candidates they were looking for weren't showing up in the numbers we expected. The experience for job seekers, the skilled tradespeople at the center of the platform's mission, hadn't been meaningfully tested with real users since the product launched.
To understand where to invest, I ran a design sprint. That meant auditing the current experience, studying what competitors were building for the same user, and synthesizing research that had already been collected but never fully acted on. The goal was to cut through the backlog of assumptions and identify where the greatest opportunities actually were — before a single screen got redesigned.
The sprint wasn't about designing anything new. It was about earning the right to know what to design.
02
Reading the Landscape
What the market was already telling us.
Before proposing anything, I needed to understand what the market looked like for skilled tradespeople. I mapped the competitive landscape — reviewing how other platforms handled navigation, mobile experience, profile building, search, and credentialing.
The audit surfaced two areas where no major competitor was investing: AI-assisted profile creation and job posting validation. Both were unaddressed across the market. That mattered — it meant we weren't just catching up, we had a chance to lead.
Competitive landscape — Competitor details anonymized. Based on review conducted during sprint.
| Platform | Navigation ease | Mobile experience | Custom profile | Skills credentialing | Advanced search | Candidate visibility | Saved searches & alerts | AI profile assist | Job posting validation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Path to Pro NetworkHome Depot | Multiple entry points create confusion for first-time candidates. | Mobile-first design handles the majority of candidate traffic well. | Detailed trade-specific fields give candidates a thorough profile. | Badge system exists but lacks third-party or verified credentialing. | Location and trade filtering available; keyword search is limited. | Profiles are searchable but not proactively surfaced to hiring Pros. | No persistent search saving or candidate alert system in place. | None No AI assistance present at any stage of profile creation. | None No ratings, hire history, or company verification shown to candidates. |
| Trades Network Pro (Platform A)Trades-focused job board | Clear top-level navigation with intuitive category structure throughout. | Responsive layout works on mobile but not optimized for small screens. | Basic name and trade fields only, no free-form description supported. | No credentialing system; candidates self-report skills without validation. | Trade and location filters present; no radius or availability filtering. | Candidates appear in keyword results only; no proactive matching exists. | Email alerts for new job postings available; no saved search management. | None No AI tooling present at any point in the profile creation flow. | None Job postings display basic info only; no company ratings or hire data. |
| LaborLink Markets (Platform B)General labor marketplace | Dashboard-led navigation makes key actions easy to find on first visit. | Native app available; mobile experience closely mirrors the desktop product. | Supports work history and photo uploads; no trade-specific field structure. | Self-reported skills only; no external verification or badge system present. | Robust filtering across pay rate, distance, availability, and job type. | Profiles surfaced in recommended results; visibility tied to completeness score. | Saved searches with email and push notification alerts supported. | None No AI features in profile creation despite broader AI investment in the product. | None Postings lack employer ratings, response rate data, or hiring history signals. |
| BuildForce Connect (Platform C)Construction-specific network | Dense information architecture; new users frequently report disorientation. | Mobile-responsive but some key workflows still require desktop to complete. | Work portfolio and license fields supported; narrative description limited. | License upload feature present but verification is manual and slow. | Trade filtering only; no location radius, availability, or experience level. | Candidates visible in search but no recommendation or surfacing system. | No saved search feature; users must re-enter criteria on each visit. | None Profile creation is fully manual with no AI or suggestion tooling present. | None No employer trust signals; candidates have no way to evaluate job quality. |
Two gaps, no one addressing them. Across every platform reviewed, AI assistance for profile building and validation of job posting quality were entirely absent. These became the clearest opportunities coming out of the sprint.
03
Where the Work Was
Three areas. Each with real evidence behind it.
The sprint brought together three input streams — a current-state audit, the competitive review, and previously collected but unanalyzed research. Each activity built on the one before it, narrowing from broad landscape observations to specific, evidence-backed opportunity areas.
Sprint structure — Path to Pro Network candidate experience, 2024
Full findings available on request
The three opportunity areas, prototype approaches, and usability findings are documented in a detailed walkthrough. This project is under active development — reach out and I'll share the full version.
04
From Questions to Prototypes
Three areas, six prototypes, real tradespeople.
Each opportunity area was explored through competing prototype approaches — two directions per area, six prototypes total. The prototypes weren't polished concepts; they were built to test specific assumptions about how tradespeople search for work and present themselves to employers.
We put all six in front of real tradespeople — electricians, HVAC technicians, general laborers — and watched how they responded. The sessions told us which approaches matched how these users actually think about finding work.
Tap to explore
Electrician
Reliable Heating & Air
General Laborer
Apex Contracting
HVAC Technician
Cool Air Solutions
Electrician Apprentice
PowerPro Electric
Apply flow
Profile builder
05
The Result
The sprint delivered three validated opportunity areas, each with evidence from competitive analysis, existing research, and direct user testing. All three were accepted into the product roadmap.
opportunity areas identified
competing prototypes built and tested
directions validated and moved to roadmap
This project is under active development at The Home Depot. A full walkthrough — including the sprint findings, prototype approaches, and usability results — is available on request.