RecruiterAma Owusu
- Starts each day from a triaged list
- Lets Cara handle outreach and first interviews
- Tracks offers and approvals in one place
Product journey · October RecruitmentOne great hire.
One great hire.
Every step, start to finish.
Follow Northstar as it hires a Senior Product Designer in October. Click through the screens your recruiters, hiring managers, interviewers and candidates actually use, from the first look at the pipeline to a signed offer.
12 stepsAbout 5 minutesClick Next or use ← →
Step 1 of 12Recruiter
Start the day with decisions, not admin.
Ama opens the Senior Product Designer pipeline. It leads with what needs doing: who’s ready, who needs one more check, and who to close the loop with. Click Next to see how Naledi got to the top.
- 1Triage totals sit above every stage
- 2October’s recommendation, evidence and score on every row
- 3Overdue work shows before it stalls a candidate
- 4Switch to the board any time; October remembers your choice
Recruitment / Jobs
Senior Product Designer Open
Product · Cape Town or remote · Full-time
Whole pipeline31 candidates
4Ready to move forward
19Needs more evidence
8Consider rejecting
All active31Applied9Screening8AI Screening6Interview5Final Round2References1Offer0
1CandidateRecommendation & evidenceNext stepOctoberMove forward
Ready to move forwardStrong evidence so far
Naledi MokoenaProduct Designer · Yoco
Schedule a team interview · Strong signals so far — interview before any offer.
Resume91%Verified92/100Cara88/100
Thu 10:00 SASTPanel interview
89Interview
Daniel OkaforSenior UX Designer · Takealot
Schedule a final round · Generally positive — close remaining gaps.
Resume84%Team2 of 2+Cara74/100
Awaiting schedulingFinal Round
81Final Round
Needs more evidenceRun the next check before deciding
Mia JansenProduct Designer · Luno
Assign a practical task · Mixed signals — a take-home will clarify.
Resume72%Verified80/100Cara69/100
Submit design exerciseWaiting on candidate
70Interview
Lebo KhumaloUI Designer · Freelance
Recommendation pending · Next: run October Verified.
Resume76%Verified
Review portfolioOverdue
74AI Screening
Consider rejectingWeak or flagged — review and close the loop
Ruan de WetGraphic Designer · Studio Nine
Not a fit right now · Signals are weak across the board.
Resume41%Cara38/100
Nothing scheduled
39Interview
Sorted by October scoreShow 26 more
Illustrative product views · Northstar and its people are examples
The killer featuresWhat made that hire
What made that hire
feel effortless.
Every step you just clicked through solves a problem hiring teams know too well. Here’s each one, and the pain it takes away.
A pipeline that triages itself
The list view groups every active candidate into ready, needs evidence and consider rejecting, with the next step and a one-click move forward.
The pain it removesForty applicants, three tabs open and no idea who to look at first.A score you can argue with
The October composite blends résumé, role fit, verification, AI interview, technical work, references and the team’s scorecards. Every part is visible.
The pain it removesA CV skim and a gut feel decide who gets a call back.One rubric, start to finish
Cara builds a weighted Role Spiderweb of four to eight competencies. Screening, AI interviews, interview kits and ranking all use it.
The pain it removesEvery interviewer is quietly hiring for a different job.Sourcing that writes like a person
Cara finds people who fit, writes to each personally, answers questions from the role brief and follows up. You only pay for candidates you accept.
The pain it removesThe best people never see your advert, and outreach takes a full day.Know who you’re hiring
October Verified cross-checks employment, email, employers and public footprint against the CV, then scores it out of 100. Structured reference forms come back summarised.
The pain it removesA polished CV, a friendly reference call and nobody quite sure what was checked.First interviews that run themselves
Live voice conversations with Cara, recorded answers or interviewer-led screens, scored on content against weighted criteria.
The pain it removesScreening calls eat a recruiter’s whole week.Take-homes in minutes, scored blind
Cara drafts the brief and rubric. Reviewers score before seeing anyone else, and technical assessments end with a spoken follow-up on the candidate’s own work.
The pain it removesExercises take a week to write, and AI makes every submission look polished.Hiring managers decide from Slack
Scored application cards with Advance and Reject buttons, plus stage automations that email candidates, assign tasks and notify the right person.
The pain it removesHiring managers don’t log in, so candidates wait.Feedback that actually arrives
Free interviewer accounts for advisors and founders, an interview hub with reminders, and Cara’s notetaker to summarise each conversation.
The pain it removesChasing scorecards for a week after the panel.Talent that comes back
Past applicants are re-matched to new roles every night, silver medalists are badged, and talent pools can be invited to apply in one go.
The pain it removesLast year’s runner-up is forgotten in someone’s inbox.Offer to employee record in one flow
Offer templates, approvals, counteroffers and a built-in signature. Accepted terms become an employee record and an onboarding plan.
The pain it removesThe offer lives in Word, the signature in another tool, and HR retypes it all.
Everyone in the loopFour people, one hire.
Four people, one hire.
Each with less to do.
Recruitment works when everyone involved can do their part quickly. October gives each person exactly the view they need.
Hiring managerAlex Morgan
- Shapes the role with Cara in minutes
- Advances strong matches from Slack
- Sees the evidence behind every recommendation
InterviewerSipho Dlamini
- Joins free, sees only their candidates
- Scores blind against the same rubric
- Gets reminders with a sign-in link
CandidateNaledi Mokoena
- Gets a personal note, not a template
- Interviews and submits work on her schedule
- Accepts and signs in her portal
The full pictureThere’s more
There’s more
inside.
The detail behind the journey.
Pipeline & review+
- List and board views, remembered per person
- Application review queue with resume, AI score and answers
- Side-by-side candidate comparison
- Bulk move and reject with optional rejection emails
- Silver medalists, talent pools and a no-hire list
AI with a human in charge+
- AI-assisted job descriptions and offer wording
- Cara sourcing with follow-ups and email templates
- Live, recorded or interviewer-led AI screening
- Technical assessments with a spoken follow-up
- Auto-advance rules; rejections are only ever recommended
Reach & experience+
- Branded careers site with an embeddable widget
- Indeed and generic XML feeds plus Google Jobs
- Tracking links for LinkedIn, Indeed and more
- Candidate self-scheduling from linked calendars
- Candidate portal with status, interviews and offers
Operations & insight+
- Stage automations: email, task or notify
- Requisitions with approval
- Recruitment analytics by source, referral and decline reason
- Importers for Greenhouse, Lever, Ashby, Workday and BambooHR
- Agency recruiter workspaces
Start with your organisation
Bring a role. We’ll run the journey with you.
We’ll set up one of your open roles in a walkthrough: the Role Spiderweb, Cara sourcing, the pipeline and the offer.