Designing for Growth: How a Student Team Strengthened a Tech Firm’s Recruitment Strategy
Through a partnership with INFO’s iConsultancy, NeoMax reimagined its website to attract top talent
Photo licensed by Adobe Stock via PureVisualsFrame
The strongest talent acquisition strategies rarely begin with just a job posting: they begin with a first impression. For most companies, that first impression lives on their website. In competitive fields like IT services, a site isn’t just a digital placeholder—it’s a deciding factor. Within seconds, a prospective employee decides whether to click “apply” or move on.
When NeoMax set an ambitious goal to grow its workforce by 50%, leadership recognized that the website needed to do more than exist. It needed to recruit top talent. That’s when they partnered with the University of Maryland College of Information’s (INFO) iConsultancy, an experiential consulting program.
Through the program, undergraduate and graduate students collaborate with organizations to solve real-world information challenges. Website redesign projects are a natural fit. INFO students are trained not only in visual design, but in how people find, process, and use information—an approach grounded in user research and evidence-based strategy. For NeoMax, that perspective proved critical.
“We are in the process of wanting to grow the company, retain employees, attract business partners, and create lasting relationships,” says Emily Miner, administrative support engineer at NeoMax and a UMD alum who helped initiate the partnership. “So we want to make it easy for potential candidates to find our website, find our jobs board, and apply.”
From Information Overload to Intentional Design
Early meetings with the student team focused on understanding the company’s culture, hiring goals, and website challenges. CEO George Lankford emphasized the need for a bold, modern design that made the company’s core values immediately clear.
The collaboration followed a structured cadence with biweekly check-ins and iterative feedback sessions. “I looked forward to it each time to see what they came up with,” Miner says, noting how the design evolved through feedback.
Through user research and iterative design reviews, the students identified ways to streamline content, simplify navigation, and elevate key messages, making it easier for potential candidates to quickly understand the company and find open roles. The process even prompted NeoMax leadership to rethink other communications: “George and I realized that maybe our capability statement could also be more concise and easier to read,” Miner says.
The student team strengthened usability in practical ways—introducing dropdown navigation, making social media links more visible, and positioning the jobs portal prominently at the top of every page. A new “hot role” feature highlighted recently posted positions, signaling to visitors that NeoMax is actively hiring. The result was a more modern site designed to support the company’s hiring goals.
A Partnership That Benefits Both Sides
Beyond the deliverables, the partnership created lasting value. Miner described leading the student team as “a huge boost” to her leadership development and said she was “really impressed” by the students’ professionalism.
For NeoMax, the relationship also strengthened ties to the university and broader community. “Having that partnership with iConsultancy and with the University of Maryland speaks volumes about what we’re trying to do within our community,” Lankford says.
When asked what she would tell other organizations considering a partnership, Miner doesn’t hesitate: “We highly recommend it. It was a straightforward process and it was mutually beneficial.”
Ready to Partner?
Website redesigns are just one example of what iConsultancy teams can accomplish. From user experience research and digital strategy to data analysis, information management, and accessibility audits, INFO students bring fresh perspective and rigorous methods to complex organizational challenges.
If your organization is ready to tackle an information-centered problem, consider partnering with iConsultancy. To start the conversation, contact iConsultancy@umd.edu.