WEBSITE REDESIGN

Bringing one employer brand together during a major airline merger

Helping candidates discover
careers across multiple airline brands.

Helping candidates find career opportunities across multiple airline brands.

ROLE & TEAM

Lead Designer,
Internal Employer Brand / Project Manager / VP of People

SCOPE

16,000+ monthly average users (MAU)

TIMELINE

6 Weeks
(Jan 2025)

In partnership with Recruit Rooster (a recruitment marketing agency)

Helping candidates find career opportunities across multiple airline brands.

Fun fact: 75% of job seekers evaluate an employer's brand before applying.

Included on Glassdoor’s list of Best Places to Work in 2026.

OUTCOMES AT A GLANCE

The redesign gave Alaska Airlines a flexible foundation to grow its employer brand and recruitment efforts. It showed that great UX goes beyond interfaces by connecting people’s needs, business goals, and organizational change.

  • Led UX strategy across 7+ cross-functional teams.

  • Aligned stakeholders through multiple executive review cycles, culminating in VP of People approval.

  • Unified the careers experience across 3 airline brands.

33,000+ employees

Across Alaska Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, Horizon Air, and McGee Air Services following the acquisition.

~2,800+ monthly hires

To support continued growth and operations, reinforcing the importance of an effective recruiting experience.

Built to scale globally

Expanded job posting reach to talent markets across Asia and Europe.

100+ hours saved

Recruiters reducing scheduling time.

43%+ lower cost per hire

Companies with stronger employer brands.

THE CHALLENGE

After the acquisition, candidates had to navigate separate career websites to explore opportunities across Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines.

1.

Two career sites,
one confused candidate

Candidates had to navigate two separate career websites, each with its own branding and tone of voice, to explore opportunities across Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines.

2.

Inconsistent company
culture & brand stories

Separate career sites told different stories, making it harder to communicate a consistent company culture and employer brand.

RESEARCH & DISCOVERY

  1. Audit

    Audit the existing website experiences to capture pain points, and brand inconsistencies.

  1. Stakeholder interviews

    Conversations with talent aquisition leaders, employer brand teams, recruitment marketing agency

    Interviewed employees at each legacy brand

  1. Competitive benchmarking

    Competitive bench of brands that have umbrella brand systems:

    · Delta Air Lines
    · United Airlines
    · Microsoft
    · Expedia
    · Mariiott

1

Audit the existing experience

The audit revealed inconsistent colors, tone, and imagery across both career sites, therefore, employee interviews were needed to understand the workplace experience and ensure the employer brand reflected the company’s culture and hiring goals.

2

Conversations with stakeholders

I partnered with Talent Acquisition, Employer Brand, Marketing, Communications, and the recruitment agency to align on goals and constraints. Employee interviews helped shape an authentic shared story that honored each airline’s identity and made job discovery clearer.

Brand, Marketing & Business Strategy

A FEW QUESTIONS:
“What should make our employer brand stand out in a competitive talent market?”

“How should we position our airline family as an employer of choice?”

“What makes our employee value proposition different from competitors?”

Culture & Employee Experience

A FEW QUESTIONS:
“What should candidates understand about us before they apply?”

“What makes working here different from working at another company?”

“Which parts of each airline’s culture must remain visible?”

Recruitment & Candidate Experience


A FEW QUESTIONS:
“Where are candidates getting confused or dropping off?”

“What questions should the careers site answer?”

“How should candidates explore opportunities across multiple airline brands?”

Technology & Scalability

A FEW QUESTIONS:
“How can the careers platform support multiple brands under one employer brand?”

“What limitations exist in the current HR technology and recruitment systems?”

“How can teams manage content consistently across brands and markets?”

Brand, Marketing & Business Strategy

A FEW QUESTIONS:
“What should make our employer brand stand out in a competitive talent market?”

“How should we position our airline family as an employer of choice?”

“What makes our employee value proposition different from competitors?”

Recruitment & Candidate Experience


A FEW QUESTIONS:
“Where are candidates getting confused or dropping off?”

“What questions should the careers site answer?”

“How should candidates explore opportunities across multiple airline brands?”

Culture & Employee Experience

A FEW QUESTIONS:
“What should candidates understand about us before they apply?”

“What makes working here different from working at another company?”

“Which parts of each airline’s culture must remain visible?”

Technology & Scalability

A FEW QUESTIONS:
“How can the careers platform support multiple brands under one employer brand?”

“What limitations exist in the current HR technology and recruitment systems?”

“How can teams manage content consistently across brands and markets?”

Brand, Marketing & Business Strategy

A FEW QUESTIONS:
“What should make our employer brand stand out in a competitive talent market?”

“How should we position our airline family as an employer of choice?”

“What makes our employee value proposition different from competitors?”

Culture & Employee Experience

A FEW QUESTIONS:
“What should candidates understand about us before they apply?”

“What makes working here different from working at another company?”

“Which parts of each airline’s culture must remain visible?”

Recruitment & Candidate Experience


A FEW QUESTIONS:
“Where are candidates getting confused or dropping off?”

“What questions should the careers site answer?”

“How should candidates explore opportunities across multiple airline brands?”

Technology & Scalability

A FEW QUESTIONS:
“How can the careers platform support multiple brands under one employer brand?”

“What limitations exist in the current HR technology and recruitment systems?”

“How can teams manage content consistently across brands and markets?”

3

Competitive benchmarking

I reviewed careers experiences from companies with multi-brand employer identities, including Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, Microsoft, Expedia, and Marriott.

We learned that the strongest careers experiences:

1

Create one clear starting point for exploring and applying to jobs.

2

A shared employer story can coexist with distinct brand identities.

3

Employee stories can help candidates understand workplace culture.

4

The experience should be flexible enough to support changing business needs.

Redesigning a more
empathetic career page

DESIGN PRIORITIES

Start with a connected employer story

Give candidates a clearer understanding of the airline family and what connects its brands as employers.

Keep each airline recognizable

Use shared elements to create consistency while retaining the identity and employee stories that make each airline distinct.

Make career exploration easier

Help candidates orient themselves and explore opportunities across brands, roles, and locations.

Build for change

Create a flexible foundation that can evolve with recruiting priorities, content needs, and the organization.

LOOKING BACK & LEARNINGS

It reinforced that great UX requires aligning user needs, business goals, and organizational change.

With more time, I’d talk to the mix of frontline and corporate roles to tailor job discovery and seek a more flexible CMS to support future improvements.

Connie Wong

Let’s connect and build something great together.

© 2026 All Rights Reserved to Connie Wong.