My Roles: UX Researcher & UX Designer
Conducted market research
Conducted semi-structured interviews
Analyzed data from interviews using an affinity map
Created personas based on research findings
Created journey maps for personas
Generated sketch concepts
Conducted moderated usability testing
Built visual design library
Built hi-fi prototype
Tools
Figma, Miro, Theydo, Google sheets, Microsoft Teams
Team
Jordan Cutsuries
Junyi Zeng
Duration
March 2022- May 2022
It is our hope to build a platform that assists job seekers in managing their hundreds of applications, providing them with supportive information, and guiding them through the hard times together. OVERVIEW
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Background
In Studio2-Interact Product at Georgia Tech, we were required to use systematic design methods to create interactive products, and we brainstormed topics ranging from travel to scheduling to job searching. Since we were all job hunting at the time, we decided our project should focus on job application assistants.
Problem
The process of managing job applications and obtaining supportive information is difficult for people.
Goal
We believe we can investigate and propose a new experience for job seekers.
Project Plan
Literature review/ Competitive analysisSemi-structured InterviewsSynthesizing dataLow-fi prototypeUsability testingFinal iterationTo improve applicants' job-hunting efficiency, how can we assist and support them?
To improve applicants' job-hunting efficiency, how can we assist and support them?
Solution
With our job-hunting assistant platform, users can keep track of application data and prepare for interviews with tools such as mock interviews, peer feedback, and employment forums. Reducing repetitive processes and helping applicants find jobs more efficiently.
Competitive analysis
We looked into competitors and analyzed opportunities
Competitors:
Notion, Simplify, Linkedin, Google sheets, Huntr & Untapped
Key Findings:
No tailored solution for application tracking and preparation
Manual actions required for updating information
Extra fee required
Needs more customizability
Semi-structured Interviews
We conducted interviews to gain a deep understanding of our users
Participants
We successfully recruited 6 participants that have previous work experience and have completed at least 2 different job hunting sessions.
Goals
These interviews were focused on the experiences that our participants had in their previous and current job-hunting sessions. The general focus was on their job hunting process, tools used, and their rationale for decisions made along this journey.
Procedure
We set out to speak with target users in remote moderated semi-structured interviews.
Affinity Mapping + Findings
We used Miro board to analyze data from interviews
Job Hunt Process
Application collateral is always changing.
Interview
“I use a variety of methods to prepare for interviews.”
Management tools
“There is no clear "best" job hunting tool.”
Job hunting strategy
Follow-up is important during and after job hunting/interviews.
Hunting, connecting, tracking, searching, etc.
Follow up
Journey map
We created journey maps for 3 different personas
Insights
Application data tracking
It takes a lot of time tracking application date for our users
Preparing resume & portfolio
Preparing portfolio is important for UX-related positions
Actually applying for jobs
Actually applying for jobs is really time-consuming and demanding
Repeating similar interview process
Repeating job application process is annoying and time-consuming
Features used
The features we used in the low-fi prototype
Paper prototype
Brainstorming
Low-fi prototype
Functioning prototype ready for usability testing
Remote moderated usability testing
Usability testing using the low-fi prototype
Synthesis of feedback
Feedback from the usability testing sessions
Community feature as a separate board
‘Community’ shouldn’t be a sub-feature of job preparation, it makes more sense to stand out in the menu list.
Simplified dashboard
The dashboard should only contain features that users check daily.
Clearer status indicator
Users want more clarified indicators in the application board to help them identify application status.
Making some features more prominent
Features such as ‘question practice’ and ‘auto-sync’ should stand out.
File connect to the application
Users expect that the file section could connect to their applications (e.g. recently-used resumes connected to the company they applied.)
Color coding
Color coding is crucial in management tools, because it allows users to quickly find the information they need.
Expected features of design
Modified feature sets
Branding
Name, Color, Logo, Typography
Brainstorming
Final Prototype
Functioning hi-fi prototype
Feature
Application
Feature
Job Preparation
Feature
Calendar
Feature
Community
Feature
Files
Feature
Sign out
Thank you!
Thank you!
I would like to express my sincere appreciation to Professor John White for his invaluable guidance, and also to my teammates, Jordan Cutsuries and Junyi Zeng, for their hard work on this project. They provided valuable insights and ideas that facilitate shaping the product. Their dedication and support have been invaluable, and I have learned a lot from them. I am grateful to have such amazing professor and teammates and look forward to continuing to work with them.