Hire Up

General Assembly
User Experience Class
June 2022 - September 2022

Final project for class

Situation

The process of looking for a new position (or filling one) is arduous, discouraging, and stressful. Prospective employees and employers have to make decisions based on very little and what everyone is really looking for a job that is engaging, meets certain standards, and is a cultural fit. I looked at this problem and asked, ‘how might we change this process to weed out the guessing game? How might we address the anxiety and the risk for job seekers?’

And how might we do it in a 21st century way?

Note: The scope of this project has been limited for class purposes.

Meet our user, Vincent.

He is a burnt out Product Manager with seven years experience who feels his skills and expertise are undervalued at his current position.

He has seen some openings with a few companies who’s mission he loves but he is unsure what the company culture is like. Reviews are mixed and ‘generous benefits’ really isn’t saying anything specific.

He’s exhausted from working 60+ hours a week at his current job and has no time or energy to apply elsewhere, much less vet any companies that have open positions.

Initial Concept

So how might we make Vincent’s job hunt easier?

User research showed that the biggest priorities job-seekers had was to find a company who had similar values as them, to do it quickly, and the feel secure in the process.

Tasks

Identify priority values for job seekers and employers, then make suggested matches based on those values.

Speed up the process - use the swipe interaction so commonly used in apps.

Create a space for what happens after a user applies; job-seekers should know where they stand in the application process.

Wireframes

Both job seekers and companies fill out their top values to be displayed on their profiles and help match with each other.

Values include things like Professional Development, Family Friendly, and DEIJ Initiatives.

If Vincent chooses to include ‘family friendly’ in one of his top values, the algorithm will prioritize showing him positions with companies that also share that value.

How to Match

The home page offers suggested matches based on criteria the job seeker has entered, including job titles, companies they have applied to in the past, and the shared values.

Suggested Matches

Swipe to Apply

Once an job seeker has found a job they like, they simply swipe to apply.

Here, early user testing proved this was NOT an obvious action.

This lead to creating a tutorial.

Confirmation that the user has applied to the job.

The application process can be now be tracked in another area of the app, Connections.

The Connections page assists users in keeping track of where in the application process each application is. Users are never left wondering if they have been ghosted on an application.

Connections

Prototype

User Profile