JobGPS
UI/UX Design, User Persona Creation, Wireframing, Prototyping, Usability Testing and Evaluation
Project Context
An app for people seeking to maintain organized during the job/internship recruitment process.
Role: Project for ENTR 390: Digital Product Design at UofM
Team: Solo
Timeline: Fall 2023 (November 2023 - December 2023) — 3 weeks
Tools: Figma, Pivotal Tracker
Problem Statement
Oftentimes, job seekers experience difficulties in tracking and managing their job applications, along with interviews and networking events. It seems there is no efficient, organized platform for job seekers in the job search process, leading to missed opportunities and more stress. There needs to be a solution for this–a platform/tool that will simplify and streamline the process, allowing users to stay organized and excel during their job search so they can be at ease and be more successful. Current opportunities for improvement include a lack of personalized guidance for job seekers, limited insights into the recruiting process, and disorganization during the application and interviewing processes.
Audience and Personas
The target audience for JobGPS is people currently going through job/internship recruitment and are seeking to stay organized throughout the process. Based on the research I conducted, I created primary and secondary personas—Sarah and Alex.
Sarah is a 20 year old college student at the University of Michigan who is actively searching for an internship and submitting several applications, but has had experience with searching and applying for them in the past. She is struggling with tracking her various internship applications, interviews, and on-campus networking events but would like to be organized, goal-oriented, efficient, and prioritize time management in the process. Overall, she is frustrated with how she has always experienced a lack of efficiency and organization during the internship search. She is seeking a solution that will make her internship search easier and less stressful. She also would feel comfortable tracking her progress digitally.
Alex is a 22 year old who has recently graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University, and is new to the job market–he is searching for his first job to begin his career. He lacks experience in job searching, is less familiar with professional networking, and is also struggling to keep track of job applications, interviews, and networking events; he is completely new to this. He is unfamiliar with the process so he is less frustrated than Sarah and more so clueless, but he is still also seeking a platform/tool that will help him stay organized and track his progress so he is maintaining professionalism and not missing out on any unique, fresh opportunities as a new graduate.
Use Cases & Scenarios
Use Case #1
The user uses JobGPS to track the status of their job applications, status options including not applied, interviewing, offer received, hired, declined/closed, and rejected.
After applying for several different jobs, the user can login to the app to edit and update the status of their job applications to stay organized–they can also see their “stats” of how many jobs they have applied to, are currently interviewing with, have received offers from, etc.
Scenario
Use Case #2
The user uses the app to get real-time career-related personalized guidance and support from the AI help chat bot–they can use the bot to practice for interviews for specific positions at companies they are interested in.
A user gets an interview for their dream job, and would like to prepare in the best possible way, so they use JobGPS’ AI chatbot help feature to gain specific insights and practice with precise case study questions.
Scenario
Use Case #3
The user utilizes the platform to research potential employers by accessing company profiles and employee testimonials to make informed decisions.
When the user receives an interview from a company, they can use the platform to research the company, ensuring it aligns with their personal or career goals, values, and/or interests.
Scenario
Design Process
I began with ideating to figure out who I want my app to cater to and what specific issues I wanted it to solve. I then conducted research to ensure that my idea is not one that already exists and that JobGPS is an app that will legitimately ease the lives of the target audience. After conducting my research, I started creating low-fidelity wireframes in Figma and quickly figured out I needed to narrow my problem statement. After further ideation, I started creating my high-fidelity wireframes, making sure that I was applying good UI and UX principles in the process of doing so. When I began the prototyping process, I watched numerous Figma tutorials and got “tutored” by another UX designer in creating variants, components, and other efficient ways to prototype, all the while designing with aesthetic-usability and accessibility at the forefront of my mind.
Low-Fidelity Wireframes
High-Fidelity Wireframes
Rationale
The development of JobGPS, which aims to simplify the job and internship search, is grounded in the need to address inherent inefficiencies and challenges in the recruitment process. This app seeks to enhance efficiency by automating and centralizing various aspects of the process on one platform, including application tracking, company research, and recruitment resources via an AI chatbot help feature and employee testimonies. JobGPS prioritizes an improved user experience by ensuring flexibility and responsiveness in navigating recruitment. Ultimately, this solution is designed to make recruitment more agile, data-driven, and user-friendly, primarily benefiting candidates in the competitive job market.
User Feedback
I conducted 5 usability tests for my app, and in the process, received an abundance of constructive user feedback. Towards the beginning of my design journey, several users told me that I was being much too ambitious with all the ideas I had and features I wanted implemented in JobGPS, and had to reevaluate and narrow my problem statement. After doing this by going through the ideation process once again, I was able to refine my problem statement, gain a better understanding of user needs, and concisely enhance my app. I also received user feedback on UI design elements such as spacing and alignment, color scheme, and typography, and made the appropriate edits and improvements based on these suggestions.
Next Steps
Add a feature where users can directly connect with employers, employees, or mentors at companies they are interested in
Implement a “filter” feature next to the “sort” feature on the explore page so that users can more conveniently find what they are looking for—users might have a preference for location, job type, industry, etc.