About me
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Project Overview
Employment Matchmaker
The product:
Employment Matchmaker is a San Francisco based organization focused on connecting unemployed individuals with jobs who have a hard time finding employment. The app also helps those who maybe looking to switch careers to enhance their lifestyles. “A Job for everyone” is the motto.
Project duration:
January 2023 - April 2023
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The problem:
With 3.00% unemployment rate, up by 1% from last year (ycharts.com) in San Francisco,
We needed to come up with a solution and the
strategy team at Employment Matchmaker identified that most people give up on applying for jobs when majority of applications ask for related experience or when they have a demanding personal lifestyle that requires their time. They continue staying in unpleasant situations. I.e. unemployment
The goal:
Our goal was to to drive a positive change in society, by designing an app for the unemployed that suggests suitable jobs to potential employees by matching their skills rather than experience and connecting individuals with volunteer opportunities that provide them with hands on experience they don’t already have.
My role:
UX designer leading the app and responsive website design
Responsibilities:
Conducting interviews, user research, paper and digital wireframing, low and high fidelity prototyping, conducting usability studies, iterating on designs based on user feedback, determining information architecture and responsive design.
Understanding the user:
User research, Personas, Problem Statements, Competitive audit & Ideation.
User Research: summary
I used data on various local websites to determine why and how many people are unemployed, which was used conduct user interviews. Most people reported feeling unhappy and dissatisfied in life because they couldn’t find a job or were unhappy in a current job but they weren’t actively trying to fix their situation.
The feedback received through research made it very clear that people would be willing make a career switch or start something new in order to find a job that better suits their lifestyle needs if given access to an easy to use tool to guide them.
Pesronas & Problem Statements
Competitive Audit
Ideation
To address the gaps identified in the competitive audit, I did a quick wire-framing exercise where my main goal was to encourage the user to apply for jobs by making the process straightforward and seamless.
Starting the design:
Digital wireframes, Low-fidelity prototype & Usability studies.
Digital Wireframes
Once I finished ideating and creating paper wireframes, I drafted the initial design for the Employment Matchmaker app.
These designs focused on delivering personalized guidance on where to apply for jobs best suited for each individual.
Low-fidelity prototype
To prepare for usability testing, I created a user flow for browsing for jobs and sending an application.
View Employment Matchmaker’s prototype here:
https://xd.adobe.com/view/9f212baf-833c-4497-8135-66ac9875aab0-ca72/
Usability study: parameters
Study Type: Unmoderated usability study Location: Remote
Participants: 5 Participants Length: 20 minutes
Usability study: Findings
Networking
Users wanted easy access to networking rather than having to click through hamburger menu and be directed to multiple different pages.
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Profile
Users had difficulty finding a link to their profile through the homepage.
There was a clear need for icons.
Skills
Users wanted 'skills required' and 'related jobs' to be listed clearly instead of having to hover over multiple irrelevant options first.
Refining the design:
Mockups, high-fidelity prototype & Accessibility
Mockups
Based on results from the usability study, I made some design tweaks providing a clear section for networking along with access to jobs related to user skills. Here are some pictures of before and after.
These mockups were later refined further for an improved UI experience, as you will see later on in the case study.
1st round of Mockups
1st round of prototype
Here’s a view of the high fidelity prototype after the usability study. The high fidelity prototype followed the same user flow as the low fidelity prototype with minor changes like convenience buttons on the homepage
Link to prototype:
https://xd.adobe.com/view/38a078c2-40dd-409e-9267-c56804eb897c-6df3/
Revised, High-fidelity Mockups
Accessibility considerations
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Clear labels were added to they can be read by screen readers
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Personalized recommendations on the homepage help define the primary task for the user.
Clear color contrast was added in order to follow the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines making it easier for users to read.
Responsive Design:
Information architecture & Responsive design.
Sitemap
Once the mobile app designs were completed, I started working on a sitemap for the website.
I used the Employment Matchmaker sitemap for guidance for organizational structure to ensure a consistent and cohesive experience across all webpages.
Responsive designs
Designs for screen size variation starting from the left, mobile, tablet and desktop were made.
I optimized the designs so that specific user needs were front and center on each screen.
I would conduct research on how well the app performs on reaching the goal of “a job for everyone”
Next Steps
Going forward:
Takeaways & Next steps
Impact:
“Boy, this app would make the city a better place” Angelina, a user study participant.
Since this app was designed to help the community, I hope to one day bring this to life and help those who need the guidance and encouragement to take that first step towards a better career opportunity.
What I learned:
What I learned through this project is that many people lack the resources for career betterment and therefore feel discouraged. This also leads them to not taking the actions required to land an interview or a job.
Aligning my work with specific user needs, helped me come up with useful solutions.
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I would conduct research on how well the app performs on reaching the goal of “a job for everyone”
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Add more inspiring and encouraging resources including networking connections and blogs for those in need.
Provide incentives to those who successfully accomplish their career goals through the app. i.e. coupons