UX / UI DESIGN
Streamlining the Job-Seeking Experience
Duration
Apr 2024 - Jun 2024 (3 months)
Tools
Figma, Qualtrics, Airtable
My Role
UX Designer
Key Skills
Performed market research and applied product thinking to shape design strategies and define key product features.
PROBLEM
Issues with usability
Thousands of students and industry professionals use Simplify to expedite their job applications. However, the site lacked to display sufficient information for its users.
Before
After
USER RESEARCH
Why aren’t users drawn to the job board?
Through user interviews with new and existing Simplify users, we identified common pain points in job board usage.
01 Insufficient information on job card preview
02 Road blocks in the job application flow
After synthesizing our findings from user interviews, we drew two main insights.
✳ Existing filters are functional, but lacking clarity.
It's not immediately apparent that they support multi-selection, and the intended use of each filter is somewhat unclear. Additionally, the autocomplete suggestions leave room for improvement, and the search results primarily provide exact keyword matches, making it challenging to conduct highly specific searches.
✳ Current information on job listings are insufficient and contain irrelevant information.
Cards contain a quantitatively large amount of content, but most of it is irrelevant. Most are missing the basic tags applicants care about most (Salary, posting date, location, industry).
IDEATION
→ How could we increase filter clarity and improve job listing structure?
The pre-existing Simplify site was confusing for users, especially while other competitor sites that users preferred did not feature a grid layout. Although not entirely opposed to the 3x3 grid style layout, users found it unusual and challenging to navigate, particularly with seeing which internships had already been applied to, or having to click in and out to see job posting descriptions. The goal was to maximize preview space as much as possible.
ϟ Initial ideation: condensing the side panel for greater utilization of space, moving away from a 3x3 card grid, to vertical scrollable cards and an expandable card layout.
With a smaller job panel on the left, with an expandable view to the right, users can greater view data on the listing that is relevant to decision making. Thus, helping include more relevant information on the card itself, as well as allowing for greater company data on the expanded panel.
→ Other considerations: What’s the best way to display company data on listings that is relevant to users, yet not data that is insufficient, unwanted, or excessive?
The CEOs preferred job site structure of a site like Massive, featuring company data which is one of Simplify’s one of main value propositions.
Simplify’s competitive edge over competitors is company data. The CEOs sought to present information on the company listing about the comapny itself in addition to the job salary. They sought to place the data in an effective way, from the scraping algorithm they developed.
We came up with two potential solutions:
01. Company data embedded as a one column panel
This layout would streamline all listing information in one flow. As opposed to having company data initially hidden, interested users can expand the module preview.
PROS
• Straightforward layout, more intuitive and familiar
• More room for graphs and charts of company data
CONS
• Cannot showcase all company data features on initial preview
• Could possibly be irritating for users who do not prioritize data
02. Company data added as a side tab
In the sample of our user interviews, users seemed to prioritize company data less. This could be partly because a large majority of Simplify’s user base are college students, who do not prioritize company stability as much as seasoned professionals.
PROS
• Easier navigation and streamlined application for those who prioritize number of applications sent in
CONS
• Users have to click the side icons to expand, may be unintuitive
• Company data is not visible upon first glance
Ultimately, we decided to choose option 2. Through our user interviews, we gathered that users did not prioritize company data nearly as much as items like salary, or location. We used a expandable tab and a vertical scroll to showcase company data.
Through conducting usability tests on our prototypes, the company data embedded as a side tab yielded 31.2% more application submissions in one trial than the one column panel did. Initially, this did not match our hypothesis - as we initially thought having a separate side navigation bar would hinder user speed. However, in our testing we found that applicants commonly skipped over the company data and prioritized quantity of applications sent out over the information of the company.
KEY DECISIONS
✳ Additional filters on top & changed styling for components
In order to more effectively curate job listings which the users sought, we added additional filters on top of the job card previews. Previously, filters were limited to experience level, country, and type of job. However, we opted to add an expandable panel with all filters on display.
✳ Side panel with addition of more company data
Our main project goal was to streamline the job seeking and searching process on Simplify. When we found that users were getting bogged down by unfamiliar company and card layout on the site, we opted for an expandable panel as opposed to embedding it directly on the page. In later user interviews, users reported greater satisfaction with application speed - backed up by users submitting 31.2% more applications than in the one column company format.
✳ Maximize job listing preview space, with scrollable vertical card layout
We hypothesized that users who were able to view job listings in a vertical card scroll format, with the preview on the side, would be able to apply to more jobs faster. With the previous layout, users would have to click on the preview, and click out back to the listings page. We found that upon asking users to apply to any random job, the vertical card layout outperformed the 3x3 grid system.
FINAL DESIGNS
The new vertical card scroll, additional filters, and expandable company panels allows a quicker and more efficient application process. Rather than getting bogged down by excessive information or lack of sufficient previews, users can preview and apply to their jobs all at once.
An expedited job searching and application process.
An cohesive and enhanced design system.
Previously, Simplify’s site components lacked consistency and cohesiveness in its components. We created a system of reusable components, colors, grid spacing, and card styling that gave the site a more modern look like that of other job searching sites.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
✳ Existing filters are functional, but lacking clarity.
It's not immediately apparent that they support multi-selection, and the intended use of each filter is somewhat unclear. Additionally, the autocomplete suggestions leave room for improvement, and the search results primarily provide exact keyword matches, making it challenging to conduct highly specific searches.
✳ Current information on job listings are insufficient and contain irrelevant.
Cards contain a quantitatively large amount of content, but most of it is irrelevant. Most are missing the basic tags applicants care about most (Salary, posting date, location, industry).
✳ Existing filters are functional, but lacking clarity.
It's not immediately apparent that they support multi-selection, and the intended use of each filter is somewhat unclear. Additionally, the autocomplete suggestions leave room for improvement, and the search results primarily provide exact keyword matches, making it challenging to conduct highly specific searches.
❤ I couldn’t give enough thanks to
Everyone who I worked with throughout this project, especially Simplify CEOs Michael, Ethan, and Rushil for allowing us to work on this scope of a project! It was an incredibly experience to sharpen my own design skills through such a cool company and task!
A thanks would be incomplete without mentioning my project leads, Caitlyn and Sohyun, for guiding me in my tasks with feedback and helping me through the process of communication and providing me mentorship every step of the way. I appreciate y’all so much :)