Designing a Skills-Building MVP Platform
Role: Lead Product Designer
Collaborations: Product Designer, Product Manager, Engineers, Strategists
Duration: Jul 2020 - Sep 2020 |
Methods: Interaction Visual Design | Competitive & Comparative Analysis | Prototyping | Usability Testing
Tools: Sketch, Figma, InVision
Overview
Participating with alongside a diverse group of design, marketing and data science team, we met via Google Hangouts bi-weekly to create a solution that addressed the effects of Covid-19, specifically the job market. Over the span of two months, we designed product concept, Progressii, a web-based platform to help job seekers find high-quality upskilling/reskilling opportunities that are valued by employers. Following this, we pitched to an expert panel of entrepreneurs, impact investors and policymakers which is in negotiations.
Area of Opportunity
Many job seekers have been severely affected by COVID-19, whether they were furloughed or unable to find work. Additionally, there has been a push for traditional roles to go more digital, causing a major skills gap for current workers. For the span of this project, we decided to focus on designing a platform that provides clarity to job seekers find high-quality upskilling/reskilling opportunities that are respected by and relevant to employers.
The high level goals were to:
1. Understand the challenges that job seekers are currently facing
2. Design an MVP solution - phase 1 for job seekers and map out the employer user profile for phase 2
3. Test the prototype with real users, reiterate on the prototype from user feedback
Problem
To help guide our research, we sent out a screener survey to identify target users and asked them questions about their current working status and upskilling/reskilling experience. Following the synthesis of the survey findings from over 70 participants, we interviewed a diverse network of participants that fell into the target user category for this study - individuals who are current job seekers and have either taken skill building courses or are interested in doing so in the future.
Competitor Analysis
To understand where we might fit in the market of “upskilling and reskilling learning platforms” we created a competitor matrix to evaluate a range of social-media brands that result in offline user interactions. We were interested in getting a better understanding of the current landscape and identify any gaps in offerings across various product features.
The results indicated that while many competitors offered many of the features, there were some that were lacking in other areas (i.e. data-driven learning paths, mobile application, and employer connections). We decided to hone in on these as we moved into the feature prioritization.
Learnings
Our team conducted Users were tasked with placing a mobile curbside pickup order for a smoothie. Through usability testing, I discovered that many users struggled with navigating the menu item to find desired items which caused frustration and confusion when placing an order. Based on my research findings, I designed some solutions and validated them further with additional usability tests.
To acquire skills for industries where there are skills shortages and where they are looking to actively recruit people from other fields
Determining which skills employers are looking for
Finding MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) that address specific skills
Distinguishing among MOOCs to find high-quality learning opportunities
Early Insights
After conducting 8 zoom interviews, we gathered and distilled the research into three major pain points:
Users were heavily dependent on external validation from employers when taking courses
Individuals struggled to identify what skills are valued and found it challenging to find a pathway to more advanced skills building.
Individuals typically signed up for courses that were recommended to them so they knew their time investment would pay off.
Persona
From these observations, I created a persona that represented a hypothesized individual, Ryder, a recent grad who is struggling to find a job and uncertain about what career path he should select.
Goals
Receive guidance on skill building and market needs
Find courses or certifications that are validated by employers or organizations
Pain Points
No straight pathway to advanced skills building
Lack of knowledge about his current skillset for future career paths
Conceptualization
We decided to draft up a user journey to demonstrate and visualize the experience path of user applying to jobs only to find out that he is lacking many of the desired skills for a given role. By sketching this out, we were able to visualize the pain points users experienced with the complex process of finding alternative career paths and insight into career industry growth. This mapping strategy allowed me to accurately discover and define individual desires and expectations of the customer journey.
Reframing the challenge
I then moved into redefining the project focus and polishing the vision statement. After synthesizing the collective data and research, I created a design statement to direct the work through the design process.
How might we help job seekers leverage their previous experience by finding courses that allow them to upskill / reskill?
MVP features
Guidance for skill building and market needs > industry & labor market information
Leveraging previous experience > skills and course recommendations
Employer connection
Action Items to inform the design:
option to filter courses by cost
research industries experiencing most job growth (E-Commerce, industrial real estate, augmented reality,
scrape linkedin profile for courses or certifications already have
customizing the candidate profile to the position
Solution
With a solid understanding of our research insights and pain points our users were experiencing, it was time to translate our insights into design, introducing Progressii, a platform to help job seekers find high-quality upskilling/reskilling opportunities that are valued by employers.
How it works: Employers will select courses that address relevant skills gaps for their organization. Job seekers who take courses and display proficiency will earn “incentives” (e.g. skip the employer’s ATS, automatic interviews).
Benefits: Employers get a more qualified talent pool. Job seekers gain access to relevant learning opportunities and a clear path to employment.
Using this approach, we also aim to create a more inclusive workforce by directing learners toward high-quality yet financially accessible learning opportunities that employers value and that lead to genuine skills development.
Design
Experience #1: Home Page
Currently, the platform is expanding offerings on both desktop and mobile app versions. Based on the feedback gained through user interviews, job seekers currently use both platforms so we wanted to be sure to incorporate this when building the prototype out.
Experience: Mobile App
Once user completes the skills assessment, they receive their curated results of their skills breakdown for industry and course matches as well as their fit percentage to transferrable fields and industries.
Users can then select on a desired field and see more related data and industry stats by region, job growth for field, and recommended courses. The platform aggregates this data from a variety of occupation and industry databases.
Experience: Desktop
From the landing page, users are able to navigate to other pages through a secondary drop down navigation that gives users guidance about what to expect on each page for better browsing and control.
Testing
Through user research, I was able to gain insight into the goals of job seekers and employers. To validate the changes I made, I tested the redesign with surveyed users with my prototype. I asked the same questions from my initial interviews and recorded behaviors and insights.
Learnings
2/3 participants expressed interest in previewing course content on landing page versus having to click into it.
1/3 users would have liked to see an “explore industries” button versus having to know what field or industry to search for.
Next Steps
Develop menus, lists, past orders
Stylize location pins to distinguish categories
Add social media login options