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Reimagining LinkedIn’s
Activity Job Tracker

IPhone Screen.png

 

My Role: UI Designer, UX Designer, UX Researcher | Duration: 2 Week Sprint

 

OVERVIEW

 

I began a redesign of LinkedIn’s job tracker application with the vision of becoming the next best job searching and tracking platform, alongside Indeed and Google Jobs.
 

The goal of this particular project was to identify any usability issues with the job searching process and determine the critical features to prioritize for the next iteration of the product.
 

 

BACKGROUND
 

LinkedIn is an American business and employment-oriented online service that operates via websites and mobile apps that is primarily used for professional networking and career development, and allows job seekers to post their CVs and employers to post jobs.


I am a UX Apprentice working towards a solution.


I worked alongside 3 other ux apprentices for only the research portion of this project. All other aspects of the sprint process were conducted by me. Some key achievements in my sprint is listed below:
 

Applied design sprints to inform our process. I was able to effectively apply the design sprints process to identify the problem, ideate on the solution, prototype and implement the final product.
 

Improved usability across the platform. Usability tests were conducted by the whole team. Since we were apprentices this helped to save time on gathering data and let me focus on the rest of the sprint process.

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Establishing a design kit. This has helped to maintain consistency in the look and feel across different parts of the platform and integrate and ideate the job tracker. 

 

THE PROCESS

 

After playing around with the LinkedIn mobile app I really noticing that there was a lack of information on the status of each job listing I set out to improve that. The app has an existing activity tracker, however it is not constant on each posting. I could improve on it.
 

My process for the job tracker is based on the Double Diamond Theory and Lean UX process. I aim to incorporate the key phases of Discovery, Definition, Ideation and Implementation in all of our projects.

Double_diamond.png

 

UNDERSTANDING THE PROBLEM

 

I conducted research interviews with our primary users (job seekers) to uncover any pain points that they were experiencing with the mobile job searching process.
 

My research encompassed:

 

Understanding the user’s goals and needs.

  • Users need an easy access point to apply to jobs

  • One stop app for anything job applying, searching and managing.
     

Uncovering pain points from the research.

  • Seamless job search from searching to applying using the app.

 

Determining the success of the tasks measured.

  • At what rate were users able to use only the app for the job process?

 

GATHERING INSIGHTS

 

After collecting the recordings from the user interviews, I conducted affinity mapping with my teammate to synthesize the data and gained insights. We grouped these pain points under common themes and features in the platform.

Affinty Map.png

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The categories were:

 

  • Search Habits

  • Frustrations With Ease of Use

  • Apps/Search Engines

  • Networking Opportunities

  • Devices

  • Company Values

  • Company Benefits

  • Duration of Search

  • Job Alerts/Notifications

  • Lack of Transparency

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To validate that there was a need to track and present where each job was in its process. A visible queue such as: review process, or accepting applications. Presenting this information would be valuable to any job seeker.

 

DEFINING THE MVP

 

Based on the sketching sessions, it was revealed that there were commonalities in the product vision. I identified the following key user stories:
 

Set a goal. Users can visually see the lifespan of a job listing.
 

Tasks to do. As users progress through the job hunting process there are visual marks to complete.
 

View impact over time. Users can see their progress over time and the measurable impact of their actions on the job hunting process

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I mocked up the main screens for the MVP based off the sketches I created and came up with
the following:


Login screen
Job listing screen
Job post screen
Activity Job tracker screen
Interview setup screen

Project 1 - Activity Job Tracker - SCANS.png

 

WIREFRAMING THE SOLUTION

 

I quickly mocked up some basic wireframes to establish a standardized visual hierarchy and layout for the future prototype.

 

VALIDATING THE DESIGNS

 

I conducted usability sessions with users to validate whether the new designs would solve their problems. I wrote a script including a scenario asking the user to do a job search and select a job to apply to and track the process.
 

During the session, I observed how they interacted with the prototype and set up the audience. The usability session revealed that it was less arduous to apply to a job due to the activity tracker informing them where they were in the process.
 

The information gathered was insightful and validated my problem statement:
 

Users would like a feature that lets them view the life of a job post by letting them measure the processes and steps involved with visual markers

 

RESULTS AND TAKEAWAYS

 

I have received positive feedback from users about the activity job tracker. The next step is to go back and iterate on the mid-fi prototype using my user testing feedback. Create a new prototype from that feedback and test again.

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Discover, Define, Design and Deliver.
 

Some key takeaways from this project are:
 

  • Create a strategic plan to launch an MVP. This helps deal with out-of-scope requests that could potentially derail the project and helps deliver a quality product in time.
     

  • User testing doesn't end after development. Design is a constant iteration of improving the experience for the end user. Always find ways to collect and listen to your user's feedback

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