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Transforming Healthcare Credentialing with Blockchain
ProCredEx is a proposed digital marketplace that aims to revolutionize medical credentialing. This new business model could lead to savings of millions of dollars in annual revenues for hospitals.
Guiding job seekers to their dream careers
Summit is a proposed mobile application that can help early stage job seekers obtain career guidance and build professional connections within their local communities.
Our 5 member team was tasked with designing a digital product that will help a public library strengthen it's relationship with the community it serves - specifically as it relates to job seekers.
UNDERSTANDING THE LANDSCAPE
Domain
The 'New' Public Library
As large sections of society face disruption brought about by technology, the humble public library has grown to become an important community space catering to broader social needs of the neighborhood. Local libraries today are providing much-needed resources like counseling, skill-building, technology workshops and career services to help their communities.
Learning From Librarians
We visited 5 local libraries and spoke to the staff members and managers. Particularly, my conversation with the Manager of Career Services at NYPL's Science, Industry and Business Library revealed the following:
Most job seekers need guidance and training.
Even young, 'social media savvy' job seekers need guidance in navigating the current application processes and picking up relevant technical skills.
Libraries offer valuable career services for free.
Besides group workshops for job search and technical skill building, SIBL offers free one-on-one career coaching sessions with experienced coaches.
Young job seekers don't use libary career services.
Most of the patrons using library career services tend to be middle-aged or older. The local library is not that connected with the younger demographic.
This brought us to the question:
Why are young job seekers not using the free career guidance available to them?
SPEAKING TO EXPLORERS
Empathize
Our Target Participants
We decided to focus on early stage job seekers and spoke to 15 people between the ages of 22-40 years who were either actively seeking a job or pursuing skills to advance their careers. 80% of the participants were in their 20s.
What We Found
Young job seekers feel lost in their career journeys.
"I still don't really know what's right for me."
"I'd value concrete feedback that leads me to opportunities, not just general advice."
Young job seekers look for guidance that is customized to their individual needs and goals.
Young job seekers greatly value a professional network but struggle with building one.
"It's not really that easy to meet people within the industry. People are very busy."
Young job seekers face financial constraints and are budget conscious.
"If you are a job seeker, you can't really afford to pay that much."
Young job seekers are generally not aware of career services provided by the library.
"I've never been to the library specifically to ask for career help."
Meet Meg!
After analysing the insights from our user interviews, we created Meg to guide us through our design process.
"Follow your dreams and the money will follow."
Meg Simpson, 24
THE INEXPERIENCED JOB SEEKER
About
Meg, a recent graphic design graduate is passionate about the arts. She dreams of a career following her passions, but she isn't quite sure how to go about it.
Meg spends most of her days mass applying to graphic design jobs online without much success. She feels stuck and is losing her natural confidence.
She wishes she could speak to someone and seek guidance about her job prospects. But the cost of any such personalized service is an immediate deterrent.
Goals
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To find a graphic design job
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To connect with senior designers
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To volunteer at the dog shelter
- To save money
Frustrations
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Getting no responses from companies
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Having no one to turn to for advice
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Not finding specific career guidance
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Lack of motivation to keep going
Photo by Vinicius Wiesehofer on Unsplash
SETTING THE DIRECTION
Define
The Awareness Gap
We discovered that our biggest challenge lay in the fact that young job seekers, who need the most guidance and have the least savings still perceive the library laregly as a place to study or borrow books.
USER NEEDS
Affordable and personalized career guidance and networking opportunities
0 out of 15 users
had used the library for career guidance
LIBRARY RESOURCES
Free career service workshops, technical training programs and one-on-one career coaching
This presented us with an opportunity to create a product that would help the library connect with younger members by making free career resources more easily accessible to them. With this objective in mind, we formulated the Problem statement and Principles that would help guide our design process.
Our Problem Statement
Overwhelmed and cash-strapped early-stage job seekers need a way to get affordable and customized guidance on how to navigate the job search process.
Our Design Principles
Customized
Safe Space
Reaching out to strangers about your personal goals can be intimidating.
Our product will give users a safe space they can trust, with credible and reliable resources.
Community Oriented
The job search process can be extremely alienating.
Our product will allow users to build a community of like minded people to feel supported and grow together.
EXPLORING DIFFERENT PATHS
Every career path is unique and needs specialized guidance.
Our product will provide users with resources according to their backgrounds and interests.
Ideate
With a defined problem to solve, we brought out our pencils and rolled up our sleeves to come up with three divergent concepts for our product. We then tested the concepts with 15 potential users and gathered their reactions.
Career Guides
Scheduling one-on-one meetings with Career Guides
In addition to providing users with an easy way to book free sessions with career coaches, our product would connect users with senior industry professionals within their local library community.
YAYs:
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Users greatly appreciated having easier access to senior industry professionals within their library community. They perceived the local community to be more approachable than a more distant LinkedIn community.
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Users liked how easy and intuitive it was to schedule a coaching appointment.
NAYs:
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Users wanted the option to hold video coaching sessions and not be forced to go to a specific library location to see a coach.
Customized Content
Making customized career related content more accessible
Building on the library's traditional role of providing information, our product will provide users with customized career and industry related content on a regular basis. For questions related to career services, users will also be able to consult library career coaches.
YAYs
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Users valued receiving customized news and articles related to their individual career journeys.
NAYs
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Users did not think that they would necessarily choose the local library app to to access curated content over a more international content portal like Medium or even Google.
Connected Learning
Exploring career groups and events at the library
Exploring the role of the library as a social hub for community needs, our product will allow users to form career focused groups and attend career related events together at various library locations.
YAYs:
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Users saw value in connecting with their peers, exchanging ideas and learning together within their library community.
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Users liked how easy it was to find a relevant local group or to create a new one.
NAYs:
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Users wondered about the feasibility of having private groups meet only at the library.
REACHING THE SUMMIT
Prototype
Our Solution
Across our concept testing, we discovered a higher user preference towards making personal connections and obtaining customized career guidance. We therefore decided to combine the most valued features across the three concepts to create:
One mobile application to allow users to make personal connections for career guidance
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Make appointments with library career coaches
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Build connections with local industry mentors
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Participate in local networking groups and events
Summit in a snapshot
Customizing
the experience
Initial onboarding screens obtain relevant information about the user's background and interests to tailor their in-app experience.
Users can Skip and go to the Homepage at any time.
Booking a
Career Coach
Users can find Library Career Coaches, view their bio and endorsements and book free one-on-one sessions with them at the library or over a video call.
Connecting with an
Industry Mentor
Users can view profiles of local professionals working in varied industries and send them a connection request.
Once accepted, both parties can begin communication through the app.
Joining Groups and attending Events
Users can explore and RSVP to career related or industry specific events held at various library locations. They can also join member groups and network with other members with similar interests.
Summit, a video walkthrough:
LEARNINGS ON THE JOURNEY
Test
The Coach vs Mentor Conundrum
Coaches
Coaches are experienced Career Coaches who are employed by the library.
Career Coaching sessions during regular work hours can be booked instantly on the Coach's calendar through the app.
Mentors
Mentors are senior professionals within the library community who volunteer their time to support junior careers.
Mentors need to be sent a connection request and message before any further communication can commence.
During concept testing we discovered that our users did not immediately understand the difference between coaches and mentors. We had to test two more iterations before we reached our final design.
Original version
We started with assumption that users' understanding of the terms 'coach' and 'mentor' were the same as ours, but we were proved wrong.
We discovered that our users used the two terms interchangeably and were therefore confused about this home screen.
First iteration
We tried using one blanket term 'Mentors' and using tooltips and special icons to help users understand the distinction between the two types of mentors.
This proved to be even more confusing as most users just ignored and clicked through the tooltips.
Final design
Our final version went back to showing the distinction on the main page with a succinct explanation and representative icons showing the difference and way of connecting.
We did not encounter any major issues with this version during our usability tests.
Multiple paths to the same goal
We tested our prototype with 5 young job seekers, giving them broad user goals related to accessing career guidance within the app: obtaining resume guidance, building a professional network or learning about industry trends.
This gave us a chance to explore the possible pathways that users might take in order to fulfil their stated goal in addition to checking whether they are successful in completing their goals.
Job seekers used multiple pathways to achieve the same career-related goals
Despite the different pathways, all users felt confident about the path they had chosen to achieve their goal and were able to successfully complete the tasks they chose.
Summit successfully offered users with a customizable and flexible experience, catering to their individual preferences.
Qualitative User Reactions
"I like how it’s mobile and how it’s very local-oriented - and that boosts my confidence more."
"It is quite easily navigable. I’m already used to this kind of a layout so it was very easy to use and follow."
Overall, all 5 test participants reported a high level of satisfaction with respect to using the app, both in terms of the app concept and in terms of the layout, language, and navigation of the app content. No significant task flow or information architecture issues were expressed by any of the participants.
Next Steps
THE WAY FORWARD
To ensure Summit's feasibility, the following user types need to be explored during the next phase of design:
Mentor participation is an integral part of the Summit experience and vital for Summit's success.
Some questions to consider:
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How do we incentivize working professionals to volunteer as mentors?
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What needs and aspirations do working professionals have that can be fulfilled using Summit?
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What would make it simple and convenient for working professionals to volunteer their time to mentor young job seekers in their industry?
Career advancers (professionals interested in receiving skills and guidance in order to progress in their existing careers or to switch careers) could also potentially benefit from using Summit.
Exploring the needs and motivations of career advancers will also help keep young job seekers connected with Summit long after they are employed.
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How do we help career advancers?
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What are their specific needs and mental models?
MY REFLECTIONS
Conclusion
Working with assumptions
There were a few times during user testing where I realized that user perspectives were different from those of my own and the assumptions I had made. This reminded me yet again how important it is to keep questioning any design assumptions and to keep testing them against actual users as early and as often as possible.
User's sense of control
I learnt that providing the user with enough flexibility to take non-traditional paths helped generate a feeling of control. Users might choose options and paths which were previously unthought of by the design team. But they will still come out with a positive user experience provided that they believe they have successfully achieved what they set out to do.
Achieving design focus
There were multiple directions in which our design solution could go. It was tempting to create an app which provides personal connections, a jobs board, a progress tracker and a content portal. I believe that we were able to create a robust and flexible solution for our users because we narrowed our focus to only one of those areas: personal connections. Focussing on one thing and getting it right will always work better than trying to solve multiple problems at the same time.
UX is not a panacea
While bad UX could potentially kill a good product, good UX on its own does not guarantee success. In case of Summit for example, the underlying awareness gap would still exist even if Summit is launched. For our proposed solution to be a success, it will need to be accompanied by targeted marketing and outreach initiatives directed at both, young job seekers and experienced working professionals. It is therefore critical that UX strategies are aligned with other business functions like marketing, operations and finance to ensure a successful product.
Remote Collaboration
This was my first experience working on a design team which was all remotely located. While I initially felt some apprehension about how we would all work together, I was pleasantly surprised by the collaboration and output achieved through open communication, flexible task allocation and well planned schedules. But above all, I believe what helped us the most was that everyone on the design team put the insights from users above their personal opinions and preferences and were flexible to sudden changes in design direction.
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