Careers@Gov
A Singapore governmental website tailored to job postings in the public sector.
Project Objectives: Redesign the website experience to drive more job applications.
Business Goals
• Increase employment
• Improve the caliber of candidates
• Fill up talent pool gaps in the workforce
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Success Metrics:
• Increased engagement in career resources
• Increased number of job applications
Role
UX Researcher
User research, Usability Test, Sketching
Timeline
2 Weeks, April 2021
Tools
Figma, Miro, OptimalSort
Meet The Team
The Background.
A civil job portal for the Singapore Public Service that offers work in 16 Ministries and more than 50 Statutory Boards ranging across various schemes of services. People who join the Singapore Public Service would play a key role in Singapore’s nation-building journey to overcome challenges and make Singapore a better home for all Singaporeans.
The Public Service Division primary purpose is to steward the health, well-being, performance, motivations, and ethos of the Public Service. They select and develop strong leadership and engaged officers across the Public Service to help build future-ready organizations and promote good goverance.
The problem
Due to the impact of Covid19 on the job market, the Singapore government rolled out SGUnited Jobs and Skills Package to increase employment. However, there are still many unfilled jobs because of the mismatch in the expectations and skills of job seekers and potential employers.
How can we close this gap and support both job seekers and PSD in finding a suitable employment match?
The Discovery Phase.
What difficulties job-seekers face?
To find out about the experiences and challenges jobs seekers face when finding a new job, we conducted user interviews with 15 participants over zoom, and synthesize the data via affinity mapping. Among all the insights we gathered, we found the 4 biggest difficulties interviewers mentioned below.
Challenge We Faced In Research
While we had questions about the interviewee's motivations towards job seeking, we also asked about their job-seeking behavior on a job portal. Those were the easiest data to match up, however, most of their behavior was too similar it was difficult finding a clear distinction. It took us quite some time of deep discussion, re-evaluation of our interview data, and looking at a different angle to identify our 2 personas.
"I want to improve my compatibility with jobs I am interested in by upskilling myself ."
"I lack guidance to help me apply for jobs effectively"
"I need detailed information on the job’s listing, scope and duties"
"I use filters to search for jobs more effectively."
Critical points for improvement
We had to pinpoint from the existing Careers@Gov website areas that could disrupt the flow of job seeking. The 'apply now' button is critical to fulfilling the end goal of job applications, while filtering is essential to job-seekers in narrowing suitable jobs.
Job Posting Details - ‘Apply Now’ button is missable
We placed all 'Apply Now' buttons at the top of job detail posts.
Filter List - Too lengthy for users to find what they want.
We invited 15 participants to group the items in the filter and learned that 'Industry' is the best choice.
Benchmarking competitors
We studied our competitors to understand where Career@Gov was positioned in the market, and how we could tap into their best practices as inspiration.
Identifying The Users.
How did we help job-seekers and The Public Service?
The Solution.
For The Public Service
For job-seekers
By providing users guidance in applying for a job and helping them understand the compatibility of their skillsets with the jobs they are applying for, they will stand a better chance of acquiring the job they want.
As a governmental body, it aids in promoting their cause of helping Singaporeans find jobs. Meanwhile, increasing the calibre of candidates and receive more suitable job applications.
Combining our best ideas
We conducted 2 design studios (one for each persona) over zoom to sketch out and gather ideas from everyone on how the solution would look like, and then piece together the best ideas.
Moodboard
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Blue to signify professionalism
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Yellow and Red for a refreshing pop of color
The Testing Phase.
Planning our usability test
We ran 2 test, the 1st on a low-fidelity version and the 2nd on a high-fidelity version with 5 participants each.
Goal:
• Can users find the job they want
• Can users identify career coaching as their go-to for career guidance
• Can users locate the appropriate courses to bridge their skill gap
Challenge We Faced In Usability Test
My team initially ran into a roadblock on drawing out a test plan because we were felt the order from 1st-time job hunter to a Mid-career switcher was the natural progression in life. However, that would make the test lengthy and confusing. So, I voiced out about looking at it from a different angle by switching the flow because the main focus was on usability. With that, I led the Usability Testing and the analysis of our testing results.
Usability Issue#1: Users were unsure what the skill tags meant.
If 3 out of 5 users did not understand that the skill tags referred to the skills they currently have (highlighted) and are missing (non-highlighted), it means they cannot identify a suitable job. So we added a hover state over the tags to show a description of the skills, but we realize we misinterpreted their meaning because 3 out of 5 users in our next test still did not understand the tags. That prompted us to add the copywriter title 'Your skills'.
Final Solution: Added a Copywrite label ‘Your Skills’ above the tags.
“What are these tags for?”
Usability Issue#2: Users want to know how credible the course providers are.
2 out of 5 users said they would not attend courses with unfamiliar providers, and that would discourage them from upskilling or increasing their knowledge.
Solution: Includes Star Ratings and Sort by Popularity.
“I don’t want to enroll with a course provider I am unsure of.”
Usability Issue#3: Users needs confidence in their Career Coaches
3 out of 5 users wanted to know more about the expertise of the coaches and if they are suitable to advise them about the industry they are in/want to enter into. A critical edit because the coaches would represent The Public Service and if users lack confidence in them, it could affect their impression of the jobs in Public Sector, and presuming remain status quo in their own ability of job-seeking.
Solution: Add more background information and field of expertise about the Career Coaches.
“There wasn’t enough information to entice me to explore Career Coach.”
Usability Issue#4: Users want to double-check important information
We wanted to help account users hasten their application process by instantly sending their uploaded resumes to their selected job. However, while 3 out of 5 users said they like the quick submit, they also wanted to view and amend their resumes, if necessary, first.
Final Solution: Added a resume pop-up for users to review and edit before submitting their job application.
“Oh! I didn’t expect my application to be completed so quickly.”
My Reflections.
We are all in this together
While I was nervous joining a new team of people, it was a fun experience learning to work with unfamiliar faces and warming up to one another together. We come to understand our individual working styles and how to adapt it to the group's working dynamics. For myself, I made sure to really understand everyone’s perspective. When someone had difficulty articulating their thoughts to the group, I would help summarize and make it easier to understand.
Different people have different personality
Regardless of persona types, everyone has different personality that would lead to doing (or not doing) something. For example, we designed the career coach solution for Francis's persona, and while majority of our users passed the usability task saying they like that feature, there are a few who were not keen on an interactive event with another person. Thus, it is important to also note and add, where possible and if applicable, alternate solutions.