For designers, whether it be trying to find your first job, transitioning from a different career, or even just seeking a new opportunity, job interviews are a complex process and can be difficult to navigate. Currently, however, there are a few resources, specifically for designers, that help guide the chaos of preparing for a job interview. Design Prep is a resource for all things job interview related for UX designers - making interviews less stressful and reduce mental hindrances.
Originally, we were focused on encompassing all sorts of job interviews, however, upon our research, a challenge that we foresaw is the difference in preparation needs in regards to different careers and industries. In order to drive our project with the utmost empathy, we decided to cut down our targeted stakeholders to only design students, allowing us more flexibility in our design as we would not be constrained by trying to accommodate for all the differences between preparation needs within different career paths.
In our UX design venture, we embraced an immersive approach by delving into the candid narratives of aspiring designers. We explored online hubs like Reddit, LinkedIn, and Facebook to absorb unfiltered sentiments about job interview experiences. This organic research strategy not only enriched our project but also fostered an empathetic bond with users. By distilling real-world insights, our design process was supplemented with potential ideas and questions that we could present to real stakeholders.
We performed our field research by observing comments and conversations on various platforms: LinkedIn, Reddit, Glassdoor, YouTube, and Facebook. Some of the key conversations or resources we looked for were conversations about either current job distress (any anti-work sentiment) or pressure with finding a job in this current job market.
With research about individuals looking for jobs, we were missing an important factor: people that are hiring. We thought that by analyzing the other perspective of seeking a job, we could gain additional context into what potential candidates could do to further enhance their chances of getting hired.
We conducted 11 interviews, which helped serve as contextual inquiry to give our team a better understanding of our stakeholders’ lives and their pain points. From feedback, our team created an affinity diagram, which helped our team sort through all the evidence we collected and find trends within that evidence.
From our affinity diagram we were able to categorize our data into two groups: general struggles from internal to external, and general preparation advice we received from interviewees.
Once we gathered our data, we created a variety of personas that allowed us to get a better sense of the needs and goals of our users, as well as how they would interact with our product.
Our first dive into designing Design Prep came with using the scenarios that were described in our user personas. Collectively, we each sketched out UI screens with features that we thought would be most beneficial.
Our key features that we decided to implement were mock interviews, community, and mentors. We conducted weekly user tests on our prototypes and refined them.
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One of our stakeholders pointed out that the dashboard page had become too empty and could be better utilized, leading us to occupy the space with more options to direct users to other pages. We also incorporated a daily quote in order to reduce the cognitive load while maintaining the feel of a career coaching application.
Stakeholders mentioned that the community page was difficult to navigate because it contained too much information on a single screen.
Stakeholders seemed satisfied with the design but highlighted visual inconsistencies. They also suggested that it would be more useful to give mentors "likes" rather than a rating.
Supercharge your UX design journey
Seamlessly navigate your path to UX success with our intuitive dashboard, connecting you to a world of career-enhancing resources and opportunities at your fingertips.
Hone your interview skills with confidence – our mock interview feature lets you practice and review your performance, ensuring you shine in real-world scenarios.
Join a dynamic community of designers sharing insights, questions, and feedback, where your journey is bolstered by collective expertise and constructive interactions.
Elevate your expertise with direct access to seasoned mentors, enabling enriching conversations and skill-building through personalized video sessions.