WOBB App — A UX Case Study from the Archives
Job seeking experience redesigned.
This UX case study was completed in 2018. Although this case study is a little late to the party (by 3 years that is), my design process shown in this case study still remains the same.
WOBB (now known as Hiredly) is a hybrid recruitment platform for junior to mid-management talent.
How the story goes…
I was scouting the internet looking for jobs to apply when I came across WOBB. What attracted me about WOBB was that it’s very company culture and environment driven. I liked that it’s focusing on young professionals and that it does not feel too corporate-ish. It also includes pictures and videos of the company’s workplace and exclusive interviews with the employees so jobseekers can get a feel of the company’s culture and environment in advance.
As I scrolled through their website I noticed that they have their own mobile app. Intrigued, I decided to download it and give it a go.
The situation
The experience of using the app is…… well, frustrating.
- Navigating through the app feels awkward and the swiping feature felt redundant
- Couldn’t write or edit my description or even upload a photo of myself
- Felt more like a companion app to the website, rather than a standalone app
I set out to find if other jobseekers share the same pain points and to come up with some solutions to help make the app great.
Design process
I will be focusing only on the UX part of the process.
User personas
After talking to some friends and doing some online research, I came up with two personas of potential WOBB users. It was something that I came back to throughout this project to guide my design for a better experience.
Persona #1: James
Demographic: 25 years old, Ampang, web designer
Behaviours:
- Works 9AM to 10PM
- Constantly tired and overworked
- Unhappy with his current job
- Curiously looking if there’s a better opportunity out there
Needs & goals:
- Wants to find a place that values him as a person
- Looking for a place with a good company culture
Persona #2: Maria
Demographic: 22 years old, Kuala Lumpur, unemployed
Behaviours:
- Fresh graduate
- Actively looking for her first job
Needs & goals:
- Looking for a company with a great environment
- Wants to apply for a job without hassle
Job stories
When I’m thinking about switching my career,
I want to be able to see what other opportunities I have out there first
So that if I find anything I’m interested in, I can start applying right away without hassle.
When I’m looking for my first job,
I want to find a company that cares about my professional and personal growth
So that I can have a great working experience.
Affinity mapping
I had the users test the app and jotted down all their pain points on some sticky notes. Using affinity mapping I grouped the pain points into similar categories to help me pinpoint the problems.
Identifying Pain Points
Pain Point 1: Swiping feature and navigation
- Many tried to scroll down to look at more jobs and felt the ‘reject’ button redundant and doesn’t make sense.
- Most users accidentally applied to jobs that they weren’t interested in more than once because there is no confirmation or disclaimer when applying.
- The swiping of the job card is redundant as the users wanted to know more regarding the job first before applying.
Pain Point 2: Interface and missing offered salary amount information
- Users find the app dull looking. They mentioned that the app doesn’t feel professional and does not look modern.
- One user pointed out that the offering salary amount was missing regardless of whether the company of the job post revealed it or not, unlike the website version.
Pain Point 3: Faulty and badly structured profile page
- Users felt that there should be a separate page for the settings instead of putting everything in the profile page.
- Users also reported that the profile is faulty because there is no option for them to upload a profile photo and edit their description.
- There is no option to upload their CV even though the app keeps reminding them to upload a CV to start applying for jobs.
Pain Point 4: Missing and non-working features
- The button doesn’t work in the bookmark page, and it doesn’t exist in the history page under the ‘rejected’ tab.
- The history page under the ‘applied’ tab, there is no indication whether the application is shortlisted or rejected by the company unlike the website version.
- Users mentioned that when they first signed in, the app asked them to choose their job preference and had to untick one by one.
Pain Point 5: Can’t search for jobs
- Users find it a hassle to not be able to search specifically for the job that they wanted.
- One user mentioned that having a location preference in the search bar would be very useful.
Pain Point 6: Confusing and repeating chat button
- Most users found the chat confusing as they do not know what the purpose is for. Some thought it works like facebook messaging where the user can contact the company.
- Chat button in the profile tab is redundant as one already exists in the main page.
Existing flowchart
Proposed flowchart
Wireframe and user journey
Using Sketch, I started sketching the wireframes digitally to come up with several potential solutions to each of the pain points and made some rough UI sketches.
And that concludes my UX case study. My main focus is more on the problems and solutions of the product rather than the cosmetics.
