Problem
Candidates searching for jobs on Reed have to navigate to a new page to view a job description, which creates an experience fraught with friction.
Solution
The job description opens as a modal overview on the search results, reducing the back and forth navigation between pages. This update saw an increase of: a 8.23% in applications per user; 14.8% in job clicks per user and 31.5% in job saves per user.
Role
Product Designer and User Researcher
Team
Project Manager, Product Analyst, Development Team
Design process
Discovery
Analytics
Competitor research
Qualitative user interviews
Quantitative survey
Exploration
Ideation and workshop
Sketches/wireframes
Lo-Fidelity Prototype
Qualitative user testing
Solution
Final UI designs
Hi-fidelity prototype
Qualitative user testing
Handoff for development
Overview
As part of the candidate experience strategy, Reed wanted to deliver an excellent experience for returning candidates to increase engagement and increase applications submitted on Reed.co.uk.
Analytics showed us that candidates are more engaged on desktop when they are signed in, but little research had been conducted on the search page and how users search for jobs, providing us with an opportunity to learn more on this.
Research objective
A comparative research study was conducted to help us to understand the strengths and weaknesses of Reed's search results page against two other competitor job boards. These two competitors have similar experiences whereby their 'dual panel' has job cards on the left hand side and the subsequent job description on the right hand side.
We hypothesise that by making it easier for candidates to navigate between jobs on the search results page, users will view and apply to more jobs.
The study would also help us to understand:
How users search for jobs
Which experience is more efficient for users when searching for and applying to roles
User research
The research consisted of moderated usability testing with 14 participants to compare the Reed search experience against another job board. This was split over two studies to have a more fair comparison with Reed and the competitor. Participants were asked to look for and shortlist three jobs within their search. Given the dual panel is only on desktop, this was a desktop only study.
Key user insights
The single page search results on Reed provide users with an easy search experience, allowing them to focus on the job description on a separate page
The dual panel experience provides users with an efficient way to browse through jobs and get a quick summary of the role
Participants save jobs by opening them in new tabs on both the single and dual panel experience, despite the fact the dual panel experience tries to solve this problem
Users didn’t have usability issues with either experience, however users have different preferences when it comes to searching
The dual panel experience created 'noise' for some users
The problem
The research did not uncover any significant usability problems with Reed's single panel search results, however it was clear that navigating to a new page each time to read a job description created friction when searching for jobs. Additionally, they spent more time searching for jobs.
Committing to optimising the page would be costly in development time with an unknown return for the user and business. With the job description existing in an old technical stack, migrating the page to the new technical stack would be highly beneficial for the business in the long-term.
After synthesising the research, I focused on how to approach this problem by creating how might we statements.
How might we reduce the friction when navigating between jobs on the search results?
How might we create a focused reading experience for users?
Further exploration
During this discovery stage of the process, I conducted additional research to gain deeper insights into the job description. I created and distributed a survey to candidates to understand the key pieces of information they look for on a job description. Additionally, I facilitated a workshop with my product team to ideate an optimal job description structure.
Testing a concept
After considering the findings from the research study and our users' needs, I worked with the Product Manager to think of ways we could reduce the back and forth navigation between pages. We explored a few different modals that would open on the search results and help the user to feel like they were still on the search results.
A swipe up modal concept was tested with 6 more participants to understand if this would generate less friction when navigating between jobs on the search results page compared to the current experience. I used a similar design structure to that of the current job description but inside a modal instead to reduce the number of variables tested.
Further user testing showed
Navigating between jobs via the modal was more efficient
Participants liked to stay on the same page instead of navigating to a new page
They were able to find job information quicker on the modal
The solution
Modal overview
Clicking on the job card will open the job description inside a modal to improve the current experience by removing the back and forth friction between pages. Staying on the search results will mean candidates won't lose their place on the search results. This will allow users to view more jobs within a session. Users will still have the ability to open the description in a new tab.
UI updates
Migrating the page to a new technical stack would allow the job description's UI to be modernised using new styles and components from the design system.
Concept development
After further research, I worked closely with the Product Manager to optimise the way users can view the job description. I used the workshop and survey findings to develop on the structure and information that should be shown on the description by creating several sketches and lo-fidelity wireframes.
The modal will appear from the bottom of the screen to provide a satisfying user interaction, whilst maximising the page real estate. The current experience has static buttons on the page, so providing users access to the save and apply now buttons no matter where they are on the modal will enhance engagement.
Signed in users will have the ability to add skills to their profile, which will help them to be found by recruiters. Users who do not have an account will see a call to action to allow them to register on the skills section, increasing registration conversions.
Design optimisations were regularly reviewed by other team members before hi-fidelity screens were developed using our new UI styles.
Further research and handoff
Once the designs for both desktop and mobile were nearly finalised, I created hi-fidelity prototypes and ran some qualitative unmoderated tests, where I asked participants to perform a few tasks. These tasks included: closing the modal, saving the job, adding/removing skills, hiding the job as well as applying to the role. This study uncovered no major usability issues, which increased our confidence with the new modal.
Furthermore, I was also able to create designs for promoted jobs. These jobs use a different template including the addition of a banner image on the top of the description. This would ensure all job description types could be viewed on the new modal, increasing customer satisfaction.
The designs were refined further before they were handed-off to development, where I worked closely with the front-end developers on design QA. This included reviewing the build of new design components.
The impact
The new modal overview was AB tested to ensure there was no harm to job views and application levels.
8.23% increase in applications
14.8% increase in job clicks
31.5% increase in job saves
Conclusion and learning
The research early on helped steer the direction of the project and ultimately saved the business time and money resource. Moving the job description onto a new technical stack means that we can test and learn from the page more quickly in the future.
Next steps
Due to the success of the test and with the full job page description still existing on the old technical stack, the team will focus on migrating this page and transforming the UI to align with the new modal. A lot of traffic lands directly on the full job page description so migrating this page is important to align with the new modal overview on the search results.
