Problem
Candidates do not understand the purpose and need for a complete Reed.co.uk profile, especially when they have already uploaded a CV document.
Solution
The candidate profile page was restructured and redesigned to provide the candidate with more information about the profile, which will help to incentivise users to fill in more of their profile. The new page design saw a 17% uplift in overall profile completion.
Role
Product Designer and User Researcher
Team
Project Manager, Product Analyst, Development Team
Design process
Discovery
Analytics
Competitor research
Qualitative usability testing
Exploration
Ideation
Sketches/wireframes
Lo-Fidelity Prototype
Solution
Final UI designs
Handoff for development
Analytics
Analytics showed how much of the profile page was being completed by users. The percentage completion of the page significantly reduced as users went through the profile, with only one section showing 100% completion and with some sections showing as little as 15% completion. There seemed to be a lack of incentive for users to complete their profile or perhaps an understanding of what completing their profile could do for them.
Competitor audit
I conducted an audit of the recruitment landscape, comparing the various profile pages of Reed.co.uk’s competitors. I was looking to see if any of the competitor profile pages explained to the user the purpose of the profile as well as if there were incentives in the form of gamification for users to complete their profile. Interestingly, all the competitors except Reed.co.uk had their own way of using gamification to entice users to complete their profile. Furthermore, only three explicitly explained on the page what the purpose of the profile is. This provided insight and inspiration for how to create a better profile page experience.
Research Objective
A research study was conducted to help us to understand why users are not completing their profile. We hypothesise that:
Users don’t understand why they need to fill out their profile when they are already asked to upload a CV.
They find the experience of frequently switching between pages when editing an element of their profile disorientating due to the added clicks and visual cognitive load.
User research
I started my user research by running usability testing sessions with three users, all of which had accounts with Reed.co.uk. I asked them to perform various tasks on the current profile page and discuss the experience.
Key user insights included:
All participants were able to update their profile with ease, saying that the experience was simple and easy to use
Participants understood that the purpose of the profile is for the recruiter to find them
Some participants didn’t understand that they needed to fill out their profile if they were already sending a resume They assumed that the profile is there to support the CV
Users didn’t fully understand the relationship between the CV and Profile
The problem
With a better understanding of the problem from the user’s perspective, the results show that users do not fully understand why they need to take the time to complete their profile. In order to get users to fill out their profile, users need to understand why they should take the time and effort to complete their profile.
I created how might we statements which would help me to find solutions to the problem.
How might we explain to users why they need to have their profile filled in, even if they have uploaded a CV?
How might we make it clearer for users to understand the relationship between the CV and profile?
From this, I compiled all the feedback and insights and grouped similar ones. This helped me brainstorm and develop potential ideas and gave me a clearer view of what is important to users.
The solution
Profile and CV visibility
The top of the page will have the renamed Profile and CV visibility toggle. This means their profile visibility remains at the forefront of the page.
Profile completion progress bar
The profile completion progress bar presents an explanation to the user as to why they should fill in their profile. This will also provide the user with an incentive to fill in their profile.
Reordering profile panels
The most important information required by recruiters will be presented higher up the page, with optional panels at the bottom of the page. The panel UI will indicate to the user whether the information is required or optional.
UI updates
The page UI will be tidied up, reducing the noise on panels and focusing on the core information. The biggest update will be on the appearance of the empty state and filled-in state of the panels. Currently, the page has solid white panels throughout, which meant that at a glance, users find it hard to distinguish between empty and filled-in sections. Additionally, there was no indication of what sections of the profile are more important than others.
Further research
Following the design process, I recruited four participants for further usability testing. The same test was carried out, where users were asked to fill in their profile using the new prototype. The findings of this experiment were very promising.
Key insights
The users then navigated through the prototype and were all able to input their information into their profile easily
When asked how they would let recruiters see their profile, each of the participants understood to switch on the toggle at the top of the page
In terms of user experience, users had no trouble filling in their profile
Participants understood that if they didn’t fill in their profile and switch on the toggle, they might not be found by recruiters
All participants understood that the purpose of the profile was for recruiters to find them and match them to a suitable job
Design Refinement
This stage of the process allowed me to share the new designs with the developers. As a team, we decided to put the edit screen into a modal. This would enhance the current experience because:
There will be fewer distractions on the page for the user
It would be easier to develop (contained on one page instead of navigating to different pages)
The profile was migrated onto a new technology stack, where the page would follow a rigid 8 px grid system that would tidy up the existing designs.
The impact
After full deployment to all Reed.co.uk users, the newly-designed profile page has produced extremely promising results, leading to an upsurge in profile completion across various categories. The prototype is accessible through this link.
17% uplift in overall profile completion
25% uplift in CV visibility completion
33% uplift in skills completion
21% uplift in education completion
Conclusion and learning
The team and I were very happy with the final outcome of the page redesign and even happier to see such a great uplift in user engagement rates.
Due to technical issues, the page took longer than expected to go live. Despite this, it was extremely beneficial to experience a full end to end piece of work from initial research phase to full rollout for all users. Additionally, it was also interesting to learn about how the page was developed into a new technology platform.
Since going live, the redesign has received further positive feedback from users, who have said the page is intuitive and the profile progress bar is helpful to them when filling out their profile.
