Challenge
Kickstart the Jobcase Community flywheel.
Goal
The following work was completed in an effort to inspire and influence the upcoming 2023 Jobcase roadmap. I guided two product teams to explore "blue sky" possibilities prior to planning for the new year ahead.
Business Problem to Solve
Jobcase isn't differentiated in a crowded market.
Context
Product
Jobcase is a social media platform dedicated to advocating for and empowering the world’s workers.
Over 130 million members connect on Jobcase to find jobs, share advice, and navigate the work landscape together.
Jobcase is a social media platform dedicated to advocating for and empowering the world’s workers.
Over 130 million members connect on Jobcase to find jobs, share advice, and navigate the work landscape together.
Team/s
The following work utilized surfaces owned by both the Community and Member Profile teams. I collaborated with Product Managers, Engineering Managers, Data Analysts, and Engineers from each.
User Research
To begin, I set out to gain empathy with job seekers and challenge any preexisting assumptions I held.
User Interviews:
I listened while job seekers told me about their experiences on popular social media platforms and job search tools — to understand related attitudes, motivations, and frustrations.
Task Analysis:
I performed live task analyses with first-time users on Jobcase. I observed patterns while users browsed the site for the first time.
User Interviews:
I listened while job seekers told me about their experiences on popular social media platforms and job search tools — to understand related attitudes, motivations, and frustrations.
Task Analysis:
I performed live task analyses with first-time users on Jobcase. I observed patterns while users browsed the site for the first time.
Conducting user interviews
Empathy Map
I organized research themes into an empathy map.
Meet Amanda
I created a lightweight persona to carry forward these user insights and keep them top-of-mind.
Attitudes and Motivations
• Social/extrovert (enjoys venting to her coworkers)
• Looking for better work-life balance
Pain Points
Pain Points
• Tired of rejection and disrespectful employers
• Very little free time (working mom)
• Weary of online scammers (targeting job seekers)
Job Seeker, Amanda
Problem Statement
I distilled primary pain points into a clear problem statement.
How can we reduce bad actors in the Jobcase Community while adding joy to the stressful journey of finding a job?
Crazy 8s Sketches
Ideation
After defining the problem, I brought our teams together for a Crazy 8s workshop. This helped spark inspiration and generate ideas.
Most upvoted ideas:
• Feature gating to reduce scammers
• Unique microinteractions to spark joy
• Gamification to encourage habit
Hypothesis
Joyful microinteractions powered by gamification can create an enjoyable job seeking experience — differentiating Jobcase, and kickstarting the Community flywheel.
Feature Gating to Reduce Scammers
Requiring basic profile information from members before they're able to engage with the Community helps eliminate scammers and "bad actors".
Requiring basic profile information from members before they're able to engage with the Community helps eliminate scammers and "bad actors".
A Strategic Bonus
Higher profile completion rates help Jobcase surface more relevant content and job recommendations —increasing engagement and job click revenue.
Higher profile completion rates help Jobcase surface more relevant content and job recommendations —increasing engagement and job click revenue.
Delight to kickstart the flywheel
The Jobcase High Five
Amanda browses multiple social feeds a day. Introducing this unique microinteraction helps her Jobcase Community experience feel different.
An unexpected moment of delight
High Five Microinteraction
Less is More
Amanda is burned out. To help reduce fatigue the high five offers frictionless simplicity. This update replaces an interaction requiring a user to choose between 6 different reactions.
Amanda is burned out. To help reduce fatigue the high five offers frictionless simplicity. This update replaces an interaction requiring a user to choose between 6 different reactions.
Prototype
Expand by clicking the expand icon (↕) in the top right corner.
Expand by clicking the expand icon (↕) in the top right corner.
Profile Build to Unlock
Reading sketchy comments in the feed eliminates Amanda's trust in Jobcase. Feature gating high fives behind verification helps our moderation AI recognize these malicious accounts.
Verification Steps
Leaderboards
Leaderboards
Amanda loves "talking shop" with other baristas. The High Five Leaderboard helps reward and recognize her contributions to the Community — creating habit.
Badges
Lastly, after a long day of submitting applications, Amanda enjoys a sense of accomplishment with achievement badges.
Achievement Badges
Usability Testing
"A breath of fresh air..."
5 out of 5 users guided through prototypes preferred this refreshed Community experience over the current state. 🎉
Amanda finding a moment of delight during her morning job search ✨
Results
Shipping 2023 🚀
Jobcase leadership was highly enthusiastic about the high five microinteraction and gamification mechanics we shared. As a result, these ideas will be incorporated into the 2023 roadmap.
Next Steps
Validate MVP
Both teams will aim to measure impact and performance by gradually rolling out an MVP feature set to a subset of live Jobcase users.
