Initial Avatar for Candidate’s Profile

Desktop

Company

Jora by SEEK

Role

UX Designer

Industry

Talent Recruitment

Date

1 month

Introduction

In order to enhance the user experience among the employers to screen through the applicants quickly and more efficient, "Initial Avatar" feature has been introduced.

About Business

Jora is a job search aggregator platform that connects job seekers with different opportunities across different locations in different countries.

Problem

Employers are overwhelmed by excessive information presented on the applicants page, making it difficult to efficiently skim through and assess candidates.

Objectives

Efficient Candidate Assessment

Help employers differentiate between different candidates quickly and effectively.

Improved Decision-Making

Provide clearer and more concise information that allows for faster and more informed hiring decisions.

Enhanced User Experience

Design a smoother, less cluttered interface that reduces frustration and improves productivity during the hiring process.

Research

A user interview was conducted with 6 employers of Jora to understand their pain points when reviewing large volumes of applicants. On top of that, a desk research took place in this phase to identify the ways how different platforms tackled this problem. 

Through the interviews, several insights were uncovered.

Information Overload Slows Decision-Making

Employers felt overwhelmed by the volume of information presented on the applicants page. This led to decision fatigue, making it difficult to quickly skim through applicants.

Lack of Visual Differentiators

Many employers expressed the need for visual identifiers like avatars or icons to help distinguish between applicants.

Cluttered Layout

Employers perceived the existing design of the application pages as cluttered, with no clear hierarchy of information.

Define

Based on the insights, key problems were identified to develop a clear problem statement.

"How do we redesign the applicant review experience to reduce information overload and improve visual differentiation?"

Design

Two initial concepts were introduced to the stakeholders during the design phase. The first concept featured the initials of the candidate’s first and last name, while the second concept focused on the candidate’s profile photo.

However, after an internal review with the Product Manager and the Developers, a few concerns arose.

  • From the backend, the system couldn’t detect the first and last names, as the current field allowed users to input their full names.

  • This could lead to potential bias issues if a profile photo feature were introduced. To avoid this, the profile photo feature was not selected.

Following the review, the focus shifted to the initial avatars, with a few adjustments. The tweaks are as follows:

  • The initial focus was on one letter: the first letter of the candidate’s name.

  • Several concepts revolved around different shapes and colors.

  • The placement of the avatar within the applicant card was reconsidered.

With these adjusted concepts, usability testing was conducted to evaluate how easily users could interact with the design.

Based on the usability testing that was conducted, a few key findings were found that:

  • Users preferred the initial text to be in green color against a white background. The green text on a white background provides high contrast, making it easier for users to read the information without straining their eyes.

  • Users found it easier to view the avatar located next to the name only. Placing the avatar next to the name reduces clutter and distraction, allowing users to quickly associate the visual identifier with the corresponding applicant.

Results

Impact

  • 15% reduction in the time taken to read and comprehend applicant information.

  • 12% decrease in the time required to skim through applicant profiles.

  • 30% increase in overall user satisfaction scores, with users describing the interface as more appealing and intuitive.