Empowering people with impairments to find work

People with impairments face unique challenges when searching for work, many of which are amplified by conventional job boards. TalentFirst is a job board that aims to remove these barriers.

My Roles

UX & UI Designer

UX Researcher

Timeframe

4 months

July - October 2022

talent First

Project Overview

The Problem

The Problem

About 15% of the world's population lives with some form of disability. Yet even in the most developed countries, their unemployment rate averages 65%.

Their "special needs" present real barriers to finding a job - from a job board that can't be used with a screen reader, to an office that is not accessible by wheelchair.

The Goal

The Goal

Designing a job board that would not compromise accessibility and usability. It would need to excel in two things:

  • Be accessible for users with a wide range of impairments
  • Match jobseekers with roles and workplaces that meet their accessibility needs.
The Challenge

The Challenge

The various impairments with countless combinations translate to very different needs and pain points.

Conducting user interviews and usability tests with these users is a particular, yet rewarding challenge.

A major constraint was not being able to test prototypes with assistive tech such as screen readers.

Applied Process

This was a concept project as part of the Google UX Certificate and not intended to be developed. I therefore adapted my Design Thinking process so I could still gather real insights, data and validate the success of my solutions.

empathize

Empathize

  • User Interviews
  • Personas
  • User Journeys
define

Define

  • Problem Statements
ideate

Ideate

  • How Might We
  • Competitive Audit
  • Brainstorming
  • Prioritization
prototype

Prototype

  • Wireframes
  • Lo-Fi Prototype
  • Mockups
  • Hi-Fi Prototype
test

Test

  • First Usability Study (Lo-Fi)
  • Second Usability Study (Hi-Fi)

User Interviews

Setup

I invited potential users through contacts at my former university. With a screener survey, I identified 6 participants, with an equal gender ratio and different physical and mental impairments. All participants had experience using job boards.

Main Goals

  • Get to know my potential users better
  • Develop a deeper understanding of their needs
  • Understand their journeys when searching a job
  • Gain insights into the most common pain points

Key Pain Points

inaccessibility

Inaccessibility

Both conventional and specialized job boards rarely offer important accessibility features.

inequity

Inequity

Conventional job boards are designed for those who are able to compete on the regular job market.

complexity

Complexity

Both conventional and specialized job boards are often difficult to use and understand.

Personas

Based on the patterns identified in the interviews, I drafted five personas with different impairments and special needs.

Oscar wants to pursue a career in software development, but he is frustrated that conventional job boards lack information relevant to his special needs.

Persona Horizontal Image Persona Vertical Image

User Journeys

User journeys for each persona helped me discover different pain points when using a job board.

user journey

Problem Statements

For each persona, I created a problem statement that was actionable, human-centered and user-focused. This helped me to further define the problems to solve, and identify metrics for success.

linda problem statements

Linda

Linda is a paraplegic (and evid reader), who needs to find companies with wheelchair accessible offices, because she wants to pursue a career in human resources.

linda problem statements

Oscar

Oscar, who has level-1 autism (and loves robotics), needs to find a job that supports async communication and remote work, because he struggles with social interactions.

linda problem statements

Mina

Mina, who is deaf from birth (and loves to dance), needs to find a job where she does not need to hear or speak, because she communicates only with sign language.

linda problem statements

Nalan

Nalan is a person with ADHD (and a passion for gardening), who needs information that is easy to understand, because he is easily overwhelmed or distracted.

How Might We

I defined How-Might-We statements to ensure that I translated the insights into design solutions that solve real user problems.

HMW help job seekers know the physical requirements of a job?

HMW provide supporting documentation or guidance for counselors of people with special needs?

HMW display the information that candidates look for in upfront?

HMW help candidates see the match between their skill sets and the job requirements?

HMW allow users with different accessibility needs customize their experience?

HMW make users feel confident they have all the information they need?

HMW help job seekers find companies with wheelchair accessible offices?

HMW increase transparency of the job application process?

HMW reduce or automate common repetitive tasks and actions?

HMW help job seekers understand career options based on their special needs?

HMW support job seekers after sending an application?

HMW we create an accepting, encouraging and safe space on the platform?

Competitive Audit

I conducted a competitive audit of the world's top four job boards targeting people with impairments. Below is a basic summary.

competitor 1
JobsAbility.com
 competitor 2
MyDisabilityJobs.com
 competitor 3
DisabilityJobs.org
 competitor 4
MyAbility.jobs
Usability
Difficult
Difficult
Moderate
Easy
Differentiators
Chatbot
None
Physical requirem
Employer coop
Disadvantages
Confusing flows
No filters
No account/profile
Overwhelming
Accessibility settings
Extensive
Some
None
Few
Accessibility
None
Few
None
None
Responsive
Limited
Buggy
Mostly
Mostly

Ideation & Prioritization

After brainstorming a variety of ideas based on the research findings, I prioritized them using the MoSCoW framework.

must have

Must Have

Keyword Search

Job Categories

Favourite List

User Account

Filters

Sorting

Accessibility Settings

Recommen-
dations

should have

Should Have

Workplace accessibility filters

Assistive tools

Company profiles

New jobs notification

Notification center

Physical require-ments info & filter

Similar jobs
/companies

could have

Could Have

Application Progress

Messaging/
Chat

Accessibility Score

Match Score

Email alerts

Career advice

Average Response time

Featured jobs or companies

wont have

Won't Have

Chatbot

Infos for disability counselors

Applicant Tracking Systems

Skillset comparison

Automation or bulk actions

Curated content

Premium accounts

Employer Reviews

Design Explorations

I began sketching a variety of ideas on paper, exploring different flows and mapping out the information architecture.

After moving on to digital wireframes, I created an interactive, low-fidelity prototype.

exploration one exploration two exploration three exploration four
exploration photo

First Usability Study

I conducted a usability study with a low-fidelity prototype to uncover usability issues and faulty assumptions.

This allowed me to stress-test different flows and interactions and validate the information architecture.

Key Findings

81%

were missing job recommendations based on their abilities and impairments

66%

were overwhelmed by accessibility settings

50%

were missing options to hide jobs they could not physically perform

first usuability study hero image

Increasing Fidelity

I implemented changes based on the insights from the usability study and gradually increased the fidelity.

I also invited designers to critique my designs, so I could identify blind spots and gain new perspectives.

increasing fidelity - device increasing fidelity - device increasing fidelity - device increasing fidelity - device
increasing fidelity

Main User Flow

While refining the screens, I continuously reviewed my designs against the usability study findings and key UX heuristics.

Below is a collection of the main user flow for logged in users.

main user flow main user flow main user flow main user flow main user flow

Job Matching

In my first usability study, 83% of my participants were missing recommendations based on their abilities.

To solve this, I designed a job-matching quiz that recommends jobs based on abilities and impairments.

job matching arrow job matching arrow job matching arrow job matching

Accessibility Settings

66% of my participants were overwhelmed by the accessibility settings.

To simplify them, I created accessibility profiles that activate the optimal configuration for the most common impairments with just one click.

accessibility - device
accessibility - diagram

Accessibility Filters

50% of my participants missed options to hide jobs they could not perform.

By mapping impairments to job requirements, I was able to identify a small number of filter option that could effectively hide jobs for a wide range of impairments.

This was possible, because the various physical and mental impairments actually match to a small range of work requirements.

accessibility - diagram
accessibility - device

Second Usability Study

I conducted a second usability study with a high-fidelity prototype to evaluate effectiveness of the improvements.

I included the user tasks from the first study, with added tasks to test the new functionalities. It had different participants, but followed the same setup.

All key metrics indicated great usability improvements.

Key Findings

83%

up from 66%

successfully completed all tasks

66%

up from 50%

found the experience intuitive

45

seconds

average reduction of time on task

second usability study

Competitors Comparison Chart

Finally, I benchmarked my solution to the main competitors by comparing key accessibility and usability criteria.

talentfirst
TalentFirst
competitor 1
JobsAbility.com
competitor 2
MyDisabilityJobs.com
competitor 3
DisabilityJobs.org
competitor 4
MyAbility.jobs
Ease of use
chart slider green
chart slider red
chart slider red
chart slider red
chart slider yellow
Responsive design
chart slider green
chart slider red
chart slider red
chart slider yellow
chart slider yellow
Assistive tech friendly
chart slider green
chart slider yellow
chart slider yellow
chart slider red
chart slider green
Accessibility settings
chart check
chart check
chart check
chart cross
chart cross
Accessible workplace filters
chart check
chart cross
chart cross
chart cross
chart cross
Physical job requirements
chart check
chart cross
chart cross
chart check
chart cross
Job matching quiz
chart check
chart check
chart cross
chart cross
chart cross

Takeaways

conclusion - insights

Conclusion

I was not able to test my designs with screen readers or see the developed product in action.

Faced with these constraints, I relied on user research and usability studies.

However, I believe that many of the insights and learnings are applicable to the challenges faced by real users.

conclusion - learnings

Learnings

I learned that web accessibility means far more than WCAG-compliant colors, but also clear affordances, simple flows and support for assistive tech.

That’s why it is important to incorporate accessibility into the design process, and do interviews and usability studies with people facing these challenges.

conclusion - reflections

Reflections

I know that designing a concept is not the same as delivering a real product.

If I had the opportunity, I would have tested the developed product in practice and iterated based on user data.

However, if I had to design a concept again, I would try other options to include quantitative data, e.g. with a survey.

talentfirst

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