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How to improve the Indeed website's user experience for job seekers?
Indeed is one of the most widely used tools for job searching all around the world. However, its competition with platforms such as LinkedIn necessitates superseding user expectations around strong online communities for networking and staying on top of industry trends. It also requires a UX strategy that helps job-seekers filter, complete and track applications conveniently.
I worked as a Project Manager & UX Researcher alongside Logan, Stephanie and Siqi.
• Heuristic Analysis
• Competitive Analysis
• Task Analysis with Post-Task Interviews
Figma, Qualtrics, Excel
Spring 2023 (February to April)
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Identify pain points in inputting information to create a resume
Determine whether users can accomplish job search tasks easily
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Determine whether iconography is sufficient for communication with all users
Assess usability of tasks as compared to results of heuristic evaluation
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Assess general usability of applicant flows
Understand users' thought process and mental status while job searching and applying
Define project objectives
Form a schedule + designate responsibilities
Competitive research
Framework and severity levels
Examination of user flows
Debrief session
Screener survey
Participant recruitment + scheduling
Tasks & test script
Success metrics
Task analysis with think aloud protocol
Follow-up questions
Thematic analysis
Quantify success metrics
Debrief session
Prioritize pain points
Actionable recommendations
My contributions to the project management and UX research were as follows:
I used the Nielsen Norman Group’s 10 Usability Heuristics for User Interface Design to analyze whether the website's usability complied with industry standards. The following severity key was used to prioritize issues according to level of urgency.
When resetting the password, there are no tips on what a strong password is.
Give suggestions for creating a new password and allow users to see the new password as they type in the text box. Otherwise, errors would make them go through the flow again.
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These auto-text boxes are all over the platform but they don't give suggestions until the user types something.
Most have a one-word heading at the top.
1. Give suggestions in case of a typing error, such as "Oh hey, you typed Aistin. Did you mean Austin"?
2. Add a dropdown menu to show all potential entries when the user has typed nothing.
3. Have explanations around the text boxes to show examples of what can be entered.
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The left side of the screen shows a list of jobs, and the right side shows the full details of a selected job listing. A user may be confused because the scrolling no longer aligns once both sides of screen are in use.
Create a tool where expanding a job description could add it to a list on the right side as jobs you’d want to consider applying to, rather than leaving those specs up despite not seeing the main job listing anymore.
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The filters on Indeed have several positives:
1. Thoughtful categories ensure alignment with user preferences (e.g., salary, location).
2. Certification levels displayed for clarity, improving usability.
3. Automatic application of relevant certifications for more accurate search results.
4. Specialized fields available for professions like nursing, catering to specific interests.
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The filters for categorizing jobs by date, location, distance, job type and so on are only visible after the user conducts a search by entering a job title and location.
Moreover, the Indeed website does not have methods for sorting jobs by visa status or citizenship, making job searches for relevant groups more painstaking.
Show the filters that currently appear after a job search on the home page. Add filters that might be relevant to people with diverging citizenship and visa statuses.
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The order in which information for job descriptions has been listed mimics that of a newspaper ad leading to a mental model that is familiar to most people.The information is also arranged so that the user has access to the most relevant information such as job title, company, location and salary information at the top with details of responsibilities and qualifications at the bottom.
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The “apply now” button opens the linked page in a new tab. A user may not notice they are in a new tab and struggle to go back.
Open the page in the same tab, and it allows user to use back button to go to the previous page.
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For desktop designs, one shouldn't assume users will know that they can use a keyboard shortcut. It’s a good idea to give users a visible option to undo an action on the UI. The redo button is available in the edit menu on job applications.
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Like in a physical space, exits should be easy to find and well signposted so that they will be discovered when needed. However, the message window doesn’t have an exit button. A user would have to click the black area to close the message window.
Add an “X” button to close the window and create obvious signage for users.
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The following features are repeated unnecessarily on the home page:
Buttons to post a resume, post a job, to browse salaries and company reviews.
Conduct competitive research and user testing to understand the most relevant location for CTAs and redesign for minimalism.
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Homepage elements are excessively wordy. This can overwhelm users and create an unpleasant user experience.
Most of these can be reduced to links/buttons of 1-3 words e.g. “Indeed también está disponible en español” can simply read “Español.”
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To answer these questions, 10 websites were analyzed. The details of the direct and indirect competitors thus audited are given below:
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The competitive research uncovered the following opportunities Indeed can adopt and ideas it should avoid to improve the overall user experience and functionality of the website. It taps into the needs of an ever-evolving and diverse economy.
Since Indeed is an international platform, I wanted to focus on users from diverse national and linguistic backgrounds. I also wanted to test with users with varying levels of experience with online job search. I created a screener survey, which was later disseminated through my team's social media and professional channels.
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Since Indeed is an international platform, I wanted to focus on users from diverse national and linguistic backgrounds. I also wanted to test with users with varying levels of experience navigating job searching online. I created a screener survey, which was later disseminated through my team's social media and professional channels.
I assesswhich aspects of users' identities and circumstances impacted their criteria and methods for job searching online. My questions revolved around most used platforms for job search and relevant obstacles (such as unstable internet, dependents and educational background) and criteria for jobs (e.g. location, field and salary). Additionally, I inquired about gender, age, ethnicity and relevant accommodations for people with disabilities to ensure a diverse user group, while refraining from asking for sensitive information.
Link to Screener SurveyFor standardization in user testing and interviews, I created a moderator script outlining the exact instructions and questions my team members must ask their interviewees. The testing prioritized user flows that were either crucial or discovered as problematic during the heuristic evaluation to validate internal findings.
Link to Moderator scriptAcross all tasks, users were completed nearly 95% of tasks. There were isolated incidents of a participant not completing a task, which led us to uncovering an additional usability issue.
Across all tasks and participants, users were 15.3% likely to experience frustrations while working on a task. Frustration with a task did not necessarily mean a incompletion of the task, but being unable to complete the task had a strong overlap with experiencing frustration.
We defined success in this study by calculating the likelihood that a user would complete a task (total completion rate) without experiencing frustrations (total frustration rate).
A color-coded tabular summary of our findings for each task and participant is given below:
Establish a baseline of user’s default habits within job searching and evaluate Indeed’s likelihood of being utilized among users in the market.
• Onboarding issue; not knowing what all features Indeed offers
• Language on the page is confusing for users who are not native English speakers.
• Market the product and it’s features better.
• Option to change and choose language
• Making it more competitive with other standards like LinkedIn and Google Jobs (lacking a lot of features, such as the community component)
Observe how users conduct a simple search within Indeed’s platform, assess user interactions with iconography within the site.
• Iconography is not consistent and hidden in some cases within the 3 dots menu
• Two panel design is confusing to navigate.
• Notifications can be added for saved jobs to show where they are kept.
• Keep iconography consistent and readily available. Add a hover state or buttons with text for clarity.
• Toggling between card sizes and two row/single row views.
• Options to open jobs in popups or new pages.
• Improve system feedback with more information .
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Understand a user’s thought process in exploring the profile options and finding out what happened to the listing on being saved.
• Cannot remove expired jobs.
• Hard to find the saved jobs section.
• Make saved jobs area easier to find.
• Show user image or initials instead of profile icon to add a personal factor.
• Option to remove expired jobs from saved jobs.
Establish a baseline of user’s default habits within job searching and evaluate Indeed’s likelihood of being utilized among users in the market.
• Onboarding issue; not knowing what all features Indeed offers
• Language on the page is confusing for users who are not native English speakers.
• Market the product and it’s features better.
• Option to change and choose language
• Making it more competitive with other standards like LinkedIn and Google Jobs (lacking a lot of features, such as the community component)
Observe how users conduct a simple search within Indeed’s platform, assess user interactions with iconography within the site.
• Iconography is not consistent and hidden in some cases within the 3 dots menu
• Two panel design is confusing to navigate.
• Notifications can be added for saved jobs to show where they are kept.
• Keep iconography consistent and readily available. Add a hover state or buttons with text for clarity.
• Toggling between card sizes and two row/single row views.
• Options to open jobs in popups or new pages.
• Improve system feedback with more information .
Understand a user’s thought process in exploring the profile options and finding out what happened to the listing on being saved.
• Cannot remove expired jobs.
• Hard to find the saved jobs section.
• Make saved jobs area easier to find.
• Show user image or initials instead of profile icon to add a personal factor.
• Option to remove expired jobs from saved jobs.
Marketing and user understanding of Indeed's features can be improved through clear onboarding.
Include LinkedIn and Facebook API to let users leverage professional network, or create a component that plugs in to alumni resources.
Make the resume writing center distinguishable from the resume upload option.
Ensure that users can differentiate between the two panels. Allow users to open jobs in new tabs or overlays to see full details from the right panel.
Revising the screener survey according to ethical guidelines helped in cultivating language that respected participant choice, privacy and dignity.
Competitor benchmarking, which was later validated through usability testing, was crucial for identifying the social aspect of career development.
Accounting for diverse user identities and backgrounds led to a more nuanced understanding of the preferences and needs relevant to job searching.
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