What if, as a student, you could get a job without applying for it? What if, as an employer, you can find the perfect candidate without sorting through resumes? We challenge the notion that the search is the best way to connect the right people in the first place.

As a final project in MIT's Integrated Design Lab, we use systems- and design-thinking to identify a workflow that allows students to receive job offers without actually applying for a job, and for employers to find temporary talent without sorting through mounds of students. Think of it as matching and bidding, rather than searching.


2018
With Karen Cheng and Melody Mui

SCOPE & OUTCOME
This initiative reimagined the traditional hiring process by redesigning the underlying marketplace model. Through interviews, prototyping, and testing with students and employers, we explored a system that matched candidates and opportunities without requiring applications, resumes, or job searches. We discovered that changing the order of a single step transformed hiring from a filtering problem to a matching opportunity.

MY ROLE
Contributed across research, systems mapping, workflow design, concept development, prototyping, and user testing as part of a three-person interdisciplinary team.

THE PROBLEM


THE PERSONAS

We identified three primary personas through immersive qualitative research of students in need of contract, part-time, and short-term work.

WE MAPPED OUT THE IDEAL EXPERIENCE

The main point of innovation came about when we framed the ideal experience for each persona. Looking at the experience as a system, we were able to re-order key components of the experience to eliminate the need of applying for jobs (and for employers, the process of sorting through candidates).

❤️ VALUE FOR BOTH STUDENTS AND EMPLOYERS

Our new experience system allowed for real innovation for both students and employers. You can think of it as matching rather than searching/evaluating.

WIREFRAME SKETCHES

Next in the scope of the project was to translate this experience system into a looks-like prototype. Step 1, of course, was wireframing.

WIREFRAME ITERATIONS

We used Invision to prototype a number of screens, co-design on UX workflows while testing with students and employers throughout.
NOTE: FULL VISUAL DESIGN WAS OUT OF SCOPE FOR THIS PROJECT, though visual themes were explored for branding purposes.

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