Jobable Job Board Redesign

Fully revamped job board site with fresh content and design strategy based on demographics.

Jobable had been running the job board for the past two years. Nonetheless, first-time visitors were left with an unprofessional impression due to the website’s original style and content. It was also only available in English, making it difficult for local job hunters to use. How can we improve the design and content more relevant to locals? How to entice visitors to return?

Analysis

We’ve put together a small group. We each shared our thoughts on various areas of the website and how we could improve it. The redesign tasks were prioritised based on the number of page views and the bounce rate of main pages.

Identifying Our Users

As Jobable had not undertaken in-depth user research, I began with Google Analytics to identify the existing primary user segments and research the original design concept.

Our core users were local young adults aged 25-34 who had 4 to 6 years of work experience and are looking for a new job or promotion. Another user group is undergraduates and graduates with little or no work experience looking for internships or summer jobs. Both user groups are excited about large firm’s positions and startup’s transparent and dynamic working culture. As a result, we decided to adopt a more targeted approach to the redesign and marketing strategy.

Job-hunting Behaviour

After reading the job description page, job seekers are inclined to look for other openings within the same company. Thus when applying for a job later, they may not have enough knowledge of the company.

Companies

Many companies do not have a public online job board, or if they do, it is rarely updated. Because they rely on other recruitment platforms to advertise job openings, so finding out about them can be difficult if a job seeker is interested in working with them.

The Landing

A Clearer Search

The search is critical to a job board. Job seekers who have a specific goal in mind are used to keyword searching. However, there was only one search field in the original design, users are forced to rely heavily on auto-suggestion. It mixed all inputs into one and left users frustrated or unable to search when the auto-suggestion failed to deliver the suitable suggestion.

The new design isolates inputs often searched by keyword and drop-down menus, making navigation quicker. In addition to acquiring and activating more members, we placed sign up and login buttons below the search.

To make the website appear more professional and authentic, the previous illustrations were replaced by a photo of a real man. I also translated the site into Chinese and English and prepared a formal copy for the tagline, although other minor copies sometimes use dialects such as “搵工”.

Job Categories for Target Users

Our target audience is young and has specific job-hunting interests. Therefore, we expanded the job grouping on the landing to include startup jobs, government jobs and internships. Rather than listing all job categories and positions, this section highlights the most popular and suggested ones based on historical data. If a person wants to search for something specific among these, he can do so by using the search box. The change brings convenience to job seekers while also emphasising Jobable’s distinct standing as a job marketplace.

Introduction and Call-to-action

The call-to-action area serves three purposes: first, introduction – establish a professional and credible image. Previously, the number of job vacancies were displayed in the hero section (above-the-fold). Nonetheless, because it was not required for searching, I relocated it down, along with the number of employers and members. The other two are for commercial use, so job seekers and employers can continue to upload resumes or publish job adverts after learning Jobable.

Keeping the Website Fresh

Aside from job openings, the platform also provides tips and articles to help job seekers learn more about the industry and raise awareness of the platform. This part was the landing’s first piece of time-sensitive content, giving users and search engines the appearance that the page is always up to date.

The Final Design

Search Result Page Clean Ups

Allowing users to select a result and update search criteria are the primary purposes of a search results page.

In the redesign, we wanted to show more results above the fold and improve the search. We made more data fields searchable so that the search could be more powerful and convenient. If there are more search options, a permanent top search bar is never a wise choice. Result pages with many search options, essentially over three, should consider a side search like Amazon. Another benefit of a side search is that it removes duplicated information from the result, making it shorter (higher data-ink ratio), laser-focusing on the skill tags and apply buttons, and leaving space to show more results.

Although job seekers search for various job categories, if they can’t find a specific job category on the website, they’ll choose from a list of related job categories. Given that there are many job categories, I have referred to various Japanese recruitment websites and showed the information in a pop-up modal.

An Organised Job Description Page

The new design has a better organised interface, with hot skills tags at the front and company information on the sidebar, allowing job seekers to assess their eligibility before reading the long job description. The table at the bottom of the page also provides a quick overview before application.

Go Beyond the Company Page

Site Research

Although the job-hunting differs from country to country, there are commonalities among Asians. I have looked at a lot of Japanese and China job boards. The more popular ones offer more information about the company and work culture and data and employees’ opinions, somewhat similar to Glassdoor. So I tried to compile a list of prospective information that local job seekers could be interested in, such as location, company background, working environment, dress code, products/works, and incorporate the most relevant ones into the new design.

The Design

The new design elevated the company page above and beyond a typical job board. It is branded and contains more relevant and useful information that we could offer at the moment, such as the type of company, number of employees, office location, distance to metro stations, and an introduction for job seekers to judge before applying. From a commercial standpoint, the page can be rebranded as a white-label product to serve as an official recruitment page, expanding our online job board and recruitment funnels while improving the page’s SEO rank.

Retrospective

Redesigning the entire platform has been an eye-opening experience for me. Although we had abandoned several original ideas due to technical limitation and further data collection, it was still a good opportunity to learn more about the product and prepare the strategy, pitch and design from a product design angle. Nonetheless, I received candid feedback and criticism from colleagues, and I appreciate their confidence in me to take on such a significant task.

Thank you for taking time to read this far! If you’ve any views or suggestions, let’s discuss!

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