Navigating Covid Challenges, Overhauling Career Events in a Virtual Landscape
A rapid redesign of a critical, high-traffic red route for two audiences.
Desktop
The career fair is the largest bi-annual event held at the higher education institution. Its goal is to connect as many students with hiring companies in one day to help students obtain a return of investment on their education.
The Problem
During the pandemic, traditional in-person career events were no longer possible. However, students still sought career opportunities for their post academic careers, and employers were still looking for fresh talent.
The Solution
Employing the university's style guidelines and leveraging navigation data along with click rate analytics, I redesigned two webpages. These pages enable users to explore comprehensive options for student-employer engagement. Adhering to the university's branding rules, the redesigned webpages serve as a unified hub catering to diverse audiences.
Role
UX Designer
UI Designer
Project Type
Design Sprint
Modification
How might we facilitate remote connections between students and employers during a career fair?
In this case study, I will guide you through the strategy of utilizing the Career website as a launch pad for the Career Fair and how I redesigned the webpages to support multiple smaller fairs to assist in virtual oversight and administration.
We focused on teaching both students and employers on the new methods of engagement and interaction within these digital spaces, aiming to optimize their opportunities at the Career Fair.
Original Design
Career Fair Landing Page
The initial webpage featured a simple and minimalist layout, enabling users to directly access the "preparation" and "faqs" child pages for effective event participation. Breadcrumbs and side navigation played a critical role in helping users understand where they are and where they need to go.
Concepts
Recognizing the need to help students and employers easily navigate the virtual "locations" of the Career Fair and prepare them for this new way of doing things, I developed a few potential concepts that I then presented to colleagues for collaborative brainstorming, focusing on the navigation and language necessary for successful adaptation to this novel frontier of career events.
Mock Up One
All events are accompanied with dates and times. Below each event, buttons are provided that lead to the student registration page and the employer registration page, directing each user type to the specific external page they are interested in.
Career Fair Landing Page
Mock Up Two
The page, originally used for specific college community segments' career events, was adapted to support more career fairs due to increased demand and a pause in in-person industry-led events. The career team decided that having five career fairs focused on specific industries was enough, making individual industry events unnecessary for the season. To help users understand these changes, links to the industry-focused events were added to the page as users were searching for them in that location.
Industry-Specific Web Page
Research
To ensure the designs catered to user needs, outreach was carried out to engage with various demographics who would be utilizing the web pages.
Interviews
Interviews and reviews on these mock-up concepts were conducted with the Employer Advisory Board, comprising representatives from five major companies who frequently collaborate with the university. Additionally, the Student Advisory Board, representing diverse demographics within the university, including the student body president, an athletics scholar, an arts merit student, and others, contributed different perspectives on the layout and critical pathways for each user audience.
Findings
During usability discussions, both employers and students unanimously expressed concern about not easily recognizing or thoroughly understanding their options. All users preferred being directed to subpages tailored to their specific audience, rather than viewing what the other audience demographic saw. They found the incorporation of the industry-specific webpage to be clever and believed it better served the purpose, particularly for users less concerned about preparing for the fair or understanding changes in fair offerings.
After feedback was collected, a second ideation of the red routes and layouts was developed.
Updated Build
Career Fair Landing Page
Student Preparation
Events are listed with corresponding dates and times, each linked to a button directing users to the external third-party platform hosting the event's student registration page. The webpage also maintains its pre-pandemic function, offering students resources and tips to enhance their experience and outcomes at the Career Fair.
Employer Details
Like the Student Preparation page, events are listed with dates and times, each linked to a button directing users to the external third-party platform hosting the relevant employer registration page. Essential policies regarding hiring, privacy, and legal aspects for third-party interaction with students remain accessible. Additionally, payment instructions and sponsorship opportunities are provided.
The landing page retained its core design, functioning as a triage for the specific audience experience. The removal of date and time was necessary as multiple days and times were applicable to accommodate a smaller volume of participants in the virtual space.
Conclusion
The support of the Employer and Student Advisory Boards resulted in a streamlined navigation and layout for the Career Fair section of the website. Embracing the parent/child menu setup provided an effective way to deliver the right information to each specific audience member.