Career Compass: Designing Direction for the Job Search

Ilya Kuksenko, Logan Wang, Amanda Ha, Andrea Ha, Max Haak

Problem and Solution Overview

For millions of Americans, the COVID-19 pandemic has provided not only a moment to reflect on life today, but also a chance to reconsider the trajectory of life in the future. In its wake, more than half of US workers intend to look for new jobs over the coming year. They call it “The Great Resignation”. According to a 2019 survey by Indeed of full-time US workers, ”49% have made a dramatic career shift” and of those who have not, “65% say they’re either thinking about or previously considered, switching” (Indeed). Career changes are often successful, leading to greater job satisfaction and typical salary increases between 3% and 5%, yet despite these benefits, career switching can be a risky, intimidating endeavor, and people can be hesitant to make the leap.

Our team wants to make the career switching process safer, more transparent, and more successful for working adults ages 30–40 who desire new work. Whether it’s to a similar role or a completely different industry, the proposed solution s a future-forward app that leverages a user’s past experience and desired interests to recommend feasible careers and networking events. Moreover, the solution focuses on fostering genuine relationships between people who are looking to switch careers and those who are already experienced in said career, to aid with referrals and guidance.

Design Research Goals, Stakeholders, and Participants

To better understand how and why people switch jobs, our team surveyed and interviewed people who had or are currently switching careers. Interviews were conducted to research the target user group and gain an in-depth view of the career change process. The interviews allowed us to tailor follow-up questions to the participants to gain further details on their perspective and experience. We asked participants about key experiences while job hunting such as networking, submitting a job application, or interviewing. We also asked about their previous job and potentially negative experiences that made them switch. Afterwards, we cross-examined their answers and found common pain points and patterns. In parallel to the interviews, our team surveyed various employees through online channels. Survey questions helped us understand participants’ job satisfaction levels and primary methods of job hunting. We also asked questions about demographics such as age, income, and education level of the user group to help narrow down the user group. By combining interviews and surveys, we have a holistic view of the career switch process: Interviews to empathize with specific individuals and understand the nuances of their stories, and surveys for identifying broader patterns.

Design Research Results and Themes

The career switching process can be quite daunting for some people. After 5 interviews and 19 survey responses, we found that those who are in the middle of, or have switched careers have a wide range of motivations for switching (e.g. better salary, work-life balance). However, the most important factor was finding more meaningful work. When approaching a career change, 44% of respondents ask friends, family, or coworkers for advice. Participants often found deciding on a new career move to be the most challenging. However, many identified the general direction for their next career by targeting roles where they could leverage existing skills and education.

The first theme we identified was that people heavily rely on networking or their existing network to find a job in their field of interest. The second theme that popped out to us was that participants use their past experiences and skills as a framework for identifying potential careers. Interviewees took their time during the search to identify jobs that fit their interests. Most are willing to commit time to new training, certifications, or degrees. The third theme we found was that a lack of meaningful work or poor work conditions were the primary motivators for most people to look for new jobs. The last emerging theme from our research showed us that it’s hard to predict what people will enjoy. Participants indicated that there was dissonance between what they expected work to be like and how it actually turned out. Moreover, several lacked guidance on what they could pursue and what potentially would make them happy in a career.

Proposed Design:

Our proposed solution is a mobile app that serves two main purposes: to guide career switchers in determining a new career that aligns with their priorities and to help them gather job insights and referrals by connecting them with professionals in their intended career. The proposed workflow through the app would look something like this:

1. To help identify new careers (Figure 1), the app prompts users to enter information including preference-related data such as past careers, skills, and interests. In turn, the app outputs matching careers tailored to the data users entered.
2. Next the user inputs economic data such as current income, living costs, and dependents to calculate a feasibility score that measures the ease of transition into the new career.
3. After identifying a new career, the user would naturally want to learn more about it through someone with first hand experience. To connect with people in a target industry (Figure 2), the application suggests upcoming networking events that would help the user land a job in a career they select.
4. Finally, during events it uses bluetooth to locate industry experts nearby. This should help users to more easily approach new people at an event and spend their time more effectively.

Figure 3: An example user interaction when finding new career paths

Figure 4: An example user interaction when meeting someone at a career event

We chose the combination of this design and the two tasks because it allows users to gain insight into their intended career and expand their network, increasing their chances of landing their next job. Since our research found that career switchers typically evaluate their past experience and current situation to determine a new career, the design leverages a task that the target audience is already accustomed to. The app interface helps organize their skills and quantify the feasibility of their decision. Overall, the design achieves our core goal of helping users have a strong understanding of possible career paths, with a higher chance of career satisfaction down the road.