“A Gartner survey of more than 3,300 employees conducted in March 2022 revealed that fewer than one in three employees knows how to progress their career over the next five years”

This shows that target customers are not equipped with the necessary information they need to further advance in their career.

Problem Discovery

The Problem Space originated from my own experience when I pivoted from Recruitment to Customer Success back in 2019. When I decided I wanted to make a career transition/pivot I struggled to know where to start. Oftentimes, I would go back and forth with Linkedin and any blogs I can find before to find information on the typical career path for the role.

This is where LEAP comes in. I wanted to make a product that can help new grads, experienced workers who are trying to advance in their career or want to make a career pivot more accessible and centralised.

Research Plan

We want to understand what information users gather and need whether they are new graduates entering the workforce or users that are upskilling in their current careers or seasoned workers looking to pivot in their field or an entirely new field area. In addition we aim to uncover what are the triggers/motivators users have when they start to ignite the search for their next career move.

Research Objective 1 - Understand what are the most important information and guidance users need in their initial research

Research Objective 2 - Understanding their biggest pain points they experience when planning their advancement in their career

Research Objective 3 - Understand Main Resources/Tools they are currently using

Research Objective 4 - What are their top motivators when making a career move

Research Plan: Research Plan - Mitchiko Hirato

User Interview and Online Synthesis Data: LEAP Research Synthesis

Online Survey Form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/171zOa1TgAKETJdBSAMqsc4DYIsYcOQ5fNa8o3CdMFh4/edit

Research Insights

User Pain Points

In order to dive deeper into the user pain points, we have conducted 6 user interviews and an online survey with 9 participants who completed the survey questions.

Supporting Data

With the 6 user interviews, 67% of participants revealed that one of the major pain points of advancing in their career or career pathing journey is the lack of clear and defined roles. This echoes the current customer problem of the lack of direction on how to progress in their career.

With the online survey of participants, 44.4% of participants have noted that company red tape is one of their major pain points followed by upskilling/reskilling at 33.3%.

Feedback

We have concluded that with both surveys and interviews, salary came on top for both as the most important factor when making a career move. 83% of participants noted this in the user interviews and 60% of participants in the online survey.

LinkedIn came on top as the most used tool for career pathing with 100% of user interview participants and 60& online survey participants.

In conclusion, the main themes that have arised in both surveys, is the lack of transparency and clarity of information with current tools mentioned Notably Linkedin, Glassdoor and Indeed.

Landing on the Solution

A web-based site that caters to 2 user personas (Seasoned Workers looking to advance or pivot and New Graduates entering the workforce for the first time)

There’s 2 spectrum for the search functions: Job Title & Company Search and Application for Jobs Search (See Scenarios section for more details)

Explanation of the solution

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Job Title/Occupation & Company Search:

A user is prompted to first create their profile with 4-5 simple questions(reference to User Profile Acceptance Criteria) to complete the sign up. Following steps below:

Once a user, they can choose this search and input any job titles or company names in the search box.
If they have inputted a job title, in will open up a new tab and shows them a timeline view of a typical career path for the role, It will also show highlighted skills, certifications/programs, average salaries and ability to network with users in this current job title

Application for Jobs Search:

A user is prompted to first create their profile with 4-5 simple questions to complete the signup if they have not already created a profile in the site.. Following steps below:

Once a user, they can choose this search and input the job title they want to apply for. Once inputted, it will have a dual view. First one on the left will be a list view and the one on the right will be the job posting view. Job posting view will clearly show employee reviews/rankings, average salaries, profile matching (if your profile matches this role; based on current skills in user profile), flexibility meter (work from home or hybrid) and a link to apply for the job (redirect to their company website)
Once applied, users can navigate to their profile to see jobs they have applied for and potential status (something to be build upon for next feature update)

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HOMEPAGE

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SEARCH PAGE

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TIMELINE VIEW

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Learnings

Product Manager Learnings:

Mitch Hirato

There are 4 things I have learned during this CoLab Journey:

Importance of the problem space: Before CoLab, I have always jumped into proposing solutions without understanding the problem. Oftentimes, it’s inevitable that we are quick to suggest how we can solve the problem, but what I have learned is to change my mindset and dig deeper into the problem first.

Prioritising: During this journey, I quickly started to list down functionalities that I wanted to add in my product spec. However, what I have learned is to prioritise on areas that are critical to add and build now.

Asking the “why”: When I conducted the user interviews, I learned how to ask more discovery questions. It’s very powerful to ask the “why” to dig deeper into their responses. By doing so you get to better understand the user and personas.

Iterate: Throughout this whole process of ideation, I was constantly changing based on research and user feedback. The importance of flexibility is important in any ideation process and future builds.

LEAP

Problem Space

Problem Statement

Problem Background