02 Developing the Brief and Assumptions
Designing for Inclusive Recruitment
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Fig. 1 - Deloitte’s benefits of inclusive design
Project Initiation
From Brief to Proto-personas
Fig. 2 - Chosen signal
Why Hire Older
Discrimination in Recruitment
60% of older employees have experienced workplace age discrimination
Populations are ageing, we will retire later as we live longer
Those over the age of 40 are three times more likely to create successful companies
Patient, collaborative natures, and lack of “need to prove myself”
Encourage a diverse range of people to apply for roles
Research Process overview
Contextual Interviews and Observations
Participant struggled with the Digital aspects of the application process.
Clear and understandable job terminologies + learning resources
Struggles with articulating experience and know-how
Confidence tainted by perceived stereotypes
Who
How
Why
Age: 40+ Gender: Male/Female Location: UK Rank: Senior/Top-level Job switch: Recent
5 interviews
2 observations
Grouped into affinity diagrams
Confirm assumptions
Little in-depth data available for free
evaluate what users say vs what they do.
03 The Research Process
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Hunt statement
To explore the job search & application experience for Job seekers aged 40+ wanting to change industries to design a more inclusive recruitment process.
Fig. 3 - Thematic Analysis
Research Insights
Conflict of digital vs. experience
Companies value digital skills more than experiences often. They also require digital artefacts participants were not ready to give.
Participants felt like the portals and steps along the way were not accessible. For example, small fonts, unclear buttons and processes, cognitive overload.
Accessibility
Pressure of training/re-skilling
Participants feel pressure to re-learn and upskill constantly, since companies do not believe in their ability to be trained.
Portal/application clarity and jargon
Applications and portal did not feel clear what the responsibilities were, and were filled with new jargon such as new job names.
Confidence from negative experiences
Participants had low confidence and would give up quickly on applications and processes due to the amount of negative experiences they’ve had.
Clear policies/benefits communicated
Participants didn’t care as much about pay, but felt like other benefits were not communicated clearly either in the JD or by the interviews.
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03 The Research Process
Problem Statement
Application portals are often designed for typical users, and when aging job seekers use them, they face unfamiliarity, inaccessibility and lack of clarity, which causes them to be reluctant to use emerging application tools and lose confidence in their job search.
Personas
Shaping our User Experience Strategy
Refined from proto-personas
Based on primary and secondary research
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04 Insights and Design Opportunities
Principles
Fig. 4 - The user narrative with pains and gains using the product
Accessibly Designed
Adjustable text size
Clear and visible buttons
Avoid cognitive overload
Process Clarity
Simple + clear process
Jargon explained
Reduced repetition
Familiar navigations
Fig. 5 - Personas
Inspires Confidence
Error recovery
Message positivity
Immediate feedback
Clear benefits
Concept stage
Key iterations from testing
Fig. 6 - More inclusive imagery
Fig. 8 - Dual coded buttons
Fig. 7 - Role comparison sidebar
05 Initial Concept and Evaluation
Fig. 9 - Function guidance
06 Final Concept
Final Design
Storyboard
Best practises blueprint
Companies employing our inclusive best practices blueprint will provide a better experience attracting more applicants.
This can be provided on a one-off or continuous support basis.
Image
Full UI flow of our recruiting blueprint
06 Final Concept
More inclusive in the use of images by having a wider range of subjects
Refined the copy and button size to make it more understandable
More proactive in function guidance by giving clear signals and affordances
Final Design
