WorkOnward MVP

Problem

A hiring platform for small businesses, but no users.

Since the launch of the pre-seed startup's MVP, very few users joined the platform. With little activity, senior leadership wanted to update our website to better address users’ needs. Although this was a broad issue, two friction points led me to define a goal and guided research for the project.

Tasks were hard to find and difficult to complete.

Lack of visual hierarchy

Orange and green were both used for primary UI components, making it difficult to distinguish important information.

Tasks required 5+ steps

Important actions were often buried in side panels, requiring multiple clicks to access.

Goal

Our goal was to redesign the website to provide a simplified experience for job seekers and small business owners.

Reduce time spent on tasks

Streamline workflows so small business owners and job seekers can easily complete tasks.

Increase product-market fit

Make WorkOnward a valuable tool that addresses users' pain points in online hiring platforms.

Research insights

Our users wanted an organized, easy-to-use platform that didn't sacrifice their time.

I used a combination of usabilty tests and user interviews to find out what wasn't working on our website and what was missing for users in the current selection of online hiring platforms.

We found users could complete tasks on our site, but the process was difficult.

Through 20+ usability tests with job seekers and small business owners, I discovered users could complete tasks, but they often struggled to find the next step or found steps too lengthy.

85%

of participants successfully completed all tasks

73%

of participants had difficulty following primary tasks

52%

of participants were satisfied with the experience

26%

of participants would continue using the product

Features didn't reflect users' needs.

A majority of participants also said they were unlikely to use the platform because many features were not useful for their hiring or job search.

“I don’t have the bandwidth to use all the features...my main priority is posting the job and getting it seen.”

For both job seekers and small business owners, being able to quickly complete their top tasks was a priority.

I conducted 20+ user interviews to understand both small business owners’ and job seekers’ major pain points in the hiring process. Both emphasized a streamlined experience.

Job Seeker Needs

Quickly find nearby jobs
Easily apply and track applications
Learn about role details

Small Business Needs

Affordable platform
Quick job posting
Organized applicant tracker

Design decisions

I focused on designing an easy-to-use platform to help streamline hiring for job seekers and small business owners.

Less steps in core workflows

Mapping out user flows, I discovered multiple opportunities to reduce steps throughout.

For instance, we reduced the required information to post a job to only a few form fields. This allowed small business owners to quickly post new jobs.

Easy access to most used elements

To address users' difficulties in finding next steps, we made sure pages were easily scannable and important elements were no longer buried.

Clean, minimalist design to reduce overwhelm

We developed a style guide with a more minimalist design and defined our visual hierarchy to ensure important elements stood out in a clean UI.

Final designs

Job Seeker View

Small Business View

Results

We launched in 2023, gaining users, investors, and a spot in a top accelerator.

After launch, we grew our active users to 7200+ as well as 1000s of job posts in the first 3 months. Our growth caught investors' attention, and we were accepted into TechStars.

Learnings

I faced many challenges throughout this project, but learned a great deal from each obstacle.

Biased towards action

With tight deadlines and little data to begin this project, I had to take an agile approach. Continuous iteration helped me explore ideas and establish what our users needed (or didn't need).

Collaboration is key

Language barriers and timezone differences became a challenge for cross-collaboration. But, I found ways to align teams on our goals and designs, creating a smoother process.

Increasing active users with a website overhaul

Project Summary

Impact