CPHUX | TL;DR

An inside look into developing Company Profile Pages for Denmark’s largest UX Network of Job Seekers

What if . . .

we could share in-depth information with UX community members paying for exclusive behind the scenes look at different companies’ ways of hiring & working with UX employees ?

Project

Team Size: 3

Role: UX Researcher

Tools: Google Sheets, Google Forms, Figma

Time Frame: Ongoing, Part-Time

Overview

Skills

  • Project management

  • Generative desirability research

  • Survey design & analysis

  • Think-out-loud test moderation

  • Design ideation

Problem

  • HMW share exclusive information CPHUX members want to know about companies in their job search?

Steps to Solution

  1. Team ideation session

  2. ID Research Methods to execute

  3. Review Insights for suggestions

  4. Present Findings for next steps

  5. Aid in design process as needed

Background

This was a project dreamed up by the founder of CPHUX & Queen of UX herself — Helena Levison. The core of CPHUX is for the UX community to show up for one another in support, growth, and connection. This project acknowledges all three areas in support with information, growth in knowledge, and connection to companies through behind-the-scenes employee experiences.

Our team decided to delegate responsibility & tasks based on each individual’s specialty:

research > design system > interface design

We all participated and collaborated throughout the whole of the project in each area to give feedback & direction as needed.

Our team navigated a flexible research process as follows . . .

Questions to Answer . . .

The CPHUX team wants to help members along their job-seeking journey by showcasing insights about the reality of working in UX in company profile pages.

  • What information is not provided to job seekers that they would like to know before applying to companies?

  • What information can be shared about companies for CPHUX members to most benefit from in their job search?

  • Where can we get honest, true answers to these questions?

  • How might CPHUX present this information in a Company Profile page on their site?

CPHUX progresses by moving forward together . . .

Thinking of where to find data within the scope of this project . . . 🤔

Our project constraints:

  • Part-time timeframe, no hard project deadline

  • Volunteer, $0 budget

  • Many international users (virtual methods required)

  • Research team of one (me 💁🏼‍♀️)

  • Collaboration with Design team of two

Desktop

Why this method?

  • 1 week completion

  • $0 cost

  • Utilize research repository

Methods

Survey

Why this method?

  • Virtual collection including international users

  • $0 cost

  • Survey real users

User Test

Why this method?

  • Virtually conducted for international users

  • $0 cost

  • Review POV of real users

Let’s use the repository . . .

Desktop Research

Why this method?

Validate the desirability of this project with qualitative data from previous generative research.

How did we do it?

CPHUX had conducted previous follower research via an open-ended survey question. To find the answers to the top two key questions for this project, I created a rainbow chart to distinguish themes & quantify the qualitative data for prioritization.

What was the outcome?

15 useful responses uncovering themes for inspiration to develop new, more in-depth survey to followers for further discovery & analysis.

Collage of Desktop Research Repository Deliverables

I think I’ll ask some more . . .

Survey

Why this method?

We needed to get deeper insight from multiple perspectives in qualitative data to merge desirability with answers to follower questions

How did we do it?

Create two surveys to share via CPHUX’s social network—one for CPHUX followers and one UX/Product employees

Why these recruits?

CPHUX followers provide deep & accurate insight into the key questions for this project

UX/Product employees will answer the key question: “Where can we get honest, true answers to these questions?”

What was the outcome?

36 useful responses in follower survey uncovered MVP priorities

  • We are continuing efforts in the UX employee survey based on our research found in the next step of user testing.

Screenshot of team data review session

Ruh-roh. Is something off?

User Testing

Why this method?

I had a gut feeling after creating version 1 of the company employee survey. We needed to pause, take a step back, and gather input from CPHUX followers in a moderated setting to validate relevance of the current questions & answers gathered in v1 of the company employee survey before the research-to-design transition of this project. We only asked for one respondent to take the data into user testing sessions for data-driven guidance in decision-making.

How did we do it?

Conduct 4 think-out-loud sessions of CPHUX followers which match this project’s personas by reviewing v1 of the UX employee survey and rate the questions on a scale of importance from 1-10.

What was the outcome?

4 different users tested uncovering deeper insights into the “why” behind question & answer interest revealing which questions to keep/edit/delete in survey iteration.

Screenshot of CPHUX follower user testing session featuring my Scooby-Doo mug. Zoinks! 😅

Outcome

  • Significant findings in research presented to design team

    • What information is not provided to job seekers that they would like to know before applying to companies?

    • What information can be shared about companies for CPHUX members to most benefit from in their job search?

      • Team Size/Structure

      • Departments/Collaboration

      • Business Forecast/Maturity with UX

      • & more

  • Team is currently reviewing findings in presentation to develop designs for this project

Next Steps

  1. Continue survey research for data gathering from company employees

  2. Develop Company Profile designs from survey answers

  3. Develop site page mockup for website developer

What I would do different. . .

Desktop

  • This exploratory research & significant qualitative data set served it’s purpose of guiding continued research. I would not have done anything differently for this portion of the research in this project.

Survey

  • The exploratory CPHUX follower desirability survey & significant data set served it’s purpose of guiding company employee survey design. I would not have done anything differently for this survey in this project.

  • Survey for company employees

    • I had a gut feeling after creating version 1 of the company employee survey

      • We needed to pause, take a step back, and gather input from CPHUX followers to validate relevance of the current questions & answers gathered in v1 of the company employee survey. We only asked for one respondent to take the data into user testing sessions before moving forward

      • Looking back, this step was necessary to save the design team from extra work later down the line. If I could have done anything differently, it would be to validate these questions in quantifiable methods such as card sorting

User Test

  • Utilize AI to count, list, filter, and share prioritized insights from the think-out-loud sessions

    • Save time & compare to my own observations to make sure nothing was missed

  • I could have presented the data in a more formal session with data visualizations with the design team

    • Talking through the data spreadsheets is one thing, showing the data visually in a presentation for all stakeholders to fully understand the data’s significance to the design is another

Project Snapshots

Graphs, sheets, and messages showing exploratory survey data

Connecting through creating together is my favorite part of projects

I always enjoy supporting this community whether in this project or hosting at events

Industry Takeaways

  • There is a lot that is left out when searching for information in careers with companies while job seeking.

  • The greatest way to move forward in the job searching process is through understanding & connecting information available to job seekers in order to showcase their strengths for hiring teams’ consideration.

  • AI, paid research tools, and varied methods used & shared by UX industry influencers creates an ever-expanding galaxy of possibilities for researchers.

Personal Takeaways

  • When doing research, it’s better to be on a team to bring each other motivation & drive action toward task completion.

  • I’m learning what I need to begin asking companies in interviews before moving forward in hiring processes through this project. I’m also learning how I can connect my strengths to company challenges based on the data gathered in the company employee survey.

  • There are so many tools and methods in UXR to explore when receiving continuous feedback from ongoing research. 👀

Reflection

This project was concocted by some fabulous women I have been so fortunate to meet in the UX community in Copenhagen. I have a great passion for job seekers, internationals desiring to get hired by global companies, and individuals transitioning careers as I have faced all three & continue to do so. This was a project idea presented to me and I immediately found joy, excitement, and determination to be included in its success. This project is still in progress with our designers, but I look forward to completing this project & many more for the CPHUX community.