The Team
UX Designer
Me
Director of User Experience
Product Owner
Software Developer
Agile Project Manager
The Client
The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development
The Tools
Figma
Optimal Workshop
Jira
Drupal
BACKGROUND
Connecting Job Seekers with Events
The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) is responsible for helping unemployed Minnesota residents find jobs or acquire skills for a new career. They achieve this by providing job search resources, managing a jobs board, and holding events. These events include one on one appointments as well as group workshops that cover topics like resume help, interview practice, and trainings.
Revamping the events page was part of DEED's website redesign project. During discovery, we learned that job seekers are confused around the different event types and their distinctions. We conducted a card sort study to better understand how users interpret and group DEED's many events.
the challenge
four event types, one search page
The biggest challenge with managing events on the DEED site was that there were four different event types. These four event types had different formats, audiences, sponsors, and pages that they were promoted on. To simplify the searching events experience for users, DEED wanted to explore consolidating events to one search page.
workshops
Group events that focus on job search assistance skills or advice
Sponsored by: Department of Employment and Economic Development
Format: In person, online
appointments
1 on 1 meeting with a career specialist
Sponsored by: Department of Employment and Economic Development
Format: In person, online, phone
trainings
Programs that focus on a new skill for career development. These can range from 1-6 month programs
Sponsored by: Community colleges, employers
Format: In person
job fairs
Job seekers browse booths of employers who are actively hiring
Sponsored by: Employers
Format: In person
research
card sort study
We conducted a card sort study to understand how users group events together. Because we intended to combine four different event types into one search page, we wanted to add filters to help users find events they are looking for. We took the name of 25 real events from the DEED website and asked participants to create categories and name them in a way that made sense to them. The card sort study was completed by 22 participants.
the results
After the card sort study was complete, we analyzed the results and looked for patterns in how events were grouped. We looked for commonality in category names to understand how users group the events.
Similar Category Names:
Hiring Events
Hiring/Resource Events
Hiring Events/Interviews
Job/Career Fair/Hiring Event
Job Fairs/Hiring Events
Similar Category Names:
Occupation Training
Occupational Training
Skills Training
Training Events & Programs
Similar Category Names:
Job Search Assistance
Job Search Training
Training/Workshops for Job Seekers
Job Search Preparation
Job Seeker Preparation
Training/Workshops for Job Seekers
Creative Job Search
Similar Category Names:
CareerForce Training
Core CareerForce Workshops
About CareerForce
CareerForce Services
applying the results
We took the findings from the card sort study and used it to determine the filters for the events page.
