INITIAL BURNING QUESTION 😱

How might we better structure the mentoring session to provide novice UX job seekers with useful feedback on their onsite UX interview skills?

— Research Areas

— Potential User Groups

— Affinity Map of Findings

— Key Takeaways

There are two phases of the job search: preparatory and active phase. The focus of the project is the active phase where applicants apply for jobs and interview for companies.

A time related personality like future focus is where job seekers are constantly thinking about their future and the role they wish to land

Self-Efficacy can be formed through observations of others when performing designated tasks especially when one is an amateur

Self-Efficacy can be developed by receiving adequate and accurate verbal or social persuasion in the form of advice, guidance, verbal judgment which can better both preparatory and active job search behaviours

Finding Ambassadors

As seen in the sketches above, we designed a platform which helped students pick a school and a major. However, we found that it did not align with our interview findings as switching majors after joining college was a bigger issue than picking a school in the first place. Through interviews, we found that students needed resources to understand what a major actually entails. Through ideation, we found that students could benefit from knowing about the experiences of current college students in order to truly understand what a major entails.

01/ Chat feature: The primary user can connect with an Ambassador on the platform and begin to chat. This feature would suggest pre-written messages for the user to jumpstart their conversation with the Ambassador.

02/ Paths: The profile page of an Ambassador would display that their educational and professional path, including their major, impactful milestones (internships, scholarships), professors, or college courses.

Period: April - July (Transition Period)

During this period, the decrease in the level of support and engagement is extremely evident. Students get a lot of advice on courses from their advisors but apart from that, they need to prepare for college on their own by going through online resources, course catalogs, campus videos and student blogs. They have plenty of networking opportunities to learn about their majors in turn preventing major switching in the future. By talking to current college students, they can gain a better perspective on classes and how they tie into real world jobs.

🎉 Last submission

This is my last submission for my Master’s program. These two years were filled with a rollercoaster of emotions and I have so much to be grateful for. My professors showed me a side to UX that I never knew existed. For that, I’m extremely thankful! Also, thankful for my friends for making this a memorable journey!

🙌🏻 Find meaning in your process

This is one of my most important learnings from the UX studios. Every project is different and so we can’t just follow the same design process. Learning how to rationalize and find meaning in our process can truly help us uncover new findings in old research spaces and domains.

🏹 Discover your passion

Through the Master’s program, I was introduced to so many facets within UX. With abundant practice in different areas, I was able to find my passion! I love being the advocate for the user and connecting meaningful user research to design through user flows and wireframing.

👩🏻‍💻 Presentation is everything

Presentations can be nerve wracking for me but I learned how to focus more on the way I tell my story. I think the emphasis on storytelling through presentations and documentations has encouraged me to improve even my portfolio case studies with a focus on the narrative.