User Analysis

Our users are working age job seekers who wish to become more organized. They are fluent in English and Internet-literate (they've heard of LinkedIn, even if they don't use it). They are not blind. They may or may not be social media users. They do a significant portion of their job search online and are used to communicating through email. They will access the website mostly at home through their personal computers. Users have little contact with other users on the website, unless they happen to be connected offline - the website does not provide any substantial opportunities for social interaction.

All of the individuals we talked to or observed seemed to be applying to either all corporations or all academic positions. The potential user with the most varied job interests (social work as well as work at corporations) was a middle-aged woman who had tended to apply to jobs serially when she was younger. Even with managing only one application at a time, she expressed difficulty with finding and keeping up with contacts inside the companies she was applying to prior to actually applying. She thinks that in order to be a successful new applicant in the future, she would have to adapt toward managing several applications simultaneously. 

We observed a student applying to graduate schools in sync with her husband, who is also applying to graduate school in a similar field. They are trying to find compatible schools by applying to a very large number of schools each, and are finding it overwhelming to manage their contacts at every school and to prepare letters of inquiry to every professor they might each want to work with. Another student - this one applying to corporate jobs - was finding it necessary to apply to a large number of companies because she wanted to stay in a certain geographical area.

From these discussions, we can draw some conclusions about what our users need. They need a way to organize their contacts for each application and to keep notes on the opportunities available at and specific characteristics of each institution (particularly the grad school applicants, who need to remember the specific research interests of many professors). They also all seemed to use similar documents to apply to many jobs of a certain type: so we need to provide users with the ability to link one document (possibly a personal statement or letter template) to many applications. None of our users seemed to have an incredibly difficult time keeping track of appointments, but one person we talked to complained about having to spread out a job application over several different computer applications. Consequently, we ought to allow users to use our system to manage their appointments if they wish.

To help us think about our users, we have developed some personas:

Ann is a 21-year-old senior at MIT, originally from Idaho. Unsure about exactly what she wants to study, she is applying to grad schools in both math and philosophy across the United States. She is also thinking of deferring enrollment in grad school for two years while she works for a nonprofit, like Teach for America.

Bob is a 24-year-old college graduate. He has spent the last three years since he graduated working as a developer for a startup that he co-founded. It has recently failed, so he is now looking for jobs as a software developer at various corporations.

Charlie is a 56-year-old woman whose three children have recently graduated from college. For the last 20 years she has worked at a librarian at one of her city's libraries. Her husband and she have recently divorced and, having always wanted to live in another country, she is now looking for jobs abroad.

Dave is a 15-year-old high school student who loves animals. He is looking for after-school volunteer positions at animal shelters. He is also trying to find a summer job to pay for a larger cage for his budgies.

Alice and Bob are heavy computer users. Charlie can surf the internet in a limited way, but doesn't spend much time on the internet or use social media. Dave's mother won't let him get a facebook account until he is 16 - he spends most of his time on the internet playing MMORPGs or googling for information about animals.

Task Analysis

  1. Goal: Create Account
    • Preconditions: Has email address
    • Subtasks:  
      • enter email address
      • create password
      • click submit
  2. Goal: Login
    • Preconditions: Has Account
    • Subtasks:
      • Enter Username(i.e. email address)
      • Enter password
      • Click Submit
  3. Goal: Enter new Company
    • Preconditions: has account
    • Subtasks:
      • Select/Create Group for Company
        • Goal: Create Group
          •  Preconditions: has account
          •  Subtasks:
            • Enter Group Name
            • Link relevant Documents (e.g. Resumes)
            • Link existing companies
      • Enter Information ( e.g. Contacts, date applied, date of interview)
      • Link Documents(e.g. Resume, Cover Letter, Code Sample)
  4. Goal: Update Company Info
    • Preconditions: Company that needs to be updated exists
    • Subtasks:
      • Select Group the company in question is linked to
      • Click item to edit
        •  If edit item is a document:
          •  Link to new document 
        • If edit item is informational:
          • Edit field
  5. Goal: Add Contact
    • Precondition: Must have already created Company Contact is affiliated to
    • Subtasks:
      • Select Group the contact is affiliated to
      • Select Company the contact is affiliated to
      •  Click add Contact link
      •  Fill in contact information
      • Click Done

Some general comments:

  • These tasks will be carried out in a private or semiprivate environment on either the user's own computer or a library computer. Ideally, the user will have his job related information on hand either on local media or easily accessible online.
  • These tasks will be learned by practice. We will provide an overview of the system's functionality for potential users, but there will be no training available.
  • The most serious error a user could make on this system is probably deleting the wrong thing, or inadvertently deleting a document that is shared among several applications. To help prevent this outcome, we will provide users with "are you sure?" messages that inform them of the extent of the deletes they are about to make. 
  • Our users have no reason to use the website if it doesn't make their application process faster and more organized. While we can assume they will allot substantial time to working on their applications, we want to minimize the amount of time it takes them to add their changes to the website.

Domain Analysis

domain

Definitions

  • User: Our primary users are job seekers.
  • Profile: Each user can create a profile unique to his job search.
  • Institution: The user can create one institution for each place he wishes to apply for a job.
  • Group: Our user may wish to group the institutions he applies to. For example, he could be applying to nonprofits and consulting companies.
  • Task: Applying to each institution requires the user to complete a series of tasks, for example filling out an application form and submitting his resume.
  • Document: The user may specify a set of documents to be used for each group or institution. These documents can include resumes, cover letters, and academic transcripts.
  • Contact: The user may maintain a list of contacts for each institutions. This list can include recruiters and hiring managers.
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1 Comment

  1. Mason Tang

    • Good work with the user analysis, although it could have been better organized
    • I am most interested in seeing how your tool will present the information entered in a useful way for the user. Maybe a stream-like interface for the home screen of upcoming deadlines and interviews? All of the tasks in your task analysis are data entry tasks, with no description of how the tool will actually be used to retrieve information.
    • Task analysis is also a bit too concrete, e.g. "Click Submit" as a subtask