Candidate Experience: Applying Usability Heuristics to Career Sites
I think it’s fair to say that the job market is pretty damn tough right now. With unemployment in the US teasing between 11-14%, there is a huge pool of candidates currently looking for their next opportunity. Some have been furloughed, made redundant, changing careers, and some are like me — fresh out of UX Bootcamp looking to break into the industry.
Candidates are faced with a daunting task of trying to find a job amidst this global pandemic, and sometimes this process can really wear on the soul. Thankfully, there are a number of aspects that employers can influence to help ease the process and make it less uncomfortable.
What are the 10 Usability Heuristics?
In 1994, Jakob Nielsen created a framework to help people design interactions in ways that are most efficient to the user. He identified ten general principles for interaction design. These principles can be used as broad guidelines to help platforms deliver seamless and consistent user experiences. They are not concrete rules that must be abided by, but they are incredibly useful when evaluating systems for usability, and initially creating digital interactions.
The Candidate Experience
It’s no picnic job hunting (global pandemic or not!), and people can often experience burnout, frustration, low morale, self-doubt — a lot of which comes from the repetitiveness of applying for opportunities, and the uncertainty around the status of applications.
As well as clearly defining the employer brand, values, and calling out the specific benefits and reasons to work at a specific company, teams should also be mindful of the usability of their career site and application process. If it’s too difficult to apply, companies risk losing out on potentially great candidates. Remember, a candidate is likely to be applying to more than one role, so if they’re feeling emotionally drained and fatigued by the process, any slight frustration might cause them to bounce.
The usability of a career site reflects a lot about a company — this interaction informs a candidates impression of a company, how they operate, and the value placed on employees and their time.
In this article, I aim to provide an evaluation of career sites against Jakob Nielsen’s 10 usability heuristics, to highlight the principles of design that can contribute to a better candidate experience (and improved application rates — it’s a win-win!)
Let’s dive in!
1. Visibility of System Status
Uncertainty. The bane of every candidate's journey. With so much uncertainty throughout the process, causing stress, frustration, and dismay, the last thing candidates need is to be unclear about their status during the application. By being mindful of the first usability principle, companies can empower candidates and offer some element of control by increasing clarity of the system status and removing doubt.
A great example is by informing candidates how many steps there are in the application process through something like a progress indicator, if the application requires a depth of information. This can help manage users' expectations of how much time an application will take to complete, and what kind of information they will be asked for.
It’s good to keep the user informed about what’s going on, where they are in the process, how much is left to complete, and do so in through appropriate feedback and reasonable time. If a user clicks ‘Submit Application’, make sure to greet them with a Success page, so they’re not left wondering if it ever went through. It’s better to manage expectations than leave the candidate questioning what is happening.
2. Match Between System & Real World
A user's last most delightful digital interaction becomes their lowest expectation for the next digital interaction. As companies are recognizing the importance of having a streamlined application process and making changes to their applications, it’s essential to be aware of the new trends that are helping drive applications.
People enter systems with a pre-conceived idea about how the interaction is going to play out. When a user is applying for a job online, there are certain fields they expect to complete (such as name, contact details, resume, link to portfolio), and they may also expect to be asked a few questions (or submit a cover letter) about themselves to assess cultural fit and experience. These mental models are important to bear in mind when creating an online application process.
Buttons should be clearly labeled with calls to action that the user is familiar with. “Apply now” and “Find out more” are clear directions for the user to follow. This also goes for links to job listings from a homepage. Labels such as “Jobs” and “Careers” are what candidates are looking for, and phrases such as “Opportunities” or “Work with us” are arguably less common. If a user is looking for a company's current vacancies, it should be easy for them to find!
3. User Control & Freedom
Picture this: a candidate has thoroughly researched a company, looked into the office culture, and aligned their values to that of the business. They’ve grafted on a cover letter or created the perfect response to a question. They’ve invested a good amount of time crafting a polished response and then WHOOPS! — they accidentally hit the wrong button and their hard-work disappears in an instant.
Thankfully the old command-Z shortcut is a trusty way to reclaim that hard-work. But imagine the frustration - that knot in a candidate’s stomach - if their hard work can’t be recovered.
It’s really important to have these “emergency exits” to help users recover from an unwanted state, and to support undo and redo. There should also be an option for the candidate to save their progress in case they need to come back to the application later. Oh, the relief!
4. Consistency & Standards
Consistency helps a user feel reassured during the application process. The career pages and application should feel like an extension of the main site in terms of look and feel. Candidates shouldn’t feel confused or unsure about what certain words, buttons, or icons mean. They should be able to move through the steps with confidence.
Consistency has a huge impact on usability, as well as the desirability and delightfulness, of the candidate experience. It promotes fluidity through the process, empowering candidates to easily navigate through the application.
Design systems are an effective way to maintain consistency throughout webpages and apps, and there’s a lot to be said for atomic design inventories too!
5. Error Prevention
Error messages and indicators are good, but do you know what’s even better? Putting measures in place to help users avoid errors.
There are 2 options: remove the possibility of error for the user or provide a confirmation option when a user is about to make a risky decision.
For example, say a candidate is mid-way through their application and they decide to hit the back button to take another look at the job description. If their progress so far will be lost, the candidate should be presented with a notification advising them of such.
“Are you sure you want to leave this page? Any progress will not be saved!”
This tells the user it’s a risky action, and gives them the option not to leave the page, thus helping to avoid an error.
Another example — say a candidate needs to create an account in order to submit their application. If they need to create a password to go with it, and that password needs to contain certain characters, have this clearly labeled above the password field so that users know what needs to be included. This prevents the candidate from hitting the ‘Submit’ button and then receiving an error message (and having to go back through the fields to identify the problem).
These little tweaks can really help the candidate save a lot of time, and deliver a smoother experience overall.
6. Recognition Rather Than Recall
A career site should do what it can to help reduce the cognitive load on a candidate during the application. If a career site follows predictable, familiar structures and lends itself to recognition rather than recall, candidates are provided with a much more streamlined experience, without needing to remember or guess what certain buttons or actions will do.
A company can help minimize the amount that a candidate needs to remember by making information, calls to action, and other objects clear and pronounced. The online application should guide candidates through the process, not have them wondering what to do next, or how to return to the company ‘About’ page.
Doing this well means that candidates won’t even think about the usability of the site. It’s when this is done badly that users' attention is really drawn to how easy the site is to use.
7. Flexibility & Efficiency of Use
This principle is defined as: “Accelerators — unseen by the novice user — may often speed up the interaction for the expert user. Allow users to tailor frequent actions”. It’s all about catering for users of all levels of ability.
I had to stop and think about this principle in regard to career sites and the candidate experience. Maybe this would apply more to job boards and ATS companies where candidates are more likely to apply for multiple roles through one platform. A solution could be something like a keyboard shortcut to submit an application or to attach a resume to the form.
I would like to apply more of an accessibility and inclusivity lens to this principle. Application forms should be able to be completed by candidates of all abilities (not just in terms of expert level). The design of the should be mindful of the different capabilities of users, such as those with sight afflictions, hearing problems, reduced mobility, and cater to these users to be more inclusive and to be used efficiently by everyone. I have seen certain companies mention that if a candidate requires additional assistance they can reach out to Hiring Manager X at email address Y, and this is a great start.
8. Aesthetic & Minimalist Design
When reflecting upon job pages, companies should consider whether everything in the design is adding value to the candidate journey. If something is identified as non-essential, its inclusion should really be questioned. The answer is most likely, no, if it is not adding value.
Clean and minimalist design does not necessarily relate to having a lot of white space and a tiny amount of content. The focus is more on the relevance of the content and design. Pages and forms should make good use of design hierarchy, have clear calls to action, and not overwhelm the candidate. Keep things consistent, be mindful of keeping similar elements close to each other (Gestalt’s principle of proximity) to indicate content relationships, and make use of space between sections.
These can all contribute to a delightful candidate experience online, by showing a thoughtful approach to the design of the application process.
9. Help Users Recognize, Diagnose & Recover From Errors
If the candidate commits an action that produces an error message, it should clearly articulate to the candidate exactly what has gone wrong, and how they can correct it. It’s important not to use codes in the error message — use plain language that the user is familiar with. This is an opportunity to gain favor by offering a solution and returning control to the user.
For example, if a mandatory field has been left blank by the candidate, let them know that some information is missing, and direct them to the exact field that needs to be completed. It’s so frustrating to get an error message that says “one or more of the fields has not been completed”, but have no guidance on which one/s. By being as detailed as possible in the error message, this can help save a lot of time!
10. Help & Documentation
Although every effort is made by designers to make experiences seamless and intuitive, there will still be occasions when users require extra help and support.
Help and documentation can take on many forms, for example, FAQ pages, chatbots, video walkthroughs, and step-by-step guides. I’ve seen a growing number of companies successfully integrate chatbots into the career pages of their site, to help users with any queries as they work through the application. This is a great way for candidates to feel supported on their journey, in a way that is not obtrusive or too distracting.
Companies can also review any analytics setups on their career pages, (as mentioned in this very helpful video by NNG), to help discover key moments or sections where candidates drop off or seem to run into problems. Knowing where candidates face the biggest struggles in the application process means that help and documentation can be tailored and relevant to the candidate journey.
Key Takeaways
If a candidate has made it as far as the career page of a company, chances are they’re pretty invested in wanting to learn more about the company culture and apply to join the team. This is a great conversion opportunity! Help candidates out as much as possible by adopting the usability heuristics.
The benefits of delightful, intuitive, easy-to-use career sites are numerous. The candidate will get a sense of how much value is placed on their time and experience throughout their interaction. If the online application process is engaging, asks the right questions, and keeps the candidate updated throughout, they will likely walk away from their successfully submitted application with a sense of accomplishment, and feelings of positivity towards a company.
These are not the be-all and end-all, but these principles can be very helpful when designing a usable and delightful career site!
I’d love to know your thoughts on which of these heuristics have the greatest impact on your experience as a candidate. Let me know in the comments below!
Who am I?
My work in the field of Employer Branding is what initially led me into discovering more about User Experience Design. Through reviews and analyses of career sites and application processes, I could see repeated flaws in the design of these sites and forms that could negatively affect the candidate experience, as well as a companies application rates. Armed with knowledge about human-centered design, I’m keen to combine both my passions in practical and useful ways.
