Discovering User Needs: Leveraging Jobs to be Done (JTBD) Framework

Often when senior professionals retire, typically around the age of 55–65 years, they are unable to find work opportunities that match their interests. On the other hand, organizations often require senior talent for advisory, mentorship, and interim roles. At WisdomCircle, we’ve built a platform for senior retired professionals and organizations looking for experienced talent to connect with each other. We launched in Jun’22, and since then our platform has grown to 35,800+ professionals and 600+ recruiting organizations across various sectors.

In Sep’23, as we stepped into our 15th month of operations (some would say that’s like 5 years in a start-up’s journey!), we were looking for new ways to better understand and serve our users. By now we believed we had a good sense of what our users were looking for, why they came to us, what were they expecting from us, etc. But, we didn’t want to assume we knew everything. After all, what are we, if not curious? As a team, we wanted to see if were we missing something, and more importantly what should we build next. Almost serendipitously we came across the Jobs to be Done (JTBD) framework.

So, what is the Jobs to be Done (JTBD) framework?

Jobs to be Done framework, also called Jobs theory, posits that people don’t just buy products; they “hire” them to do jobs, such as solving a problem or fulfilling a desire. Some examples:

• Get my clothes clean and fresh: “Hire” laundry detergent to deliver the result.
• Nourish my body: “Hire” vitamins, supplements, and healthy food.
• Find my documents easily: “Hire” a digital app for note taking and file storage.

To know more, read here: Know Your Customers’ “Jobs to Be Done”

Why the JTBD framework made sense to us?

JTBD helps product teams articulate — Why are users using your product? What do they want to accomplish? What triggered the user to come to your product? It focuses on why somebody chose to “hire” a product, instead of the product itself. In our context, given we already had users, we were looking for a framework that could help us better understand the “why” behind our product’s usage.

How did we implement the JTBD framework?

Research

First, we scoured the internet to find resources on the JTBD framework to better understand its nuances. We studied the theory and many interpretations of this framework. We also tried to find case studies of how companies have used the framework but couldn’t find many. (Thus this article, is for anyone looking for a case study!)

JTBD statement

A JTBD statement explains how a particular product fits into a user’s life enabling them to achieve a particular task or goal which wasn’t possible before. It provides clarity on what doesn’t exist today and we as product builders can focus on building. Additionally, it helps in understanding the problem from the user’s perspective, along with the motivations to solve that problem.

The template we used to form JTBD statements looked like this:

When I … (context)

But … (barrier)

Help me … (goal)

So I … (outcome)

Shortlisting Power Users

Based on our reading, we decided to focus on the power users of our platform. We also decided to focus on one side of our user base — the retired professionals for this exercise. Defining and identifying power users, was an interesting exercise given no standard definitions exist. Here is the definition we came up with:

1. A power user has experienced the key product flows multiple times. In our case, these are creating a profile and applying for a role.
2. A power user has applied to a role in the last 3 months. This introduces an intentional recency bias which helps in narrowing down suitable participants for the exercise.
3. They have used the platform across devices (desktop & mobile phones). To us, usage across devices suggests a deeper level of interaction and interest. It hints at active usage of the platform instead of passive usage. However, this was not a strict condition, and we did interview some users who had used the platform on a single device only.

Conducting the interviews

Next, we developed an interview protocol covering various aspects of the user’s background and behaviour. We started with understanding how did the user discover WisdomCircle, what is their current usage pattern, etc.

You can go through our protocol here: Interview Protocol

After drafting the protocol, we reached out to the shortlisted power users via call and sought their consent to participate in this activity. Over a month, we interviewed 7 users using the protocol. We were aiming for 10 but due to last-minute unavailability from the user’s side, we couldn’t interview them. Additionally, by the 4th interview, we started hearing similar themes so we felt comfortable stopping at 7.

Analyzing and reporting

We transcribed each interview into reports to unearth themes and then analyzed all interview reports together to identify our key findings. We identified the jobs that each participant was trying to hire us for. By studying the jobs in-depth, we observed the four most important jobs for our users. We also wrote a JTBD statement for each job. Such a statement helps in communicating what a specific group of people want in a specific circumstance — and their barriers to getting it.

So, what did we find?

Job 1: Finding Meaningful Post-Retirement Career Opportunities

Well, that one wasn’t a surprise!

Our users are actively seeking meaningful career opportunities that align with their interests and expertise. They want to stay busy, explore part-time engagements, advisory gigs, and opportunities to contribute back to society. For almost all of them, the impact of the work is more important than the compensation offered.

Retirement for me would be to spend my time the way I want to without feeling like a hamster on a wheel which I did for so many years. I don’t want to be doing nothing because all my life I’ve been busy and the thought of sitting in one corner, not being useful, bogs me down. […] I want to be engaged in doing something intellectual.

JTBD statement

When I want to work on something impactful and not for money, but I cannot find anything relevant, help me find something in my area of expertise which I resonate with, so I can work not to sustain myself but to give meaning to my work.

Job 2: Overcoming Challenges in Career Transition

Okay, that’s one interesting!

As we delved into our users’ situations, we discovered challenges related to job hunting and career transitions. These included addressing breaks in their careers and adjusting to retirement. One reason that WisdomCircle stood out to them was the focus on “retired” professionals. Therefore, they expected support and resources to navigate these transitions.

When you reach that stage you can see 10 steps ahead and 10 steps behind. When you look back it looks all easy, “I could’ve done that, I could’ve made this change, I could’ve gone here…” but that’s when you’re looking back… it looks simple. When you’re looking forward there are so many challenges.

JTBD statement

When I need to transition in career at a later stage in life but feel overwhelmed by the challenges such as difficulty in adapting, guide me by informing me how to face these challenges so I can have a smoother transition and embrace this new phase in life with confidence.

Job 3: Learning as a Way of Staying Engaged

Wow, a whole new territory!

Our users desired work opportunities but also expressed a keen interest in learning new skills to stay engaged. They showed a passion for exploring new activities, attending events on various topics, and accessing learning materials.

I am always exploring new activities and am very comfortable with them.

I am always open to new activities, but I should be comfortable doing them. I just ventured into trekking, got a group of friends and I enjoy it.

JTBD statement

When I want to engage with like-minded people or learn something after retirement, but cannot find anything relevant for people like me, find ways through which I can get meaningful engagement so I can stay active post-retirement.

Job 4: Seeking Community and Peer-Support

Another new territory!

Users shared that they wanted to meet with like-minded individuals and others in similar situations. They wanted a space to connect, share experiences, and help each other.

And you feel you’re the only one who is in this situation. […] You feel a bit lonely over here. And if you can help people who are going through a hard time at this point in life, it would really make a difference. You never know whom you could really help.

JTBD statement

When I value the sense of community, network and learning from peers, but find it difficult to locate people in a similar phase in life as myself, help me discover a community or mediums through which I can engage in such a network so that I can learn from them or they can learn from me.

What did this mean for us at WisdomCircle?

This exercise helped us understand our WisGen users’ needs holistically and more importantly identify areas beyond post-retirement career opportunities that we could double down on. Here are some features and enhancements that were triggered by this exercise. Some of these have already been implemented and others are in the works and will be released soon:

1. While a typical WisGen on our platform has over 25 years of work experience, few have created a detailed CV/resume. When transitioning careers, creating resumes often becomes a bottleneck, especially because traditional resumes don’t spotlight the unique experience and skills that WisGen may have gathered through their years of experience. Thus, we introduced video introductions to compliment profiles on WisdomCircle. In a 60-second video, WisGen can speak directly to recruiters viewing their profile. making it an effective way to connect with the recruiters. (Job 2)
2. We organize curated events on topics of interest that offer WisGen learning opportunities and also help in their career transition. (Job 2 & 3)
3. We set up an online community (using circle.so) to offer WisGen a space for networking and peer support. We host our community events on the same platform to ensure a consolidated learning experience for the community. (Job 4)

What do we recommend to product / UX teams?

All team members at WisdomCircle who implemented the JTBD framework did it for the first time. If you are a product/UX team who has never done this or is trying to do this for the first time, here’s what we would recommend:

1. Try this, even if you feel you might not learn anything new

Oftentimes, and more often at early-stage startups, we rely heavily on our vision or the excitement of solving a technical challenge. An exercise like this is useful to confirm if you are building a product that people will actually use. Additionally, it will help various teams focus on features that matter the most.

2. Have a script for the interviews but prepare to be flexible

Having a script helps in analyzing responses and identifying patterns. However, a JTBD interview is different from a typical user interview. Participants simply may not remember how they heard about you or when they used your product for the first time. In such cases, you need to be flexible and know how to navigate the conversation so you can understand the underlying job that they have hired you to do.

What’s next?

We are conducting the same exercise with recruiters who use WisdomCircle. Stay tuned for Part 2!