ZipRecruiter Consumer Strategy

Company: ZipRecruiter

My role: Senior Product Designer (Mobile Lead)

Project type: 0-1 and optimization

Device: IOS and Android

Audience: B2C

Timeframe: April - July 2024

Company overview

ZipRecruiter is an online employment marketplace that connects job seekers with potential employers. To ensure we have a robust job corpus, we host both jobs that employers pay to post on our site as well as jobs that we crawl from other sites. We earn revenue when employers pay to host their jobs on ZipRecruiter, charging per click and per application submitted through our platform.

Project overview

Initially, this project aimed to inform our mobile app roadmap. However, as the project progressed, we recognized that our findings could apply across the entire Job Seeker product, leading to a comprehensive strategy for our consumer-facing product.

Background

In 2024, we redesigned the mobile apps and implemented our design system, marking a major evolution in our user experience.

Previous experience

Before the redesign, our mobile app experience looked outdated and visually inconsistent.

Milestone 1 of the redesign

In April 2024, we released the first milestone of the redesign, successfully implementing our first-ever design system across the entire mobile app experience (Android and IOS), resulting in:

A 3% to 8% increase in average clicks.
A 1% to 6% rise in cost-per-click revenue.
Improved engagement metrics such as mail rate, responder rate, average responses, and clicker rate.

Milestone 2 of the redesign

The second milestone of the redesign concentrated on additional UI enhancements to create a more polished and modern experience.

Project Goal: Define what's next for the mobile apps

Once we completed the implementation of milestone two, we faced uncertainty about our next steps, prompting the need to define a strategic vision for the future roadmap of our mobile apps.

To inform our strategic vision, I conducted a competitive analysis of Indeed, Glassdoor, LinkedIn, and Otta to understand how our competitors fulfill job seeker needs across the job search lifecycle.

ZipRecruiter's primary users

Before diving into the competitive analysis, it's important to provide background on ZipRecruiter's job seeker marketplace, the primary users, and the problem sets we focus on as a business.

Job seeker segmentation

Back in 2023, our product marketing research team conducted foundational research and identified seven job seeker segments that helped us understand job seeker identities, needs, and pain points.

Archetype grouping

Based on job seekers' actions and behaviors during the job search, we grouped these segments into four archetypes using two qualities: job title specificity and familiarity with the job search process.

Primary users

Competitive analysis

I assessed Indeed, Glassdoor, LinkedIn, and Otta from a job seeker’s perspective, capturing screenshots of features that better meet their needs in comparison to our offering.

Research findings

Below is a high-level summary of my findings.

Competitive analysis summary: Enhancing job seeker success

Our competitive analysis provided insights into the job search lifecycle and the varying needs of job seekers. This analysis identifies critical Jobs-To-Be-Done (JTBD) recommendations that ZipRecruiter could address to better serve our users and remain competitive. We recognized that our findings could apply across the entire Job Seeker product, leading to a comprehensive strategy for our consumer-facing product.

JTBD: Searching for jobs

Utilize preferences and profile data collected during onboarding to refine our recommendation algorithm, ensuring that job recommendations are precise and relevant.
Make it easier for job seekers to explore a variety of different job recommendations.
Provide clear explanations detailing how each job aligns with a job seeker’s qualifications and preferences, making it easier to identify suitable roles.
Allow users to easily update their preferences as their job search evolves, ensuring that job recommendations remain accurate and aligned with the job seeker's current interests and requirements.

JTBD: Applying for jobs

Provide essential company data to prevent job seekers from needing to visit other sites to research the information needed to decide whether to apply for jobs.
Leverage AI to tailor job seekers' profiles/resumes to match job descriptions more closely, enhancing their ability to effectively pitch themselves to potential employers.

JTBD: Connecting with employers

Streamline the interview process by integrating scheduling and video and audio calls directly within our messaging system, eliminating the need for multiple platforms and accelerating employer-job seeker connections.

Roadmap recommendations: Searching for jobs

The following recommendations will enable job seekers to efficiently find jobs that are relevant to them, addressing key user problems identified through our competitive analysis.

User problem: Irrelevant job recommendations

When job recommendations are based solely on user activity, they can lead to inefficiencies and potentially mislead users into applying for jobs for which they are not qualified. This approach can result in wasted time and frustration for job seekers, as well as lower application quality for employers.

Current ZipRecruiter experience

While ZipRecruiter collects preferences and profile data, including qualifications during onboarding, we currently rely primarily on search activity to drive job recommendations.

Competitor experience

LinkedIn uses a combination of preferences, profile data, and search activity to inform their job recommendations, resulting in more relevant and targeted job suggestions for users.

Recommendation: enhance our job recommendation algorithm

Utilize preferences and profile data collected during onboarding, to refine our recommendation algorithm. This approach will ensure that job recommendations are precise and relevant, providing users with job opportunities that match their qualifications and preferences.

Expected Impact:

Improved user satisfaction: By delivering more relevant job recommendations, users will find their job search more efficient and rewarding.
Increased cost-per-click revenue: More relevant recommendations will likely lead to increased engagement, as users are more inclined to click on and apply to jobs that match their profile.
Higher quality applications: Providing employers with better-matched candidates will improve application quality, potentially increasing employer retention, as businesses value quality over quantity in applications.

Although this is more of a backend project, here are some explorations of what our job recommendations could be

User problem: Challenging exploration of job recommendations

Exploring different job recommendations can be difficult and cumbersome for users. The current design of ZipRecruiter's job recommendation interface hinders efficient exploration, making it challenging for users to find relevant opportunities.

Current ZipRecruiter experience

The current ZipRecruiter experience presents a text-heavy interface with both horizontal and vertical scrolling, which breaks users' natural reading patterns and makes it difficult to scan job recommendations efficiently. This design limits the number of job recommendations displayed and makes it cumbersome for users to navigate through each job recommendation.

Competitor experience

Competitors provide interfaces that make it easier for users to read job recommendations by aligning with users' natural reading patterns. This approach facilitates efficient scanning and exploration of job opportunities.

Recommendation: Improve job recommendation exploration

Make it easier for job seekers to explore various job recommendations by redesigning the interface to display more sections of job recommendations in a way that aligns with natural reading patterns. Users can easily toggle between different sections.

Expected Impact:

Enhanced user experience: Job seekers will find it easier to explore a wide variety of job recommendations, meeting the needs of both A3 users who want to see a broad range of job titles and A2 users seeking specific job recommendations tailored to their criteria.
Increased cost-per-click revenue: Improved exploration will likely lead to increased engagement, as users are more inclined to interact with a diverse range of job opportunities.
Potential increase in applications: By facilitating easier exploration, users may be more likely to apply to jobs that match their interests and qualifications.

User problem: Unclear alignment of job seeker qualifications with job opportunities

Job seekers often struggle to understand how their qualifications and preferences align with job listings, leading to uncertainty and inefficiency in the application process.

Current ZipRecruiter experience

Our current job description pages do not clearly highlight how jobs align with job seekers' preferences and qualifications, making it difficult for users to assess the suitability of roles at a glance.

Competitor experience

Platforms like LinkedIn, Indeed, and Otta excel in providing clear indicators of how job opportunities align with users' qualifications and preferences, enhancing the job search experience.

Recommendation: Provide clear explanations of job alignment

Enhance job description pages to include clear explanations and visual indicators detailing how each job aligns with a job seeker’s qualifications and preferences. This approach will make it easier for users to identify suitable roles quickly.

Expected impact:

Increased trust and satisfaction: Providing clear alignment information will build trust in the job recommendations, as users can easily see how opportunities match their qualifications and interests.
Usability improvement: By leveraging the usability heuristic of recognition over recall, we reduce the cognitive load on users, enabling them to recognize relevant job opportunities without having to recall details from their profiles.
Higher engagement and revenue: Job seekers are more likely to click on jobs to learn more about the alignment, increasing cost-per-click revenue.
Quality applications: Clear alignment indicators will encourage job seekers to apply to roles they are well-suited for, enhancing application quality and improving employer satisfaction. This, in turn, could enhance employer retention by delivering quality over quantity in applications.

User problem: Evolving preferences and the need for dynamic job recommendations

As job seekers' preferences evolve and change throughout the job search process, they need the ability to modify their preferences easily. Otherwise, job recommendations might become irrelevant because they don’t evolve to incorporate changes in interests and requirements.

Current ZipRecruiter experience

Currently, users are unable to access or update their preferences outside of the initial onboarding experience. This limitation can lead to frustration if users' preferences change over time and they are unable to adjust them.

Competitor experience

Competitors such as Glassdoor, LinkedIn, Indeed, and Otta allow users to update their preferences as needed, providing more flexibility and control as their needs evolve.

Recommendation: Enable preference updates

Allow users to easily update their preferences as their job search evolves. By providing a user-friendly interface to modify preferences, we can ensure that job recommendations remain accurate and aligned with the job seeker's current interests and requirements.

Expected impact:

Increased user satisfaction: Providing the ability to update preferences will lead to higher satisfaction, as users will receive more relevant job recommendations that reflect their current interests.
Improved engagement and revenue: More suitable job recommendations will likely result in increased cost-per-click revenue, as users are more inclined to click on jobs that match their updated preferences.
Enhanced application quality: By allowing preferences to evolve, we improve the likelihood of users applying to jobs that truly match their qualifications and interests, potentially increasing application revenue and employer satisfaction.

Roadmap recommendations: Applying for jobs

The following recommendations will enable job seekers to efficiently conduct the research they need to apply to jobs and apply with confidence, putting their best foot forward. These recommendations address key user problems identified through our competitive analysis.

User problem: Inability to conduct comprehensive company research

Job seekers need to conduct thorough research about companies to determine if they want to apply for jobs. This includes understanding more about companies they are familiar with, such as employee reviews and company culture, and learning about unfamiliar companies to verify the legitimacy of job postings and understand what the company does.

Current ZipRecruiter experience

ZipRecruiter's current company pages are minimal and lack the detailed information that job seekers need to make informed application decisions. The company page experience is inconsistent across employers, leading to frustration and inefficiencies in the job search. When we don't provide the necessary information, job seekers are forced to visit competitor sites to conduct research, risking attrition as they may apply for jobs on those sites.

The screenshots below are examples of our mobile web experience because the mobile apps do not have company pages yet.

Competitor experience

Competitors like Indeed, Glassdoor, LinkedIn, and Otta excel in providing detailed company information on both company pages and job descriptions. This comprehensive information helps job seekers make informed decisions without leaving the platform.

Recommendation: Enhance company pages with essential data

Provide essential company data to prevent job seekers from needing to visit other sites for research. By enhancing our company pages with detailed information, we can help job seekers make informed decisions efficiently and effectively.

Expected impact:

Improved job seeker efficiency: Job seekers will have access to comprehensive information needed to decide whether to apply for jobs, streamlining their search process.
Increased user retention: By providing all necessary information, we reduce the risk of attrition as users will not need to leave ZipRecruiter to conduct research.
Higher application rates: With easy access to detailed company information, job seekers are more likely to apply to jobs that match their interests and qualifications.
Quality connections: Enhanced company pages will facilitate better matches between job seekers and employers, as applicants will have a clearer understanding of the company and its opportunities.
Seamless job search workflow: By integrating detailed company data into our platform, we eliminate the need for users to engage in a fragmented process, keeping them engaged and informed within ZipRecruiter.

User problem: Inability to customize resumes for each job application

Job seekers want to be able to effectively pitch themselves to employers by utilizing keywords from job descriptions in their resumes. This customization helps them stand out and clearly demonstrate how their skills, abilities, and qualifications align with the job requirements. However, current job sites do not facilitate this customization, forcing users to apply through company websites and manually tailor resumes using tools like ChatGPT, leading to a fragmented job search experience.

Current ZipRecruiter experience

Currently, users can only apply to jobs using a single profile, which eliminates their ability to customize their resumes for each application. This is particularly challenging for users applying to multiple job titles with different requirements.

Competitor experience

LinkedIn, Glassdoor, and Indeed: Allows users to upload a new resume for each application, enabling customization. However, this process is not fully integrated into the platform, requiring users to manually edit resumes outside the site and then upload them.
Otta: Users must use the same profile for all applications, without the option to upload different resumes for each job.

Recommendation: Leverage AI for resume customization

Utilize AI to tailor job seekers' profiles and resumes to match job descriptions more closely, enhancing their ability to effectively pitch themselves to potential employers. By integrating AI tools, we can enable job seekers to easily customize their resumes for each job application.

Expected impact:

Increased quality applications: Customizing resumes will help job seekers align their qualifications with job requirements, resulting in higher quality applications and better matches.
Improved employer satisfaction: Employers will receive more targeted applications, enhancing their recruitment process and potentially increasing employer retention as they find candidates who better fit their needs.
Enhanced user experience: Providing tools for easy customization will streamline the application process, allowing job seekers to apply more efficiently and increase their chances of hearing back from employers.
Competitive advantage: By offering AI-driven resume customization, ZipRecruiter can differentiate itself from competitors, attracting more job seekers to use our platform for their job applications.

Roadmap recommendations: Connecting with employers

The following recommendations will enable job seekers to seamlessly schedule and conduct interviews, addressing key user problems identified through our competitive analysis. These improvements will enhance the overall efficiency of the job search process and improve outcomes for both job seekers and employers.

User problem: Fragmented interview scheduling and conducting process

Job seekers struggle with scheduling and conducting interviews within the platform because it requires the use of multiple products. This fragmented process leads to delays, frustrations, and the potential for important details to slip through the cracks. Users must message back and forth to communicate their availability, accept calendar invites via email, and access interview links through separate calendar applications.

ZipRecruiter experience

ZipRecruiter currently offers a basic messaging product without scheduling or video interview capabilities. This lack of integration results in a cumbersome and inefficient interview scheduling process.

Competitor experience

Platforms like LinkedIn and Indeed offer scheduling and video interview features within their messaging products, streamlining the process and enhancing the user experience.

Recommendation: Integrate scheduling and video interviews

Integrate scheduling and video interview features directly within our messaging system. This will streamline the entire interview process, reducing back-and-forth communication and eliminating the need to switch between multiple platforms.

Expected impact:

Improved hiring outcomes: By supporting the entire job search lifecycle from application to hire, we can drive more positive hiring outcomes and increase the likelihood of successful job matches.
Enhanced employer retention: Making it easier for employers to connect with job seekers will improve satisfaction and retention, as the hiring process becomes more efficient and effective.
Seamless user experience: Providing integrated scheduling and interviewing tools will create a more seamless and user-friendly experience for job seekers, reducing frustration and increasing engagement.
Competitive advantage: By offering a complete and integrated interview scheduling solution, ZipRecruiter can differentiate itself from competitors and attract more users to the platform.

Conclusion and next steps

Our strategic roadmap recommendations have set the stage for significant enhancements to ZipRecruiter's job search experience. By focusing on key areas of improvement, we have begun to transform how job seekers and employers connect on our platform. Here’s a summary of the adopted initiatives and future directions:

Adopted initiatives

The following initiatives are projects that we adopted into our roadmap.

Improved job recommendations

Work is underway to integrate qualifications, profile data, and preferences into our job recommendation algorithm. This backend enhancement aims to provide more accurate and relevant job suggestions to our users.

Status
This initiative is part of a larger consumer project that is currently in the planning stages.

Enhanced job exploration

We prioritized simplifying the exploration of job recommendations, making it easier for job seekers to navigate and discover relevant opportunities.

Status
This project was released on IOS and Android in June 2024

Results

Where we saw unprecedented engagement, with 30% engagement on iOS and 40% on Android
19-30% increase in average clicks
13-30% increase in cost-per-click revenue
5-20% increase in applications
Increased mobile app revenue contribution from 36% to 45-50%

Next steps
We plan to make job recommendation sections more dynamic and roll out these enhancements on web and mobile web platforms, further expanding the reach and impact of this feature.

Comprehensive company pages

We have committed to enhancing company pages to provide job seekers with the detailed information they need to conduct research and make informed application decisions. This will help retain users by preventing them from needing to visit competitor sites.

Status
The project has been adopted and is in the early stages of development.

Preference update functionality

We are enabling users to update their job preferences post-onboarding, ensuring that job recommendations remain relevant as their interests evolve.

Status
This initiative has been adopted and is being integrated into our platform.

Scheduling and interview capabilities

We are adding scheduling and interview features to our messaging product, allowing for a seamless process that reduces friction in the interview scheduling process.

Status
This initiative is currently in progress and is expected to streamline the interview process for job seekers and employers alike.

Future directions

While several initiatives have been adopted into our roadmap, we recognize that some recommendations require more time and resources to implement. These include:

AI-Driven resume customization:
Exploring ways to leverage AI to tailor job seekers' profiles and resumes for specific job applications.
Clearer explanations of job alignments utilizing AI:
Providing clear explanations on job descriptions that detail how each job aligns with a job seeker’s qualifications and preferences.
Dynamic job recommendation algorithm:
Continually refining our recommendation system to be more responsive to user input and evolving data.

Conclusion

This case study illustrates our commitment to innovation and user-centric design at ZipRecruiter. By adopting and implementing these strategic recommendations, we are enhancing the job search experience, fostering better matches between job seekers and employers, and driving business growth. We are excited to continue building on this momentum, leveraging insights and technology to create a more efficient and satisfying job search journey for our users.