BBC – Job Application User’s Journey

A project commissioned by TribePad for the BBC. The BBC, the same as Tesco are using TribePad’s applicant tracking system (ATS). The client requested an improvement on the existing user experience that candidates have when applying for jobs.

Some of the requirements for the project were:

  • AAA – full accessibility compliment with both the W3C requirements and BBC’s own internal requirements;
  • Responsive – the design must be user-friendly on mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets;
  • Backward compatibility with browsers as old as Internet Explorer 8;
  • Intuitive navigation;
  • A simplified process;
  • A dynamic process, that can be adjusted to accommodate the needs of different jobs, from internships to high-level jobs;
  • The ability for a candidate to provide a portfolio and documents in addition to their CV such as awards, certificates, etc.;
  • The ability to save an application’s progress and continue at a later date.

Technologies used:

  • invisionapp.com
  • Adobe Photoshop
  • Adobe Illustrator
  • HTML5
  • CSS3
  • Less
  • JavaScript
  • jQuery
  • Smarty
  • Blade for Laravel
  • Git

Design skills:

  • Accessibility
  • Responsive/mobile design
  • Layout
  • Typography
  • Colors
  • Wireframing
  • User experience design
  • User interface design
  • Interaction design
  • Usability
  • Copyrighting

The project took nearly a year to complete. Starting from the collection of all the requirements to discussing project prototypes and planning the integration. I was the designer assigned for the project and the main front-end developer working with TribePad’s back-end developers to integrate all the pages from the process. This included going to meetings with the BBC and their experts, discussing accessibility and usability requirements. It was a project that helped me grow on many levels.

Below you will se an example journey that a candidate would take when applying for a job. There are many variations of this process. It was designed so that it can accommodate the needs of different jobs. Some of the options include: the ability to ask for detailed information from the candidate regarding their hobbies, references, skills, education and career history; to request a CV, documents and portfolio where each of these requirements can be customised as optional, mandatory or not asked at all.

You can see the different application user experiences for yourself by visiting www.careerssearch.bbc.co.uk and applying for one of the jobs advertised. Note: the design of www.careerssearch.bbc.co.uk was not done by me. However, all of the pages that follow are, including the registration page.

Step 1: Careers Search – Results

1) careers_search_results

The application user experience can begin at different points and the BBC careers website is one of them. It lists all the jobs that the BBC offers and allows candidate to search and filter to find the most relevant for them one.

Step 2: Careers Search – Job

2) careers_search_job_advert_new_upload2

A candidate can come to the job advert page not only from the search results, but also for job adverts on third-party websites. Once a candidate clicks “Apply” they will continue to registration.

2) careers_search_job_advert

Step 3: Registration

3) registration

This page features 2 main features. Login and registration. If a candidate applying to a job already has an account they can simply login. If the candidate doesn’t have an account, they can register. In most cases applicants need to register and that’s why the registration form is more prominent.

Step 4: Profile Builder

4) profile_builder_simple

After registration the candidate is brought to create their profile. In this example the only information required is contact and address information. In other variations of the page, careers and education, skills, hobbies, references and additional information can be asked for. This would provide the recruiter with a more detailed view of the application.

Step 5: Questionnaire

5) questionnaire_p1

After having created a profile in the system (that applies for all jobs) a candidate is almost always presented with a questionnaire. The questionnaire can prevent them from continuing with the application process if they are not suitable for the job. In such case the next page would inform them about the incompatibility and provide instructions of how to find more suitable jobs. The questionnaire also provides a more fine-grained view of the candidate, tailored specifically for the job.

Step 6: Choose a CV

6) cv_upload_initial

On this page a CV can be uploaded. Once a CV has been selected for upload this screen will automatically be replaced by the next one, showing the completed upload.

Step 7: Uploaded CV

7) cv_upload_second

The page shows the list of uploaded CVs and only one of them can be selected. If the candidate is applying for a second time this list is what they will seed with the options to either select an already existing CV (from previous job applications) or to upload a new one.

Step 8: Equal Opportunities Questionnaire

8) diversity_questionnaire_completed

The equal opportunities questionnaire is a requirement by the BBC, but not all clients will have that enabled. It helps collect additional information that the company is required to have by low to prove that there is no discrimination when selecting candidates.

Step 9: Application Summary Before Submit

9) application_summary

Finally the candidate can see a summary of their application’s information, collected from the previous steps. This allows them to have confidence that all the information has been saved correctly. It is also the place where the applicant confirms all the information is valid. Once they confirm and submit, the application process will be completed.

Step 10: Application Completed Message

10) application_complete

The final page that confirms the successful completion of the application. At this point the candidate will also receive an email to re-affirm this. The page can vary for different jobs. The pages directs the applicant to their profile. The profile can be tailored to provide more information for the matching functionality of the system and increase the candidate’s chances to be sent a 1) job that is suitable for them via email or 2) be seen by a recruiter as a good match for a job.