I designed, prototyped, and did a preliminary usability test of an app to help college students and new graduates improve their interview skills and feel more confident in the content and delivery of their interview answers.
Silvertongue allows users to hone their interview skills by recording their answers to interview questions and receiving quantitative and qualitative, actionable feedback on how to improve. |
Title: UX Designer
Course: HCDE 518 User Centered Design Date: Fall 2017 Team: Mitchell Fajardo, Amy Chen Roles:
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Surveys
Surveyed 70 individuals who fit our target user demographic. |
Interviews
Conducted interviews with four target users, one interviewer, and two career center counselors. |
Competitor Analysis
Reviewed eight, currently available interview preparation tools. |
Activity Analysis
Organized a flow of the interview process, identifying key interactions. |
Effective Interviewing
In our surveys and interviews, participants reported that confidence and preparation were the most important things to succeed in a job interview. Career counselors told us that success in interviews could be broken down into three key categories:
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Research & Rehearsal
Based on our activity analysis, we categorized interview preparation into a research phase and a rehearsal phase. About 90% of our sample spent time researching the company, and approximately 85% looked up common interview questions. However, about 30% of our sample practiced interviews with friends or family, and 8% used the university’s mock interview services. We decided to focus on the rehearsal phase of the interview preparation process. |
Potential Advantages
We found several websites and apps that provide users with interview questions and tips. We found a virtual reality tool that provides an immersive simulation of the interview experience. These solutions provided limited feedback (if any) and were often incapable of showing users how to improve their interview responses. Counselors at the career center provided effective feedback to students during mock interview sessions. Unfortunately, because of the inconvenience, students and recent graduates do not access these services. Thus, we determined that our solution should emphasize both convenience and effective feedback. |
Effective Feedback
One participant told us that she often prepared for her interview by practicing with her husband. There were times when he provided feedback that was too vague, saying things like “I think you should try to tell better stories.” She wished that her husband could be more specific. Other participants reported similar sentiments about the kind of feedback they desired. By synthesizing the information from them and the career center, we determined that effective feedback must be specific, concrete, and actionable. Feedback should also tell the user what he or she did well and be supportive about describing the user’s areas of improvement. |
Tailored Questions
Silvertongue should possess a database of interview questions and choose appropriate interview questions for the user during interview rehearsal. |
Effective Feedback
Silvertongue should provide users with feedback that is constructive, supportive, specific, objective and actionable. |
Convenience
Silvertongue should feel convenient. Silvertongue should reduce the barriers to engaging in interview practice. |
Responsive to Preferences
Silvertongue should provide practice options that respond to different users’ preferences. |