Urapolku

Product Design

Urapolku is an innovative Finnish platform designed to empower individuals in their career journeys. Unlike traditional job search sites, it offers a complete career development ecosystem with features that emphasize transparency, AI guidance, and career sharing. As the lead designer for Urapolku, I managed end-to-end design with a team of three designers. My role encompassed research, UX/UI design and final handoff to developers.

Urapolku

Product Design

Urapolku is an innovative Finnish platform designed to empower individuals in their career journeys. Unlike traditional job search sites, it offers a complete career development ecosystem with features that emphasize transparency, AI guidance, and career sharing. As the lead designer for Urapolku, I managed end-to-end design with a team of three designers. My role encompassed research, UX/UI design and final handoff to developers.

Urapolku

Product Design

Urapolku is an innovative Finnish platform designed to empower individuals in their career journeys. Unlike traditional job search sites, it offers a complete career development ecosystem with features that emphasize transparency, AI guidance, and career sharing. As the lead designer for Urapolku, I managed end-to-end design with a team of three designers. My role encompassed research, UX/UI design and final handoff to developers.

Client
Urapolku.io
Role
Lead Product Designer
Duration
June - Nov 2023
Platform
Web, Tablet & Mobile
Collaborators
3 UX/UI Designers, 2 FS Dev, 1 PM
Problem

A growing need for career awareness and a transparent job search system among the upcoming generation.

In Finland, while there is a growing demand for job opportunities, the job search platforms available often lack intuitive, modern interfaces. The market has primarily been served by government and private platforms with outdated design and limited user-centric features.

Goal

A all-in-one career companion

The main goal of Urapolku was to create a platform that empowers individuals to make informed decisions, showcase their achievements, and communicate effectively with employers.

With real-time data, intuitive design, and a focus on clarity, Urapolku ensures a streamlined and confident experience for users at every stage of their career journey.

My Role

As the Lead Product Designer, I led a team of three designers through the end-to-end design process, which included user research, UX/UI design, creating a design system, and facilitating seamless design handoff to the development team, collaborating closely with a Product Manager and two full-stack developers.

Research

Understanding the context

Target Audience

In Finland, there are 190,000 unemployed individuals. On other side, in the European Union there is 12.8 M unemployed individuals.

In Finland, there are 190,000 unemployed individuals. On other side, in the European Union there is 12.8 M unemployed individuals.

Our target audience consists of 50% of Finnish population consisting two major groups:

Our target audience consists of 50% of Finnish population consisting two major groups:

  • 20 - 39 year old - largest Group

  • 20 - 39 year old - largest Group

  • 40-59 year old - 2nd largest Group

  • 40-59 year old - 2nd largest Group

User Type

General characteristics of a modern Finnish user:

General characteristics of a modern Finnish user:

  • Direct and honest communication

  • Direct and honest communication

  • Tech lovers - majority population uses smart phones

  • Tech lovers - majority population uses smart phones

  • Prioritize education, learning and critical thinking

  • Prioritize education, learning and critical thinking

  • Aesthetic, modern and minimalistic design

  • Aesthetic, modern and minimalistic design

  • Appreciate personal space

  • Appreciate personal space

Understanding the user

We conducted surveys with job seekers and recruiters to gain an understanding of their needs and find common challenges. With over 200 responses, we extracted key insights that can direct design decisions.

Job Seekers

  • Limited communication and transparency: Most job seekers pointed the lack of timely response from recruiters and unclear channels for follow up or inquiries.

  • Overwhelming Application Process: Lengthy forms requiring repetitive information and manually uploading resumes every time.

  • Poor Search Functionality: Irrelevant results due to ineffective filters or keyword matching

Recruiters

  • Manual Processes are Time-Consuming: Screening and filtering applicants manually takes too long, especially when handling a high volume of applications.

  • Poor Usability in Applicant Management: Difficulty in searching and sorting through candidates in the database or for specific skills/criteria.

  • Inadequate Communication Tools: Limited communication options, like reliance on email, which leads to delay in response times and inefficient candidate engagement.

Design Strategy

Who? - Our users include Job seekers, Recruiters & individuals seeking career guidance

What? - Jobs to be done

We articulated what different users would use Urapolku for and what can help them achieve their ultimate goal. This step helped align user insights and define product features moving forward.

How? - Design Opportunities

  1. Job Search Platform

  • Urapolku can promote transparency in job application process and help job seekers actively track applications.

  • Urapolku can make application submission process more mobile and user-friendly.

  1. Recruiter Dashboard

  • Urapolku can integrate advance filter system to make screening process quicker.

  • An In-app application dashboard can allow recruiter to track all applicants at one place and communicate seamlessly among teams.

  1. AI Career Guidance

  • Urapolku can integrate career test with AI capabilities to help users find unique personalized career options.

  • A trained AI can also be leveraged to help users gain valuable information about preferred career choices.

Product Highlights

Job Search Platform

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+ Detailed compare feature to help users make informed decision

+ An online resume with unique URLs for easy and quick sharing

+ Mobile access so users don't miss any opportunity

  1. Filter jobs on basis of location, work type, key skills, etc. to find the best fit.

  2. Get recommendation for similar jobs.

  3. Easily save and revisit Job opportunities.

Job Application Process

A step-by-step application feature designed to simplify and guide users seamlessly through the job application process. Along with this the auto-fill feature increases efficiency and helps avoids errors.

Job Application Tracking

The application tracking feature bridges the gap between job seekers and recruiters by providing real-time updates. It helps eliminate confusion and uncertainty by letting users know if their application has been viewed, whether the job is still active, or if further action is needed.

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  1. Know when a recruiter viewed your application last

  2. Pin favorite job opportunities and use quick view to see important details.

  3. Easy to track application status with intuitive status bar updates

Recruiter Dashboard

The recruiter dashboard centralizes all job postings, offering a streamlined interface to view and manage each listing. With a quick-view feature, recruiters can easily check application statuses, access detailed job descriptions, and make edits as needed.

Application Management

The application management system features an intuitive interface that allows recruiters to handle all applications in one place, with customizable screening stages, intelligent filters, and AI-powered matching accuracy.

Urapolku AI - Find your career path

Designed to empowers users by automating contract processing, review, and organization, while providing insightful reporting and seamless integration

Design System

Design Assets

Breakpoints

Learnings

Final Takeaways

  • Effective communication with developers is crucial:

    Midway through design, we found our breakpoint calculations were unfeasible, requiring recalculation and redesign to ensure responsiveness across devices. Constant collaboration from the start could have prevented this issue.

  • Simplicity was about reducing complexity, not quantity: If an added extra step led to a more intuitive and error-free experience, it was worth the additional manual effort.