In this blog, you’ll learn about Indeed’s UX team – what got them into the world of UX, the projects they work on, their challenges and what it takes to be successful in UX.
Have you ever got onto a website and kept going back to the site frequently without realizing it, or used an app and found what you needed quickly with just a few clicks? This experience is brought to you by the User Experience (UX) team!
At Indeed, we have incredibly talented people across the globe, working to give jobseekers a positive experience while they use our Indeed products. This ranges from visual and interaction design, usability, accessibility and many others.
“I became interested in design after seeing the documentary film Objectified around 2009. At the time I was active duty in the military (Air Force) and looking for a change. Objectified kind of opened the door to career possibilities that I hadn’t considered before. It talks about industrial design, the objects that impact our everyday life, and the people who make them. That intrigued me and thought to myself, ‘Hey, maybe I could do that!’
I liked the idea of solving problems and working directly to make something,” Jered Danielson, Senior UX Developer based in Seattle shares.
He explains that to be successful in UX, he believes in keeping things simple and focusing on the fundamentals. The basic principles of design are powerful and it’s important to never stop being relevant.
Solving pain points and providing new perspectives
Emily Smollen, Senior UX Content Designer in Austin adds, “you need to be able to look at your work from multiple perspectives. I love learning about users’ top needs and pain points so I can help balance these with the company’s needs, and improve users’ experiences.”
Emily also shares that considering the same from different users’ viewpoints may uncover ways the product is being used that hadn’t been considered.
“This then influences both the initial problem you set out to solve and the solution you land on. It may also help you discover new ways to connect your product with customers, and it’s not only about users’ perspectives; you also need to consider the viewpoints of your team partners in design, product management, engineering, and research as everyone brings different expertise and experiences we can all learn from, weigh, and apply toward the best solution,” she emphasizes.
Sanchita Gupta, an Associate UX Designer based in Hyderabad, adds, “the constant urge to learn new things is crucial as technology continues to grow rapidly. Improving yourself in both soft and hard skills are very important to grow and become successful in UX”.
Building the future of job search
Jered is currently working on helping to redesign and rebuild a product from the ground up. “It’s exciting to be part of the process from the very beginning, and make decisions that will influence the direction of the project as it grows and evolves. We also get to start with a clean slate and consider bold new ideas unencumbered by decisions made in the past,” he shares.
Sanchita works in the International UX team and shares one of the exciting projects she’s working on in India.
“We have a product called Applybot. It is basically to help lightly skilled job seekers in India apply for any job with the help of a chatbot, by answering a few questions. From our research we learned that a lot of them do not have a resume and 80% of the employers require a resume to apply for their job,” she says.
She also explains that the team is working on the experience of creating a resume via chat. “What I really love about it is how I’m making a difference in my user’s life, by empathising with their problem, implementing the solution, testing it and iterating it first-hand, something I really enjoy building,” she adds.
Solving the puzzle one piece at a time
As the UX team works on exciting projects, it also has its challenges. “As a UX developer or designer, one must hold a huge amount of context in one’s head at a time. Considering user needs and motivations, product requirements, technical constraints, research findings, accessibility, internationalization, and much more. All of the different puzzle pieces can become overwhelming fast unless one stays organized,” Jered explains.
Jered’s tip to manage these challenges: “Document things as much as possible. Take notes from meetings, record decisions as they are being made, break down big problems into smaller ones, and plan as far ahead as you can. The more you can offload from your brain into well-organized documentation, the more mental space you will have for other things.”
“Indeed provides lots of resources to continue professional development, such as conference reimbursement, tuition allowances, and access to online training and courses. I was able to attend a JavaScript-focused conference just before the pandemic that gave me the opportunity to learn from my peers and discover many new ideas around development and UX!” Jered emphasizes.
What it takes to succeed in UX at Indeed
Shami Perera, UX Director based in Singapore oversees the International UX team at Indeed and shares some of the characteristics she looks out for, for someone joining the team:
- User-centred mindset – have a deep understanding of your user, and what their problems and needs are
- Indeed’s mission – resonate with our mission of helping people get jobs
- Empathy – have empathy for users, especially those who are living in different parts of the world, who might come from different cultures
Watch the full video here
As they share their thoughts on what it takes to be successful in the world of UX, they are all aligned on one success factor, which is to stay curious and never stop learning.
“There is a never-ending supply of ideas, tools, paradigms, processes, opinions, and research to explore. Stay engaged with your peers and coworkers to absorb their wisdom and pass on your own. The moment you stop moving, the world will leave you behind!”
Want to be part of Indeed’s UX team? Check out our open roles at indeed.jobs!
