Cal Poly Career Services
Designing Data-Driven Career Pathways for Students
UX Research
Interaction Design
Design Systems
Visual Design
Prototyping
ROLE
Product Design Lead
TEAM
1 Product Design Lead
5 Product Designers
Cal Poly iter8
DURATION
4 weeks
TOOLS
Figma
FigJam
Coda
BACKGROUND:
NAVIGATING THE POST GRADUATION LANDSCAPE
Career Services at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, supports students by identifying suitable career paths, majors, concentrations, and more. Each year, Career Services conducts a Graduate Status Report (GSR), which tracks recent graduates employment outcomes and admissions to graduate programs. While rich in insights, this data lacked a user-friendly format to benefit current students.
Currently, Cal Poly students must go to the GSR (graduate status report) Dashboard to see information on career/graduate outcomes related to their specific major based on graduate data. This dashboard aims to help students explore and identify the right career and major.
THE CHALLENGE:
TURNING DATA INTO DIRECTION
Despite having access to rich graduate data, students were left without a clear, personalized roadmap to navigate the job market. Career Services approached us to design a solution that could harness this data to guide students in making informed career decisions.
The current GSR Dashboard:
How might we design an intuitive platform that transforms complex graduate data into actionable insights, helping students discover personalized career paths ?
RESEARCH:
UNDERSTANDING STUDENT NEEDS
To shape our app and address student concerns, we conducted both quantitative and qualitative research, aiming to uncover the challenges students face when navigating the job market and their perceptions of existing career resources.
Quantitative Research
10 Survey questions
49 responses
Demographic:
Cal Poly Students
link to sruvey
Qualititative Research
13 user interviews
Demographic: Cal Poly Students across different majors and colleges
link to discussion guide
QUANTITATIVE INSIGHTS:
WHAT MATTERS TO STUDENTS
To shape our app and address student concerns, we conducted both quantitative and qualitative research, aiming to uncover the challenges students face when navigating the job market and their perceptions of existing career resources.
INSIGHTS:
THE GOLDEN NUGGET
Students rank the order of importance of these factors when exploring career paths:
ROLE
SALARY
LOCATION
COMPANY
QUALITATIVE INSIGHTS:
HOW DO STUDENTS FEEL ABOUT THE CURRENT GSR DASHBOARD?
We conducted interviews with 13 Cal Poly students from diverse majors, academic years, and colleges to gain insights into their career planning challenges, their experiences with the GSR dashboard, and the key factors influencing their career path decisions
overwhelming at first glance
packed with a lot of information
not user friendly
!
!
!
Quotes from students:
“Its an ugly site and un-attractive. Fun to click and be able to interact but not vey appealing”
- 1st Yr Mechanical Engineering Student
“Its really overwhelming. I don’t really see anything such as references to what the numbers mean”
- 3rd yr Animal Science Student
out of
13
students interviewed said that
the current GSR dashboard is...
13
USER FLOW:
Informed by our research insights, we created a user flow in collaboration with our client Career Services to outline the step-by-step journey students take as they interact with the platform:
PIECING THE JOURNEY :
Using the user flow we created, we identified 4 main pages ASIDE from the home page
ROLE
Students can discover how their major aligns with various career opportunities, providing data-driven pathways for success
LOCATION
Search by location to view career trends, job availability, and salary insights in different regions in relation to CP grads
COMPANY
Explore the leading companies that hire Cal Poly graduates, offering insights into career opportunities, and growth potential.
MAJOR
Students can discover how their major aligns with various career opportunities, including top roles and industries.
LOW-FI:
THE FIRST IDEAS
We developed low-fidelity design concepts for the GSR Dashboard, capturing key user flows and layout ideas based on student needs. We then checked in with our client to confirm the direction, gathering feedback to ensure the designs aligned with their vision before moving to high-fidelity prototypes.
San Antonio
Tampa
Portland
Nashville
Pittsburgh
Raleigh
San Jose
Saint Louis
Indianapolis
Kansas City
Sacramento
Jacksonville
Columbus
Baltimore
Cincinnati
Detroit
Oklahoma City
Salt Lake City
Memphis
Brooklyn
New York
Los Angeles
Chicago
Houston
Atlanta
Dallas
Boston
San Francisco
Washington
Seattle
New York
San Jose
Top US Cities
Clear All
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Popular US Cities for Job Seekers
Search by Location
403
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221
198
87
Tech
Tech
Tech
Tech
Tech
Tech
Tech
Computer Science
Computer Science
Computer Science
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Computer Science
Computer Science
Computer Science
$105-130K
$105-130K
$105-130K
$105-130K
$105-130K
$105-130K
$105-130K
Location
Graduates
Home > Search By > Location
Showing 7 of 20
Industry
Popular Role
Average Salary
Add Location
New York
Los Angeles
Chicago
Houston
Atlanta
Dallas
San Jose
1
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7
...
8
Return
Graphic Communication
Top Roles:
Top Companies:
Top Industries:
Locations:
None
UI/UX
Design Reproduction Technology
Management
Apple
Apple
Apple
Meta
Meta
Meta
Netflix
Netflix
Netflix
132K
a year
Avg Salary:
Product Designer
150K
Product Designer
150K
Product Designer
150K
Product Designer
150K
Product Designer
150K
Product Designer
150K
Product Designer
150K
Product Designer
150K
Top Job Titles
Companies
Career Services Logo
Location
Top Hired Majors
Alumni
Search
Company
Similar Companies
Company
Company
Company
Company
Company Name
Companies
Image of Company
Sort
DESIGN SYSTEM:
ADDING SOME FLAVOR
Moodboard of colors and fonts
Our font and color styles decided through a voting system and client consultation.
INITIAL IDEAL STATES:
MAJOR
Discover how one’s major aligns with various career opportunities and industries, providing data-driven pathways for success
COMPANY
Explore the leading companies that hire Cal Poly graduates, offering insights into career opportunities, and growth potential.
LOCATION
Search by location to view career trends, job availability, and salary insights in different regions.
ROLE
Explore career paths by role to gain insights on job responsibilities, required skills, and industry trends
AND THEN CAME THE DEVELOPER CONSTRAINTS.....
The initial user flow led to backend complications due to the absence of a defined endpoint or natural stopping points within the flow. The broad search options made navigation overwhelming, so we needed a way to guide users directly to relevant results, starting with their major to simplify the experience.
WHAT WE SCRAPPED:
THE ROLE, COMPANY, & INDUSTRY PAGES
We came to the conclusion that having all users start by searching their major would be an easier and seamless flow than allowing users to search through all possible results such as role, companies, etc.
SIMPLIFYING OUR USER FLOW:
Start with ONe’s major for a streamlined, tailored experience.
Initial User Flow
Home Page
Select Major
avg salary, concentration, top companies, location, industry, skills, roles
Refined User Flow:
FINAL DESIGN:
ONE PAGE ENCOMPASSING TOP COMPANIES, ROLES, AND LOCATIONS FOR EACH MAJOR
FINAL THOUGHTS:
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Simplified User Flows Enhance Usability: Starting with a single, relevant entry point (like a major) can guide users more effectively and reduce decision fatigue compared to offering multiple search options.
Alignment with Backend Constraints: Designing with backend limitations in mind can prevent complications down the line, reinforcing the importance of collaborating closely with developers early in the process
Importance of Clear Endpoints: Defining breakpoints or endpoints in a user flow helps prevent endless navigation loops, making the experience smoother and more manageable.
Iterative Design: The process of testing and refining the user flow emphasizes the value of flexibility and iteration to identify and address usability or technical issues
THANK YOU FOR READING!