Role

UX/UI Designer

UX Researcher

Timeline

5 Weeks

Team

2 People

Mentor

Marziyeh Nadali

Contex

The Struggle Behind the Scroll: A Job Seeker’s Day on LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional networking platform, with over 1 billion members across more than 200 countries. It serves as a central hub for job seekers, recruiters, and companies, empowering users to apply for jobs, build connections, and grow their careers. But for many, navigating the platform’s job search experience can be draining. This storyboard captures one frustrating day in the life of a job seeker trying to find opportunities, apply and make sense of a process that often feels discouraging.

Getting hired is tough, but why does applying feel even tougher?

Discover and Research

Challenges in the Job Search: Long Applications, No Feedback, and Irrelevant or Fake Listings

LinkedIn users face long application flows, lack of tracking after applying, scam job posts, and irrelevant search results; turning the job hunt into a confusing and discouraging experience.

Understanding User Core Needs

The Job Search Process: A Journey of Frustration, Confusion, and Fading Motivation.

After 13 user interviews and contextual inquiries, we uncovered key breakdowns across the job application journey, from search to tracking.

That’s when we realized, it’s not just a job hunt, it’s an emotional journey.

Defining Personas

The Humans Behind the Profiles

Archetype 1

Archetype 2

Job Platform Benchmarking

LinkedIn Makes Job Access Easy, but Misses Out on Personalization, Feedback, and Career Support

We conducted a competitive analysis of five major job platforms, Handshake, Indeed, ZipRecruiter, XING and Glassdoor to uncover features that elevate the job search experience.

Exploring today’s top job platforms revealed a clear pattern: from tailored job recommendations based on user preferences to real-time application tracking and integrated company ratings & reviews, every step feels more intentional. Users can prepare with mock interviews and grow with both self-guided and coach-led tools, while smart connection suggestions create meaningful interactions.

These findings laid the foundation for our ideas.

Prioritizations Matrix

Turning Insights into Action

After evaluating a wide range of opportunities, we prioritized the ones that offer high user value with manageable effort. This helped us define a clear and focused direction for starting point, grounded in both user needs and feasibility.

Visual Design

Turning User Needs Into Meaningful Interface Concepts

After our ideation sessions, we evaluated each solution based on feasibility, viability and desirability to determine which one to move forward with.

Solution 1

Boosting Job Search Efficiency with Smarter Tracking

❌ Problem
Users struggle to track applications and statuses, leading to missed follow-ups and disorganization. They need a clear, easy way to manage and stay on top of their job search.

💡Solution


Users can track job applications with key details, filter and sort them easily, add notes or tags, and sync with their calendar to manage interviews and deadlines.

Solution 2

Application Insights that Drive Smarter Moves

❌ Problem
Users often struggle to track job search progress, making it hard to see what’s working or where to improve. Lack of visibility makes it difficult to stay informed, measure success, or stay motivated.

💡Solution


Gives users a clear view of their job search progress through monthly summaries, activity charts, real-time status updates, and personalized tips to stay motivated.

Solution 3

Helping Users Apply Smarter, Not Harder with Personalized Automated Submissions

❌ Problem
Users spend hours applying manually, yet still miss roles that match their experience. The process is repetitive, misaligned with their goals, and leads to frustration.

💡Solution


Auto Apply finds and submits well-matched jobs based on users’ resumes and preferences. It saves time, reduces effort, and helps users stay consistent without missing great opportunities.

Solution 4

Helping Users Grow Faster, Not Alone

❌ Problem
LinkedIn offers a mentorship service where users can seek career guidance, but this service is difficult to access and not easy for users to find or navigate, limiting its effectiveness and user engagement.

💡Solution


Add a Mentorship Services feature to LinkedIn profiles, connecting users with mentors for mock interviews and career coaching based on their goals and preferences.

Solution 5

Personalizing the profile experience through a short video introduction

❌ Problem
Lacking a way to show who they truly are, users often feel reduced to documents, scanned, sorted, and filtered, rather than invited into meaningful, human connection.

💡Solution


A short video on the profile showcases personality, communication style, and presence. Helping highlight key strengths, share a career pitch, and make the profile more memorable.

Solution 6

Boosting User Engagement Through Live Conversations and Instant Networking

❌ Problem
Job searching can feel isolating and impersonal, with few opportunities for real-time connection, peer support, or informal knowledge sharing, often leaving candidates feeling disconnected, uncertain, and alone.

💡Solution


The Live Chat feature offers topic-based rooms for real-time conversations. Users can join rooms by connections, explore trending or casual topics, or create their own to - tips and support.

What I Learned

Job hunting isn’t just a process, behind every click it’s an emotional journey filled with doubt, silence and uncertainty. That insight shaped our thinking from the very beginning. We started looking at the problem through the user’s eyes. Users aren’t just looking for jobs, they’re seeking visibility, connection and hope. Meaningful connections can often create more opportunities than even the most polished applications, highlighting the power of networking in today’s job market.

More than anything, this experience taught that good design means seeing the human behind the screen, and building tools that help them feel understood, empowered and never alone.

Growth Opportunities

While LinkedIn offers powerful tools for professional visibility, there’s still a gap between who users truly are and how they’re represented on the platform. Hiring teams also struggle to assess candidates accurately due to the lack of clear tools and shared context in today’s job market. Scattered flows and complex navigation often leave users feeling lost, increasing frustration.

LinkedIn has the opportunity to become more than just a job tool. With thoughtful design and AI, it can evolve into a supportive companion, one that offers timely encouragement and motivation when users need it most. In a space often filled with silence, even a small message can create momentum and hope.