Industry-Advised UX Research Project

From Frustration to Flow: Rethinking LinkedIn's Job Application Journey

Product:

LinkedIn (Job Search & Application Experience)

Industry Advisor:

Megan McLean, the User Research Team Lead @ Spotify

My Role:

UX Research Lead

This research project focused on improving the user experience of a sports wearable, inspired by products like Whoop. The goal was to identify key user needs and translate them into actionable design recommendations for product teams working at the intersection of fitness, technology, and behavior.

Project Overview

We interviewed five athletes (2 collegiate, 3 recreational), ages 18–30, with diverse patterns of fitness tracker usage. Participants represented a mix of endurance- and strength-based sports, including badminton, swimming, and running.

Participant Profile

Design Opportunities

Enhance Job Search Usability

Improve the visibility and intuitiveness of the search function to help users find relevant job listings more efficiently. Leverage smarter filter design to increase personalization and relevance of search results.

Streamline Job Description Readability

Use strategic visual design (typography, layout, white space) to guide attention and reduce cognitive load. Help users quickly extract key information without effort or confusion.

Optimize the Easy Apply Experience

Ensure the Easy Apply process feels familiar, intuitive, and time-saving. Reduce unnecessary steps and align interaction patterns with users’ expectations from other application platforms.

Research Approach

In-Depth Interviews (IDIs) with Competitor Comparison: Conducted semi-structured interviews to explore users’ experiences with LinkedIn’s job application process. As part of the conversation, participants were also asked to compare LinkedIn with other job platforms (e.g., Indeed, Glassdoor) to uncover relative strengths, weaknesses, and unmet expectations.

Usability Testing within a Contextual Inquiry Framework: Observed participants as they searched for and applied to jobs on LinkedIn in their natural environments. This approach surfaced real-world behaviors and usability pain points while preserving context.

Analysis & Synthesis: Applied thematic analysis to interview notes and synthesized findings using affinity diagramming in FigJam to surface recurring pain points and design opportunities.

Figma Analysis Snapshot

Participants’ names have been anonymized and no personal information is shown.
Left: part of the analysis process in Figma;

Right: Interview notes organized by participant, with color-coded sticky notes and columns to distinguish individual responses.

Insights

Users want more granular job filters for tailored results.

Standardizing job description layouts can reduce cognitive load and speed up decisions.

The Easy Apply process is generally positive but can be optimized to further reduce user effort.

Impact

Boost user satisfaction and platform stickiness
Improve job application conversion rates
Support both job seekers and recruiters