Hired Neurodiverse

Brief

For this project, I collaborated with three of my colleagues to explore an opportunity space for our brand of choice Hired.com. The objective of this project case study was to create a product able partner with an established brand and at the same time can stand alone. Our assignment was “Social good and community subject. We chose to solve a problem within the scope of Autism spectrum high functioning individuals seeking work. We created a tool for the Neurodiverse community lacking access to work search and support.

Our solution was Hired Neurodiverse! A work search/ support platform built for the Autism community. The user-friendly desktop and mobile app allow the neurodiverse audience to learn, get inspired, and apply for jobs at places that support them.

Client

A case study for Hired.com - a job matching and recruitment service specializing in the Tech industry

Responsibilities

User Research, Personas, Strategy, Feature Prioritization, Low-Fidelity Sketches, High-Fidelity Wireframes & Prototype, Usability Testing, UI Specifications Document, Presentation, Case Study

Tools

Sketch / InVision / Trello / Slack / Keynote / Google Drive / Photoshop

Autism Spectrum Disorder

Research

Our discovery research phase included user interviews, competitive analysis, and landscape analysis. We discovered that the neurodiverse community (people with Autism Spectrum Disorder) were unemployed at a higher rate than the general population due to the lack of resources aimed to support their job search. Through our initial findings, we discover that there was an opportunity to partner with a job board industry platform (hired.com) to support individuals within the ASD find jobs. Hired.com valued proposition fits perfectly into our product because their tool allows employees to find employees rather than employees finding the jobs.

Hypothesis

Despite Legal Provisions and shifts in cultural perception…

People with ASD do not have access to the same level of job preparedness training, career coaching, or job-seeker resources as non-disabled Americans. Employers are not doing enough to diversify their workforces.

Analysis

We created a Competitive Analysis to understand a complex landscape. We looked at a range of players in the space, including Autism Charities, Autism Works Programs, Autism Hiring Consultancies as well as companies who have piloted and pioneered neurodiverse hiring practices in the Technology industry, such as Microsoft and IBM.

Interviews

To validate our assumptions we conducted 9 interviews, in-person, via phone and over Twitter. 45 minutes each.

• 3 Individuals living with ASD

• 2 Caregivers of individuals with ASD

• 1 Career Coach

• 2 ASD Program Directors

• 1 HR/Recruitment Manager

Interview quotes

“If your project team is all neurotypical, and your project encounters a problem, the chances are they will all come up with the same kind of answer. Bring in someone with a different cognitive process and a completely different perspective, and they’ll come up with something different. And that’s invaluable”. -Hiring Managers

“I don’t focus on their “deficit”, I am focused on their strengths” -Counselor

“It’s not the easiest thing to have a job. There are some rules you have to follow, and it can be challenging. But it’s part of life, you get used to the fact you have rules you have to follow….it’s something you need to learn” -Neurodiverse

We want there to always be a growth component to what he’s doing. Kids with autism will continue to learn as they get older we want him to grow and be in an environment where he can learn so he’s never bored with life. -Caregivers

Problem

How might we create equal employment opportunities for the nuerodiverse interested in tech careers, tailoring the screening, recruitment and hiring resources to their unique skills and abilities, in order to ensure fair and open recruitment?

Primary Persona

Andrew, 25 - Neurodiverse

“I like spending time perfecting my game scores”.

Andrew has Autism spectrum disorder. He has a bachelor's degree in computer engineering. His interests include video games and coding.

His ideal job would be coding for a video game developer. He feels there are not many opportunities for him on the job market that take his needs into consideration and help him transition into the corporate workforce.

Behavior

• Likes to have personal work space at the office

• Takes few breaks during the workday hours

• Detail-oriented and comfortable with repetitive tasks

• Prefers to have less communication at work

Needs

• Job search resources that cater to unique abilities and interest

• support system that set him up for success

• Diverse an accepting workplace

• Clear and specific directions

Goals

• Identify career path based on interests and talents

• Mentorship program to help him step into professional field and succeed

• Stay employed long term and grow with the company

Painpoints

• Workplace environments can be challenging

• Behavior is often misunderstood

• Job opportunities for neurodiverse skill set are difficult to find

Key Solutions

The solutions and features identified during our Design Studio were the following:

• Success story videos & testimonials

• Simple process overview

• Access to search and support, including ChatBot

• Ability to connect to a personalized coach

• Profile creation

• Learning styles overview

• Competency evaluation game

• User generated skills/ training videos
  

MVP

We created a Minimum Viable Product using the MosCoW process in order to save time, effort and money for HIRED Neurodiverse. The product needs these prime elements to deliver a realistic experience to the user in the early phase:

• Profile creation to help ensure the customer will return to the site.

• Inspiring success stories for visitors to better understand the HIRED Neurodiverse process.

• Learning styles content to help the customer discover more about their unique abilities.

• Support coach/mentors to support the customer as they go through the employment journey.

User Journey

To better understand how our persona would engage with the product, we created a storyboard and User Journey illustrating the user’s experience with our product.

Journey Map

Brand

Hi-Fidelity Test Results

Summary

Hired has an opportunity to fill the gap in the market, and champion the advancement of the neurodiversity movement in the technology space.