Aurizon: facilitating the job post & search procedures
Background
Client: Aurizon, Australian rail freight operator
Team: Liquid interactive – Client engagement, content writer, developers, and myself as UI/UX designer
Contribution: lead designer – revamping the Careers section on Aurizon’s website and creating the Talent Community page.
Research and analysis, UI and UX design, design library, prototyping, responsive design, design testing, client meetings, photo editing.
Visit: https://www.aurizon.com.au/careers
Goals
Our team retrieved Aurizon’s website and was tasked with revamping and developing the Careers section in time for their new recruitment campaign.
Approach
People browse jobs on different platforms. Each one of these platforms has its own way of working, which ends up presenting a challenge for the user who is comfortable with consistency.
For this iteration of the Careers section, we focused on making the experience smooth and easy.
We rearranged and refurbished some tools such as the search page, we structured the landing page using UI elements that are known and recognizable.
We have added confirmation pages, known to be valuable for the user’s experience.
Above all, we have tailored the experience for mobile use which is a key factor in the usability of the section for all the users who are looking for a job while commuting or while waiting for their friend in a café.
Challenges
Timing was short. We faced a tight deadline of just a month and a half to complete all tasks, including research, design, development, user testing, design testing, and client feedback incorporation.
The initial job posts were managed by a third company. The developers had to extract the information from the RSS feed. This posed some limitations on UX interventions.
Although there was a need for significant improvements in the Careers section, the final product had to remain consistent with the rest of the website.
The Careers section was not mobile-friendly.
A quick accessibility assessment revealed a number of important accessibility issues.
A set of rules
Every design decision, whether minor or major, had to align with three key constraints: time, development, and consistency. After the initial research and analysis phase I made a set of design rules, such as:
Features that are causing major user experience distress have to be changed, such as the search bar, filters, and results page.
Each component should be faithful to its intended function. Spotlights should look like spotlights, cards should look like cards, even if this means having 2 types of cards on the website.
The usability and design must remain faithful to the Aurizon brand.
We cannot add or subtract colors but we can use other shades.
We cannot add or modify typefaces but we can modify a typeface’s weight to make it more legible such as on a page banner
We cannot change the layout grid but we can change the page layout and spacings. If a page is overcrowded then we should create more breathing space. Focusing on a qualitative user flow and a minimum required mental workload is a priority.
The client was impressed by our approach and quality of deliverables. Data shows an increase in CV submissions and newsletter subscriptions. Aurizon’s HR team confirmed the project’s success and subsequently commissioned our team to undertake a revamp of the entire website.
Upon their request, our team is currently working on revamping Aurizon’s entire website, leveraging the insights and strategies developed during the Careers section project.