Fresh from the Field — Careers NZ, Pixel Fusion

This week’s Fresh from the Field features the new CV Builder Tool for Careers NZ by Pixel Fusion.
If you’ve got new or recent work that you’d like to share in our weekly Fresh from the Field series email Zoë for details.

Careers NZ Case Study
The Challenge
Careers NZ provides an invaluable service to the population of New Zealand. Their range of career related tools and information is designed to help New Zealanders identify their desired careers and then equip them with the tools and support they need to make those careers a reality.
As part of their ongoing mission to to connect New Zealanders with employment opportunities, they approached Pixel Fusion to help completely re-imagine their CV Builder tool. The existing CV builder was complex and, at times, confusing to use. What’s more, it didn’t cater to the varying needs of CNZ’s users, or their wide range of technological experience.
Pixel Fusion partnered with Talentwire and CNZ to create a highly engaging, modern CV Builder, that would empower all New Zealanders, regardless of their age, background or experience, to find employment successfully.

Understanding the user and their context
Pixel Fusion conducted a thorough Discovery process. In addition to exploring what users wanted and needed from a CV building tool, we focussed more broadly on their general interactions with technology, and their behaviours when it came to looking for employment. We wanted to understand exactly where we could add value to that process, as well as the best way to present the CV builder content to make it easily accessible and consumable for all.
Our discovery process revealed a few key insights that ultimately shaped the end product:

Users’ mobile phones are their central, and sometimes only, digital tool
Almost everyone we interviewed owned a mobile phone. In some cases, this was the only digital device they owned, and their primary tool for completing tasks online. Based on this insight, it was obvious that this would need to be a mobile first experience in order to be accessible and valuable for a broad range of New Zealanders. Taking the relative complexity of creating and formatting a CV, and translating this into a bite-sized, mobile friendly process, was a key part of the challenge for this project.

Many of the users we spoke to had little or no previous work experience, and only basic education.
The people using the CV Builder were looking for more than simply a tool that would format their CVs for them. They needed specific guidance on how to communicate and upsell the experience they did have, how to represent their skills effectively, and what content to include in their CV. For most users we spoke to, the process of finding a job was extremely stressful, and at times intimidating, and the CV Builder tool needed to be a source of support and reassurance.

The Solution
Based on insights from the Discovery Phase, as well as thorough user testing, the CV Builder we created takes the form of a messaging-style, conversational UI. The tool provides the level of functionality and flexibility required to construct a best-in-class CV. At the same time, it leverages a familiar interaction pattern, making it accessible for all, and allowing it to provide emotional reassurance and guidance.
By designing a simple, mobile first UI, we met the users where they were, fitting seamlessly into their daily lives. And by leveraging an instant messenger-style interface, we ensured that the process of creating a CV was familiar and intuitive- as simple as sending a text message.