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Duration
August-December 2025
Group Roles
Nathan Lee - Storyteller
Rajit Goel - Prototype
Silas Solomon- Designer
Cole Jesberg -Synthesizer
Burak Bas - Researcher
Role
UX/UI Design
Branding
Research
Personas
Wireframing
Usability testing
Tools
Figma
Photoshop
Illustrator
Figjam
Canva
Goal
Creating a space for both applying graduates and hiring managers to connect through professional certifications
Whats the problem?
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Smooth the transition for new graduates into their jobs
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Help graduates feel as if they have chosen the correct company to apply to that will support the start of their career journey
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The Solution
Preface smooths the anxiety of job-seekers by providing them with the unique opportunity to learn about the companies they want to apply to and show off their skills. Applicants spend time and effort to be noticed for the commitment they make to earning a certificate for job positions. Not only does Preface help applicants stand out amongst the crowd, but it also allows hiring managers to view applicants' course results in real-time and provides them with the best applicants possible.
Empathize
Survey Methods
As a class, we designed a digital survey form to fill out to collect data on recent/ future graduates and how they interact with job-seeking in the current market. Our team brainstormed several potential questions to contribute to the class's final survey questions. Our class collected 44 survey responses.
Sample Questions
How much advance notice do you need for interviews?
Most likely reasons you’d change your mind (renege) after accepting the job
What community elements would help you feel you belong early?
Results
87%
of respondents said they find jobs through LinkedIn
80%
of respondents said long response times/ ghosting roadblocked them
40%
of respondants said they had difficulty finding opportunities
Interviews
Methods
Our group conducted four interviews with job-seeking individuals who had already graduated from college or were preparing to graduate soon. We led them through each of our questions without revealing any bias or intended responses. We asked follow-up questions about answers that could provide us with more details about their individual perspectives and insights into their unique job-seeking experiences.
Results
Desire to stand out
“How do I stand out in a competitive job market?”
Skills Focus
"The process favors cookie-cutter finance candidates, but people with different backgrounds and innovative ideas can bring real value too."
Personality Focus
" I liked the fact that they focused on my values which matched with the culture at the firm."
Market Research
We compared some of the most popular career certification programs to gain insight into their strengths and weaknesses
Coursera
Google Career
Certificates
Strengths
Courses are verified and acknowledged by industry standards. They provide insightful lessons and test users on their knowledge.
Weaknesses
Both need to include peace of mind that the companies have direct access to applicants' scores through an employer's and hiring managers' only portal.
Define
User Persona
Ideate
Wireframes
Our group created wireframes of the two primary ideas. The first one is a Coursera-type interface that focuses on providing candidates with a way to showcase their abilities and technical skills while also learning about company values and culture.
The second idea was to create a dating app simulation for applicants' resumes so hiring managers could easily swipe and choose candidates based on their compatibility with the company.
Idea #1
Idea #2
Logo Design
Final Design
Prototype
Low Fidelity
Test
Usability Testing
Our testing was conducted with four college-age/recent college graduates. We asked each candidate to complete three tasks. Navigate to their lessons page, add their finished certificates to their LinkedIn profile, and view their completed certifications.
All candidates were satisfied with the overall visual aesthetic and navigation. Some were confused by the access to only one set of sample questions for the model sections within the lesson page. When it was explained that we would be adding several different fields of work with different module questions and structures to our platform, they seemed more confident in the final product's overall appeal.
Key Features
Course Modules
Applicants can answer company questions in real-time and show off their skillsets to hiring managers
Certificates
Earn certificates for courses completed and save them on profile tab
Upload earned certificates to LinkedIn and show hiring managers work-ethic and skill
Corporate
Hiring managers can navigate and search for role-applications as well as applicants certificate overviews
Final Product
Conclusion
Key Takeaways
We were faced with the problem of job applicants who felt lost and misunderstood in their post-grad job-seeking journey, and a money management company that felt like they couldn't find the correct candidates for their roles. Preface bridges the gap between applicants and hiring managers to ease the tension of every perspective of the hiring process. Our website provides courses for company positions, not just a "click to apply" link. Applicants can demonstrate their commitment to applying for roles, learn about company culture, and showcase their technical abilities through free-response questions. Hiring managers and HR can easily access certificates and look at the most qualified candidates for their company's positions.