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The only issue we found where the implementation and UI did not work together, was in relation to sorting resume items. When we set up our database, sorting items in the resume did not work, because our database was not set up to maintain a sorted list of resume items. However, we felt that the sorting was important enough that we made the appropriate database changes. Also, we could not how to implement a good pdf downloader of the resume, so we implemented a poor resume download that had the correct content and downloaded a pdf, but with the wrong formatting.

Evaluation

We conducted our user test by finding international students at MIT who were new to making a resume. We told each user that this was a new service to help international students who had not built a resume before to build their resumes. We took them to the registration page and told them to please register and start. We asked them to talk through their use of the product, highlighting issues they encountered. We said that if they were not sure what to do, they should try something and then go forward and see what happened. We believed that our UI and hints should guide the process, and that there should not be any experience or instructions needed beforehand. Notes from each of the 4 interviews. We had two freshmen and one sophomore (all who had not built a resume before), and one graduate student who started this year at MIT. We tried to get students from a variety of countries. Each user is listed by his/her country, along with the usability problems found in their session.

Australia

• Wanted to put both MIT course numbers and names under relevant coursework
  • Severity - Cosmetic
  • Solutions - Not necessary, MIT-specific problem
• Confused about whether or not the first task was part of the registration process
  • Severity - Cosmetic
  • Solutions - Pre-populate some fields (e.g. email address); include some feedback at the top of the first page after a new account registration

• Considered moving from Task 2 to Task 3 via the top navigation instead of the “Save” button
  • Severity - Minor
  • Solutions - Some kind of pop-up that prompts the user to save; scroll the page down to the current “Save” section
• The window wasn’t wide enough for the tooltip on page 3
  • Severity - Minor
  • Solutions - Expand the window if possible; open the tooltip to the left only if there is not enough space to the right
• Maybe wanted to share other people’s resumes, community of international students
  • Severity - N/A
  • Solutions - Not a UI consideration, but an interesting concept

Palestine

• Add N/A (Not Applicable) for date selection to graduation year in case of users who are graduate students
  • Severity - Minor
  • Solutions - Adding logic and make UI dynamic to fit this need
• Minimize (or collapse) already filled forms to improve the readability in the first page.
  • Severity - Cosmetic
  • Solutions - Add a collapse/expand buttons for each filled group in the info page.
• Split name into first name/last name to avoid different international naming schemes (in which names may be very long)
  • Severity - Cosmetic
  • Solutions - replace the name field with first name and last name fields
• Really liked the grayed out examples in the input texts before text in entered.
  • Severity - Good
• Tries to sort categories in the resume page (Education, Work, and Leadership),  but it was not possible
  • Severity - Minor
  • Solutions - Add sortability functionality to these categories within the resume
• The “Save Resume” field is placed in the very bottom of the resume page, and so it is very easy to miss it and move to another page with the created resume unsaved
  • Severity - Major (Safety)
  • Solutions - Either detect changes and prevent the user from going anywhere unless “Save Resume” is clicked, or place the save resume at the top for example
• Add a “justify” text property to the displayed text in the resume 
  • Severity - Cosmetic
  • Solutions -  Add CSS property for justify.
• Capitalize fields in case they were typed in lowercase . 
  • Severity - Minor 
  • Solutions - Parse texts and capitalize the parts that need to be capitalized.
• Show scroll only when needed
  • Severity - Cosmetic

Thailand

• Hit backspace when not in a text box and page went back in browser
  • Elaboration - The user tried to hit backspace when not in a textbox and was taken to previous page in the browser. He then came back to the page without using the forward button and lost some work.
  • Severity - Major
  • Solutions - Autosave every few seconds or set the page such that backspace when not in a textbox does nothing.
• No work experience
  • Elaboration - User had no work experience, and he did not like that there was a box asking him to fill in something that he did not have
  • Severity - Cosmetic
  • Solutions - Remove “Work Experience” boxes and let users add more if they desire
• Make sure all text is properly capitalized
  • Severity - Minor 
  • Solutions - Parse text and make sure the text at the beginning of each section is capitalized.
• Not sure what trash can on resume page would do
  • Severity - Minor
  • Solution - Allow user to drag options off the resume as you allow them to drag on (this is what the user tried to do first)
• Confused on how many items to add to resume
  • Elaborating - The user only saw “drag and drop” once per section. After the user dropped an item on the resume in each section, there were no more “drag and drop” boxes. Thus the user thought there should only be one item per section. (The user had never built a resume and thus did not know what resume needed).
  • Severity - Minor
  • Solution - Always have a “drag and drop” box if there is room to add something else to the resume
• “Love the drag and drop”
  • Severity - Good
• “So easy to use”
  • Elaborating - The user said that the product was extremely easy to use, and even though he had never made a resume before, he was able to make one that he would like to use in 15 minutes. He asked when we would make this product available so that he could actually use it.
  • Severity - Good
• "I think you just made people lazier." (Saying that people do not have to learn how to make a resume)
  • Severity - Good

Vietnam

• Editing on resume desired (does not want to have to go back to the first page to edit content)
  • Severity - Cosmetic
  • Solution - Text on resume could be editable
• Wizard look confusing (unsure if after “Save and Continue is clicked, one can return to that step in the process or not”)
  • Severity - Cosmetic
  • Solution - Remove numbers from each step (1, 2, and 3)
• “Resume Name” not seen (user clicked “Save Resume” without seeing naming possibility)
  • Severity - Cosmetic
• Solution - Do not let user “Save Resume” if “Resume Name” textbox is empty
  • “It’s so fast”
  • Good
• “I really like that it formats for you”
  • Good

...

Australia

• Wanted to put both MIT course numbers and names under relevant coursework
  • Severity - Cosmetic
  • Solutions - Not necessary, MIT-specific problem
• Confused about whether or not the first task was part of the registration process
  • Severity - Cosmetic
  • Solutions - Pre-populate some fields (e.g. email address); include some feedback at the top of the first page after a new account registration

• Considered moving from Task 2 to Task 3 via the top navigation instead of the “Save” button
  • Severity - Minor
  • Solutions - Some kind of pop-up that prompts the user to save; scroll the page down to the current “Save” section
• The window wasn’t wide enough for the tooltip on page 3
  • Severity - Minor
  • Solutions - Expand the window if possible; open the tooltip to the left only if there is not enough space to the right
• Maybe wanted to share other people’s resumes, community of international students
  • Severity - N/A
  • Solutions - Not a UI consideration, but an interesting concept

Palestine

• Add N/A (Not Applicable) for date selection to graduation year in case of users who are graduate students
  • Severity - Minor
  • Solutions - Adding logic and make UI dynamic to fit this need
• Minimize (or collapse) already filled forms to improve the readability in the first page.
  • Severity - Cosmetic
  • Solutions - Add a collapse/expand buttons for each filled group in the info page.
• Split name into first name/last name to avoid different international naming schemes (in which names may be very long)
  • Severity - Cosmetic
  • Solutions - replace the name field with first name and last name fields
• Really liked the grayed out examples in the input texts before text in entered.
  • Severity - Good
• Tries to sort categories in the resume page (Education, Work, and Leadership),  but it was not possible
  • Severity - Minor
  • Solutions - Add sortability functionality to these categories within the resume
• The “Save Resume” field is placed in the very bottom of the resume page, and so it is very easy to miss it and move to another page with the created resume unsaved
  • Severity - Major (Safety)
  • Solutions - Either detect changes and prevent the user from going anywhere unless “Save Resume” is clicked, or place the save resume at the top for example
• Add a “justify” text property to the displayed text in the resume 
  • Severity - Cosmetic
  • Solutions -  Add CSS property for justify.
• Capitalize fields in case they were typed in lowercase . 
  • Severity - Minor 
  • Solutions - Parse texts and capitalize the parts that need to be capitalized.
• Show scroll only when needed
  • Severity - Cosmetic

Thailand

• Hit backspace when not in a text box and page went back in browser
  • Elaboration - The user tried to hit backspace when not in a textbox and was taken to previous page in the browser. He then came back to the page without using the forward button and lost some work.
  • Severity - Major
  • Solutions - Autosave every few seconds or set the page such that backspace when not in a textbox does nothing.
• No work experience
  • Elaboration - User had no work experience, and he did not like that there was a box asking him to fill in something that he did not have
  • Severity - Cosmetic
  • Solutions - Remove “Work Experience” boxes and let users add more if they desire
• Make sure all text is properly capitalized
  • Severity - Minor 
  • Solutions - Parse text and make sure the text at the beginning of each section is capitalized.
• Not sure what trash can on resume page would do
  • Severity - Minor
  • Solution - Allow user to drag options off the resume as you allow them to drag on (this is what the user tried to do first)
• Confused on how many items to add to resume
  • Elaborating - The user only saw “drag and drop” once per section. After the user dropped an item on the resume in each section, there were no more “drag and drop” boxes. Thus the user thought there should only be one item per section. (The user had never built a resume and thus did not know what resume needed).
  • Severity - Minor
  • Solution - Always have a “drag and drop” box if there is room to add something else to the resume
• “Love the drag and drop”
  • Severity - Good
• “So easy to use”
  • Elaborating - The user said that the product was extremely easy to use, and even though he had never made a resume before, he was able to make one that he would like to use in 15 minutes. He asked when we would make this product available so that he could actually use it.
  • Severity - Good
• "I think you just made people lazier." (Saying that people do not have to learn how to make a resume)
  • Severity - Good

Vietnam

• Editing on resume desired (does not want to have to go back to the first page to edit content)
  • Severity - Cosmetic
  • Solution - Text on resume could be editable
• Wizard look confusing (unsure if after “Save and Continue is clicked, one can return to that step in the process or not”)
  • Severity - Cosmetic
  • Solution - Remove numbers from each step (1, 2, and 3)
• “Resume Name” not seen (user clicked “Save Resume” without seeing naming possibility)
  • Severity - Cosmetic
• Solution - Do not let user “Save Resume” if “Resume Name” textbox is empty
  • “It’s so fast”
  • Good
• “I really like that it formats for you”
  • Good

Reflection

During this process, our group learned many different things. Firstly, we learned that multiple stages of testing before the product is even build can allow you to solve many of the issues that arise. All three of us have worked on multiple projects where we have made design documents, built a product, and tested and iterated. By that time, we were often reluctant to make drastic changes. But because we spent a lot of time building the product before we actually build it, we had already made a lot of the drastic changes we would have had to make, just before we had invested a lot of time and resources instead of after.

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