Google Apply

2014 - 2016

Background: Google Apply is the public portal for candidates seeking a job at Google. With many users per day, it reduces the administrative load in the staffing-candidate communication process and is the first touch point in the hiring process for millions of candidates who apply each year. As of 2015, most of Google’s products reflected our new Material design language. But Google Apply needed to be recreated in Material, made mobile-friendly, and a11y accessible. Additionally, Google receives many applications each day and with users often applying for more than one role and many over the course of a year, there needed to be a better, more intuitive way to assist users in completing and managing their job applications.

Users: Everyone who applies to Google online

My role: As the sole/lead designer, I was responsible for all UX/UI design, illustration, user research, design sprints, and product strategy related to this experience. I worked in close collaboration with a small team of engineers, PMs, and UX writers to uncover user needs along the way and get the details right for launch.  

Outcome: Google Apply is live today

PUTTING APPLICANTS FIRST

Job applicants are contemplating their next career move in every context. They could be waiting on the subway platform, in line at the grocery, or at the gym. My team and I needed to design an online application management system that would be responsive and easy to use on every device, in every situation. To kick off the redesign process, I led a multi-week, multi-site (NYC, SF, LON) journey mapping exercise to understand and document the Google candidate experience. I then presented my findings back to the Google Apply engineering team and gave them information-rich user journey map posters to hang in their spaces—a constant reminder of the users and pain points we were aiming to solve for. These re-usable UX artifacts led to a renewed interest in critical user journeys across the team, new product ideas from the Google Apply team and have sparked collaboration with other teams to improve the Google job candidate experience holistically versus previously siloed team efforts.

With these user journey maps and the existing out-of-date desktop-only Google Apply as a jumping off point, I redesigned all flows and states using Google Material Design patterns and components, ensuring responsiveness across device sizes. I made prototypes of key flows for user testing throughout the design and development process and collaborated closely with the UX research team to create study plans and protocol. To make the visual transformation of Google Apply complete, I also created custom illustrations for all key Google Apply states (i.e. application submitted, referral accepted, etc) in the Material style.

GOING ABOVE AND BEYOND FOR ALL USERS

In partnership with product and engineering leads, I advocated for two key updates to the Google Apply experience beyond Material redesign and making it mobile-friendly—-accessibility and Google Drive integration. We felt strongly that applying to Google should be accessible to ALL candidates so we made the experience fully a11y and compliant with our internal accessibility standards. This was the first mobile experience my team had ever made fully accessible and it set an important precedent for the product experiences that came after. Finally, we added the ability for applicants to upload a resume from Drive on mobile, making the process even more seamless.

DELIGHTFUL TOUCHES

Applying for jobs can be extremely stressful. In the spirit of making the process easier for our users, we also wanted to make it friendlier. I created a set of delightful, inviting illustrations that appear at each stage of the application and referral process. I used imagery that references exploration, creation, and discovery, themes that we believe should be apparent throughout the in-person and online Google application process.