Designing for Disadvantaged Job Seekers

The Internet plays a pervasive role in job search and employment, especially for professionals and for those who are highly qualified. While job seekers from all occupational groups and employment status rely on aspects of the Internet for employment, past research suggests that disadvantaged job seekers are being "left behind" and will continue to be left behind as the Internet takes on a more eminent role in the employment process. To mitigate this outcome, we extended prior literature and took a user-centered design approach to design and implement a web-based employment application that provides job seekers with resume feedback from local volunteers. We piloted our application to understand: 1) the context and circumstances of our application's shortcomings and 2) UX principles that address these shortcomings. We extend employment research that aims to alleviate the negative effects of technological advancement on disadvantaged job seekers.