All work

UX/UI Design · TRR · Senior UX design, from research to development-ready

How we increased the use of the match profile and improved job matching

As senior UX designer, I took TRR’s match profile from research to development-ready design. A clearer and more guiding flow made the profile easier to discover, create and keep up to date, with personal suggestions, relevant reminders and a broader matching logic. The share of users with a match profile rose from 30 to 50 percent.

My role
Senior UX designer
Year
2024
Industry
Career transition and working-life services
Company
TRR
Scope
3 months
Platform
Web, desktop and mobile
A mockup of TRR’s start page in a browser window, showing matched job ads, with the Create a match profile card in front and the first step of the flow on a phone

The short version

The problem

Many users did not know they could create a match profile. Those who found it struggled with the criteria, and profiles were rarely updated. That made job matching less accurate.

What I did

As senior UX designer, I was responsible for the UX design through the whole initiative, from research and analysis to concept, prototype and development-ready design for desktop and mobile.

What changed

The share of users with a match profile rose from 30 to 50 percent, and the share of complete profiles from 80 to 93 percent.

What I did as senior UX designer

UX research

User interviews, surveys and behavioural data, mapped to a user journey that showed where people lost understanding or motivation.

Flow and interaction design

Five short steps, one question per page, with a progress bar and the next step named, so the user always knows what is done and what is left.

UI design for desktop and mobile

Finished screens in Figma for both, built from the components in TRR’s design system.

States and edge cases

Each step drawn in every state: with and without suggestions, with choices made, with an error and in edit mode.

Development-ready handoff

Design specifications the developers built from, and design reviews during implementation.

A measured result

30 to 50 percent of users with a match profile, and 80 to 93 percent complete profiles.

01

The problem

Research and behavioural data showed that the problem was not only about filling in the profile.

Many did not know it existed

Many users were not aware that they could create a match profile.

The criteria were hard to understand

Those who found the feature often struggled to understand which matching criteria to enter, and what value the profile created.

Profiles were rarely updated

Profiles were seldom updated when a user’s experience, skills or job goals changed.

Incomplete and outdated profiles led to less relevant job suggestions, lower visibility to employers, and a risk that users missed suitable opportunities. It made both the user experience and the accuracy of TRR’s job matching worse.

02

The design challenge

The central challenge was to make the match profile easier to discover, create and keep up to date, without simplifying away the information that a relevant match needs.

The solution had to help users understand which criteria to choose, explain why the information mattered, and give them a reason to come back when their goals or experience changed.

Guidance without losing control

At the same time, users needed to stay in control of their profile and understand how what they entered affected the job matching.

03

How I worked

My role

As senior UX designer, I was responsible for the UX design through the whole initiative, from research and analysis to concept development, prototype and development-ready design, and I supported the developers during implementation.

I ran user interviews and surveys, analysed behavioural data and mapped the user journey to find where users lost understanding or motivation. From those insights I made wireframes and prototypes in Figma, tested solutions and refined the flows together with the team.

I took the design all the way to development-ready. I wrote the design specifications the developers built from, did design reviews during implementation, and adapted the solution to the technical conditions without compromising the central user flow.

From research to development-ready design

Interviews, surveys and behavioural data → user journey → wireframes and prototypes in Figma → testing and refining → design specifications → design reviews during implementation.

The team

I worked closely with the product owner and the developers to bring together users’ needs, the goals of the business and the technical conditions.

Research insights, prototypes and design decisions were used as shared material for prioritising and carrying out the work.

04

Key design decisions

Three insights from the research became three design decisions.

  1. Make the profile and its value visibleThe match profile got a clearer entry point from the user’s dashboard. We did not only present the feature. We explained what a complete and current profile gives: better job matches and more visibility to employers.
  2. Give the user a relevant starting pointPersonal suggestions based on the user’s CV and job-search history reduced the uncertainty about which matching criteria to enter. The suggestions worked as support, and the user could still review and change the information.
  3. Broaden the matching without losing relevanceThe matching logic went from showing only direct hits to also including adjacent matches. That gave users more relevant opportunities without requiring every criterion to match exactly.
05

The solution

The solution became a clearer and more guiding profile flow that supports the user in three central situations.

  1. Discovering the match profileAnd understanding its value. A clearer entry point on the dashboard made the feature easier to find.
  2. Creating a relevant profileWith the support of personal suggestions. The user got help choosing relevant criteria from their CV and job-search history, and could review and change the information.
  3. Coming back and keeping it currentWhen the profile needed updating, reminders showed what was missing and why it mattered.

The broader matching logic also made it possible to show adjacent jobs, not only direct matches.

Discover: the match profile on the start page

Before, the match profile was tucked away under My settings. I moved the entry point to the start page and designed the card in two states. Click an image to enlarge it.

The start page before a profile exists: a card titled Create a match profile with a short explanation of the value and a Create your profile button
No profile yet. The card says what a profile gives you, with one clear button to start.
The start page when the profile is created: the same card now lists three matched job ads, with buttons to see all matches and to view the profile
Profile created. The same card now shows matched jobs, so the value of the profile is visible straight away.

Create: one question at a time

The flow starts with an overview of what will be asked. Then comes one short page per question, with a progress bar at the top and the next step named under the heading, so the user always knows where they are and what comes next.

The start of the flow: a card titled Create match profile that lists the five things to fill in, with one purple button
Overview. What the profile is for and the five things you will be asked, before anything has to be filled in.
Step one, Skills: a progress bar with five parts, a search field and a box with suggested skills as chips
1Skills. Suggestions sit right under the search field, so nobody starts from an empty page.
Step two, Job roles: suggested roles as chips above a search field, with Back and Next buttons
2Job roles. The same pattern as the step before, so it is already familiar.
Step three, Where and how: a field for place, checkboxes for Denmark and Norway with a short explanation, and checkboxes for on site, remote and hybrid
3Where and how. Place first, then how you want to work, with a short reason where a question needs one.
Step four, Form of employment and scope: checkboxes under two short questions
4Employment and scope. Plain checkboxes under two short questions.
Step five, Work experience: a Well done message, a field for a LinkedIn link, an Upload CV button and a switch for sharing the profile with employers
5Work experience and sharing. A confirmation first, then the optional parts. The user decides whether employers may see the profile.

The created profile, and every state on the way

The created match profile: the number of matched job ads and coming activities at the top, then each section with the choices as chips and a Change link
The created profile. Matched jobs first, then every section with its own Change link, so it is easy to come back and update.
The Skills step drawn in five states: with suggestions, without suggestions, with choices made, with an error message, and in edit mode with Save and Cancel
States, drawn out for the developers. With and without suggestions, with choices made, with an error, and in edit mode when the user comes back from the profile.

The same flow on mobile

The Skills step on a phone: the progress bar, the heading, the suggestion chips wrapping onto four rows and the search field
Create. The same step in one column, with the progress bar kept at the top.
The created profile on a phone: matched jobs and activities at the top, then sections with chips and Change links
Created profile. The same sections, with the Change link kept beside each heading.

Design principles

  • Explain the value before the user is asked to act.
  • Give guidance without taking control away from the user.
  • Use personal suggestions to reduce uncertainty and the distance to getting started.
  • Show what needs to be completed, and why.
  • Make it easy to come back and update the profile.
  • Broaden the matching without losing transparency or relevance.

Accessibility

To make the profile understandable for more people, we prioritised:

  • A clear visual hierarchy and short instructions.
  • Consistent names for the matching criteria.
  • Visible statuses for what was done and what was missing.
  • Text-based feedback that did not rely on colour alone.
  • Clear buttons and expectations for the next step.
  • A responsive flow for both larger and smaller screens.
06

The result

For the business

  • 30 → 50 %of users have a match profile. An increase of 20 percentage points, or about 67 percent.
  • 80 → 93 %of profiles are complete. An increase of 13 percentage points, or just over 16 percent.
  • The number of matched jobs increased when the matching was widened from direct to adjacent matches.
  • More up-to-date profiles improved the conditions for relevant matching between users and employers.

For the users

  • The match profile became easier to discover, create and update.
  • Personal suggestions reduced the uncertainty about which criteria to enter.
  • Current and more complete information gave better conditions for relevant job suggestions.
  • The widened matching gave access to more adjacent job opportunities.

For the team

  • The research gave a shared understanding of why users did not create or update their profiles.
  • Prototypes and clear design specifications gave concrete material for prioritising and implementing.
  • The close collaboration between design, product and development made it possible to adapt the solution to technical limits without losing the central user value.

What I took with me

The project showed that an important feature creates no value if users do not discover it or understand why it is relevant.

By combining qualitative research with behavioural data, we could tell problems of visibility, understanding and motivation apart. The biggest effect therefore did not come from a single feature. It came from improving the whole chain: from discovering the profile to creating it, understanding it and keeping it current over time.

Next case · CX/UX Discovery · PostNord Sending parcels without a label: towards a scalable logistics flow