How would you improve Linkedin jobs?

Question

How would you improve Linkedin jobs?

Currently, Linkedin is a great platform to make connections which helps in job search. However, Linkedin Jobs is not a go-to platform for candidates to search for jobs. How do we improve Linkedin jobs, considering Linkedin jobs to be a global job search platform?

Asked at Linkedin over a year ago

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Joe_riley · Answer 1 · 2021-08-14T22:25:18+0000

Clarification

Before we get started let's recap the features and functionality of just what Linkedin Jobs is so we have a common understanding.

Linkedin Jobs can be accessed through the top nav bar of Linkedin. It is essentially a job board where the main panel of the screen lists out different job opportunities available. Users can search by specific terms and filter results on the left hand nav bar by different variables such as location, years of experience, industry, etc.

If a user finds an opportunity that they like they may apply to the position through Linkedin. Users can either attach a resume at that point in time or preemptively associate one with their profile. Beyond the Linked Jobs section of the site, opportunities may be nestled into the main Linkedin Feed or suggested through email to users.

In summary, Linked Jobs is a search, discovery, and application tool for jobs postings.

Goal

Before we can start throwing solutions out there, let's take a step back and think about why we are doing this. Linkedin's sort of guiding light is their mission statement, which states they want to connect the world's professionals to make them more productive and successful.

Philosophically Linkedin Jobs does a good job of further Linkein's mission statement. It helps the world's professionals find opportunities where they can both learn and contribute using the skills they have. In reality, I don't think Linkedin Jobs does a very good job of accomplishing that. Anecdotally, I have had a poor experience using the platform. The job recommendations are often wacky or an inappropriate fit. After 1 year of being out of school, it started recommending me VP positions requiring 15+ years of experience as well as companies in industries completely unrelated to what I was working on.

Based upon my own personal experience with Linkedin Jobs, I'm going to suggest we focus our efforts on improving the product by providing a really good user experience.

User Segments

It's hard to come up with a magic bullet that solves everything for everyone, so let's reduce our scope by talking through the different users of Linkedin Jobs and choose one to focus one.

Job Seekers

Unemployed
Employed but looking
Employed and happy

Job Posters

Corporate Recruiters
Hiring Managers
Third Party Recruiters

Out of the above user segments I am going to suggest we focus on the Unemployed Job Seekers. It is for these users that finding a job is the most paramount comparitevely speaking to the others. Since Unemployed Job Seekers have the most need for an offering like Linkedin Jobs that also means there is a large opportunity to provide a really good use experience which is our goal.

Alternatives

Linkedin Jobs helps match professionals with job opportunities, but it by no means the only way of finding a job. Let's take stock of some the alternatives available to see how Linkedin Jobs compares:

Glassdoor - Very similar job board functionality, but also has a large reposity of anecdotal user submitted reviews of the company and interview process as well as compensation information
Indeed - Offers a lot of the same job board functionality as Glassdoor and Linkedin Jobs, in addition to white collar jobs Indeed has more postings of Blue Collar or temporary work
For specific companies that interest users, they will often apply directly on the company's website
Recruiters - Can either work with corporate recruiters looking to fill specific positions or third party recruiters looking to shop candidates around

I just wanted to call out that one of the advantages Linkedin has over these other options is the strength of it's social network. It is easy to message people at companies you are applying to and to see if you have any contacts in common.

Pain Points

To briefly recap, we want to figure out a way to improve user satisfaction amongst unemeployed job seekers using Linkedin Jobs. In order to come up with some solutions to help do this, first we need to better understand the pain points and frustrations users face when using the product today.

Don't know if the opportunity is going to pay enough to be worth it
Looking for a job, is a full time job in of itself
Hard to keep track of what I've applied to and who I've spoken with

Solutions

Now that we have a better understanding of some of the challenges and frustrations unemployed job seekers face let's go ahead and brainstorm some solutions:

Verified Salary Data - For each job posting available, Linkedin could provide both their estimated salary for the position which they currently do as well as the verified salaries of users in similar positions at the company or competitors.
Candidate Board - This would be a reverse job board. Instead of a listing of jobs, there would be a listing of candidates and the companies or recruiters would apply with their opportunity to the candidates. Each candidate posting would include typical stuff like their resume, geographic areas they would be open to, and their desired compensation range.
Application Portal - This would be a dashboard with the sole purpose of keeping track of your job hunting process. You would see a list of the opportunities you've applied to and what step in the process you are at with each different job, like a progress bar. There would be a notes / comments section where users could leave little reminders or comments for their own use.

Prioritization

In all likelihood we won't have the resources to build out all three solutions in parallel, so we should choose one to focus on. To help facilitate that conversation I'm going to use a comparison matrix:

Ease of implementation, User Satisfaction

1. B+, A-

2. A, B+

3. B, B-

I'm going to suggest we focus our efforts on building out the Verified Salary Data feature. Our goal here is to improve user satisfaction and this feature does that in two ways. First, it let's users know if a job is even worth applying to based off of whether or not they can meet the users salary demands. Second, it can literally make the users money by enabling them to more successfully negotiate for a higher compensation package when it comes offer time.

In terms of implementing this, I see two ways of obtaining verified salary data. The first method is through scraping publicaly available government salary information on h1b employees. The other is to request that users help the community of job seekers out by submitting their offer letters to Linkedin.

The downside here is that this feature would only be as useful as the quality of verified salary data Linkedin could get. An even more clever approach would be to facilitate that interaction between job applicants and employers such that the formal job offer would go through Linkedin's platform thus making us privvy to the numbers. Furthermore, this better helps candidates negotiate from a position of strength which the companies and recruiters on the other side of the table would not be happy about.

Summary

To recap, we are going to focus on improving Linkedin Jobs by providing a really good expeirence to the unemployed job seekers using the platform. We will do this by offering Verified Salary data which will job seekers save time by knowing which opportunities are worth applying and it will help them earn more money by allowing them to negotiate from a place of strenght when it comes down to accepting the offer.

viaro29 · Answer 2 · 2019-04-10T10:08:59+0000

Before you do anything with this LinkedIn product improvement PM interview question, think about this:

>Clarify the Goal: Is it to increase engagement? Any particular metric that we want to improve?

Jobs is a two sided product with different supply and demand funnels

>Personnas

Supply Side - Recruiter Personas:

Proactive outbound Debbie
- Reaches out to candidates by herself. Motivated and actively seeks and nurtures leads
Laidback inbound Jack
- Has too much going on to drive outbound. Let's candidates reach out to him. Likely too busy to respond unless for the top 1% candidate

Demand Side - Candidate Personas:

Under prepared Raj
- Not prepared for interviews and conversations but still goes around messaging recruiters and applying to jobs
Over zealous Tom
- Applies to way too many jobs than can be handled optimally
Savvy but procrastinating Stephanie
- A very qualified candidate but doesn't get energized enough to go through the arduous process of applying

If we really want to increase engagement and make Linkedin jobs the defacto job search place I would focus on activating the passive user Stephanie.

> Pain points: Savvy but procrastinating Stephanie

Not able to indicate that she is interested and would like to be helped
Not motivated enough (P1 because once motivated human beings will find a way)
Don't know how and where to start
Doesn't know which job could be a good fit (P2 because there is a lot of "water water everywhere but not a drop to drink" that goes on give the overwhelming number of jobs
Feels alone in the daunting task (P3 Support means a lot in a trying phase)
Feels nervous about rejection, scared of application being ignored
Unsure about any negative affects of applying and then getting rejected
...etc

> Solutions

In feed survey: Inject feelers in the feed. When you find Stephanie browsing a lot on the feed ask her plain and direct in the feed in a 2 or three question cascading survey- "Hey are you looking to explore new jobs"? Y/N, "Which Cities?" "What time frame"
- This keeps the tone conversational and gets the candidate to "speak up". Same can also be accomplished by a Job bot - but the bot would need to humanized else it would feel cold. E..g is "Maya" chatbot from Lemonade app
- As soon as the Stephanie signals, put her on motivation algorithm
  - Show posts/content which highlight benefits of seeking a change and how rewarding it can be
  - Create a widget "Friends who recently switched jobs"
Create a predictive "match %" or "match score" next to a job based on matching between job requirements, skills user has and observing crowd data. Gives a pre-emptive idea of how well or bad of a fit a job could be. E.g. if Lyft is hiring a lot from facebook, then all FB employees see a higher match score for lyft openings. This is critical as it would encourage folks to apply
Create streaming conversation channels aka slack channels lookalikes for job seekers to come together E.g. APMs in San Francisco channel where members can join and collaborate and do mock interviews and exchange information. Groups is fine too - though they should be modified to include topics or channels. Also booking 1:1 calendar slots should be made available aka calendly style

Metrics:

Possible metrics could be: Job volume interacted with, applied to (candidate) - demand

Total applications received, applications per posting, apps opened, No of candidates reached out to - supply

stashbag · Answer 3 · 2021-03-30T05:19:37+0000

Clarification

What do we want to improve? —> More people using LinkedIN to being their job search.
What is our main goal from the improvement —> Get more people to use LinkedIn jobs
Which market are we focusing on —> Right now lets focus on the US
Are we looking at the web app or the mobile app --> To be determined by you

Goals

We want to improve LinkedIn jobs in terms of getting more people to start their job hunt from LinkedIn
We are going to focus on user engagement and user adoption of the LinkedIn Platform
We are going to focus on the US market and will not be focusing on the

Lets start by Looking at the user groups

Users

Job Seekers: People looking for jobs and in the market
In-house Recruiters: Identity and find the candidates to initiate conversations with
Sourcers: People responsible for finding the candidates to go through the interview process. Typically responsible for filling the pipeline based on certain criteria
Talent Marketers: People responsible for building the company’s brand on LinkedIn
3rd Parties: List of training, interview prep, coaching companies that help candidates with the job search

From the above users types I am going to focus on Talent marketers. Creating a good experience for job seekers starts by improving the type of information that is available on the jobs that are being listed so that it is a more relevant search.

User Needs

Below are some of the things that companies would like to showcase about their workplace to compete for talent

Discovery Features: Make searching for and finding pertinent information easier

Company Profile: Detailed company profile encompassing growth, market, links to relevant information that can be shared with candidates
Salary Ranges: Employers to provide salary ranges for each job or levels
Career Trajectory: Show career trajectory for specific job function within the company
Culture: Details on company culture and testimonials from current employees

Application features

Easy apply: Integration with each company’s talent tracking system to make application simple. G
View progress: Single place to view progress and next steps
Feedback: Provide feedback to applications on their job status

Manage process

Schedule interviews and track applicants
Get feedback on the hiring process
Reviews: Get reviews from candidates on job search process

There above list of needs is extensive and can be met through LinkedIn plus dedicated software companies specializing in each specific domain i.e. going deep. My vision for the LinkedIn Job search product is to be similar to the Google for Job Discovery and Applications. To get to that vision LinkedIN needs to build some of the features but then also integrate with other vendors that customers may want to use by building out a platform that integrates all the different tools. That would help create a seamless job experience for the applications as well as the companies.

In order to prioritzie I would start with the Discovery features as they top of the funnel and can be done by working with the talent marketers to increase the volume of jobs available on LinkedIn.

List Solutions

Aggregate jobs listings: Collect job listings from major job sites and make them available on LinkedIn. This can be done through partnerships with the platforms to get them into LinkedIn. LinkedIn could serve to increase traffic to those sites through their member base
Company Profile: Create a dedicated job search based page for companies. This would be different than the company profile page on LinkedIn as it would be catered to the job search specifics.
Career trajectory for the role. Show how the role is expected to grow and the progression within the company
Salary bands: Provide job levels and salary bands for the role so that the conversation is removed

Tradeoffs

Getting all of this information might be challenging for all companies. Some companies may not have this information or maybe unwilling to share it

Metrics

Overall Success

Number of Job search queries by applicants —> More queries means more users
Supply: Increase in the number of job postings available on LinkedIn - Direct vs Hosted
Engagement on job activities (Searches, applications, reviews)

Counter Metric

WAUs - track to see if the job search experience deteriorates and people stop the job search process due to not finding quality jobs

Summary

To improve the job search process on LinkedIn I would first focus on improving the availability of job posting on LinkedIn as well as the type of information available not the jobs. Our vision is to make LinkedIn a platform to start all job searches and to that end increasing supply is the first step. Thereafter, we would need to execute other steps to make LinkedIn the central platform for companies and job applicants to manage hiring and search for career opportunities.

RB10 · Answer 4 · 2021-02-03T03:11:23+0000

Clarification

Is there a specific part of LinkedIn jobs that we are looking to improve?
Are we targeting a specific user group (e.g. entry level job hunters)

Assumptions

Assuming there is no specific target user group in mind or pre-determined part of the LinkedIn jobs experience

I will answer the question by explaining the goals of the products, existing use cases, how well the product is meeting these goals today, solutions for these pain points, prioritize these solutions and then talk about implementation and validation.

Goal of Product

Connect people looking for jobs with the right opportunity that meets their needs and the needs of the organization

Use Cases

New grads looking for jobs
Senior Executives looking for positions with more responsibility
Career changers looking to break into their dream job
Experienced professionals looking for higher compensations
Job hunters looking to work for a specific company
Job hunters looking to in a specific industry

For the purpose of this exercise, I am going to focus on career changers looking to break into their dream job. Linkedin primarily focuses on a user's profile and past work experience to provide job recommendations and other content recommendations. For career changers, this information is not helpful.

Current Problem

Career changers do not have a significant amount of guidance on the LinkedIn platform for how to find a new job. The standard application process does not work for them and they need to network and /orbe creative in how they find work in their desired field.

Possible Solutions

Make recommendations to identified career changers. Recommendations could include people the user should network with in their desired industry or role, especially people who are active on LinkedIn. Recommend courses the career changers can take on LinkedIn or certifications required to make the job seeker's application more attractive. Learning new skillsets could help reposition the user's profile for this new industry or role.
Mock interview for career changers. Connect career changers with experienced career coaches who are experiened with helping individuals navigate career changes and conduct mock interviews.
If available, LinkedIn should identify companies who have hired individuals for roles who may have not been an exact match to the job description and incorporate these types of companies into the job suggestion algorithms for this user group.

Prioritized Solutions

I am going to recommend prioritizing solution #1. Assuming LinkedIn can effectively identify career changers, I recommend tailoring the Jobs experience to these users when relevant. I am assuming based on all of the job searching tools out there, the job searchers who need the most experience are those who have no prior experience in their desired role or industry. A tailored job search approach is needed for this user group, which I believe option #1 provides.
I deprioritized mock interview process because assuming career changers are having trouble even getting interviews due to the lack of experience and skills they have "on paper"
I am deprioritizing #3 because it would be difficult to get this data and incorporate it into meaningful recommendations.

Implementation

I would work with the data science & analytics team on first identifying these users. Then, I would identify contextually relevant points throughout the journey to verify with the user that they are in fact making a career change. At this point, I would recommend different types of content rather than "suggested jobs" based on profile.
Potential recommendations include: Suggested Individuals to Network With, Career Coach Recommendations, Recommended Companies who are open to different skillsets

Validation

I would validate by understanding how satisfied customers are with the tool after using (customer satisfaction score)
I would also look at whether LinkedIn Jobs usage and engagement increases and also the ultimate success rate of these individuals being able to make career changes and pviots.

Abhinav Chitre · Answer 5 · 2020-09-02T09:23:07+0000

WHAT IS LINKEDIN JOBS?

LinkedIn is basically a professional networking website where you can connect with people for professional reasons. You can use linkedin to find jobs, search for clients, look for the right talent and look for potential business partners. One of the key use cases of LinkedIn is Job search. They have a product called LinkedIn jobs dedicated towards this.

GOALS

The goal of LinkedIn Jobs is to enable employers to find the right talent and for users to find the right job.

The goal of improvement here is clearly to increase engagement.

USERS

Demand Side : Candidates who are looking for a job

Supply Side : Employers and Consultants who are posting jobs

Let’s consider candidates as the main type of user we are solving for since there are a large number of users who are on LinkedIn to be able to find the right opportunities to take them to where they want to reach in their career.

Let’s look at the pain points.

Users are not able to know what happened with the application once they apply to a certain job post.
As a potential candidate applying for a given job, I am unaware of the hiring process.
As a potential candidate applying for a given job, I am unaware of the interview questions asked at the interview process.
As a potential candidate applying for a given job. I am unaware of how previously candidates have rated the interview process.
As a candidate, I should be able to apply to a job posted directly via LinkedIn instead of applying via hundred different portals or through a company website.
Candidates should be able to know if a position was already filled.
Candidates are not able to figure out which jobs they should apply for which are similar to their current role. (Applicable for Experienced Folks)

Prioritizing them - 1 > 5 > 7 > 2 > 3 > 4 > 6

Let’s focus on the top four pain points.

SOLUTIONS

My Applications Page (Will require changes both on demand side and supply side)

This page should be revamped to not just show which companies I have applied to but also show the current status of the applications.
If a candidate is shortlisted for a job, then the status should reflect on this page with a date for the next interview round. The recruiter should be able to update this information via LinkedIn.
If interviews have started, then the recruiter should also be able to update the same information via LinkedIn. The same information should be displayed on this page.
In case interviewee is rejected at any point or not a fit for the role , this page should show this page.

Recommended Jobs

Through AI and ML and natural language processing, LinkedIN can figure out jobs which are preferable for a candidate.
These jobs can be shown upfront instead of showing jobs based on skills.
For example, a person working in B2C Product Management should be shown similar jobs.

Apply via LinkedIn (Will require changes both on demand side and supply side)

LinkedIn can provide recruiters the option to ask screening questions as well as other types of questions directly via LinkedIN so that candidates can apply to all jobs via LinkedIN.
LinkedIN can integrate with job portals to seamlessly pull questions from any job portal and then push data into the job portal once a candidate has applied.

Add Interview Experience Option on current Applied Jobs Page

LinkedIn should provide an option to allow candidates who have interviewed to add interview experience where they can state the interview process as well as their experience.

The same information will be available on the job page to all other potential applicants.

Prioritizing these solutions based on impact, effort and UX

	Impact	Effort	UX
My Applications Page	High	High	High
Apply via LinkedIn	Medium	High	High
Add Interview Experience	Medium	Medium	Medium
Recommended Jobs	High	Medium	High

Based on this list, I would prioritize as follows : 4 >1 >3 >2

For the fourth solution, we can measure % jobs applied from recommended jobs , CTR for recommended jobs

For the first solution , we can measure page views for My Applications Page on demand side and on the supply side, we can look at % of applications updated