Career Compass

Find your fit. Find your way.

Meet Pixel One

The team behind Career Compass

Researcher:

Lexie Becerra

Designer:

Cindy Hansen

Prototyper:

Ajith Anand

Synthesizer:

Camille Coopwood

Storyteller:

Brooke Hudy

THE CHALLENGE AT HAND

For this design challenge, a money management company (that wished to remain anonymous) reached out and and tasked us with redesigning the recruitment journey for students and early graduates.

Our Mission

To redesign the job seeking experience of new graduates to ensure that they are confident and supported. Along with building trust and clarity between the

Their Needs

Increase visibility with students and new grads without spending any more resources
Build trust among job seekers and new hires
Want to get in front of the "right" candidates that fit the company needs

Pain Points

Not much brand awareness among students
Not currently attracting the "right" candidates
High drop-off rates after an offer is accepted
Company culture and values not well conveyed

RESEARCH

For our primary research we took two avenues to collect our data, conducting a survey within the Segment of Interest and completing interviews with our peers.

Survey

The survey was created by the whole class, and was distributed to our peers and was active for around three weeks. The questions covered topics surrounding the job searching process, work and company values, and the application and interviewing process.

11 questions total
45 total responses
Ranging from current students to current working professionals

Interviews

For the interviews, each person in the group each interviewed one person, resulting in five total to pull from. We divided 25 questions into four categories. I interviewed one of my sorority sisters who is a Mechanical Engineering major, but as a whole the interviewees ranged from students to working professionals.

Question Categories:

Company visibility and awareness
Appeal of job offers
Onboarding Timeline/Company Culture
Career Prep

SYNTHESIS

What We Discovered

From our research, we discovered a significant pain point: many new grad job seekers wish to feel valued and maintain their individuality at their place of employment. However, a contrasting trend revealed another pain point: the need for job stability. When looking for a job, many are willing to compromise their values/individuality if it means they will receive an offer, despite still holding concerns about feeling valued.

Survey Insights

Which company values are most important to you when choosing an employer?

Top Three Responses:

Fair compensation/benefits
Work-life balance
Career growth opportunities

The trends of these responses reveal the priority of being valued in the workplace.

*Up to three choices per response

What are your top priorities when choosing your first job after graduation?

Top Three Responses:

Salary/compensation
Career Growth
Role and Responsibilities

The overlap in responses indicate the emphasis of maintaining individuality and sense of self in the workplace.

*Up to three choices per response

Interview Quotes

"I would need to be familiar with the company culture and know what performance standards are required." -Lexie's Interviewee

“Is the company excited to have me? Or do they just view me as another intern?”

-Camille's Interviewee

"Everything feels too systematic. Like I’m a very very small part in a very large company."

-Brooke's Interviewee

Conclusion

Sometimes people will place priority on a company’s values and culture as they want to maintain their individuality/personhood.

Problem Statement:

UTD students and recent graduates seeking job opportunities desire diverse, inclusive workplaces with similar demographics because they want to feel comfortable, represented, and welcome in a new and unfamiliar environment.

IDEATION

The Design To Address:

For the design, we wanted it address the main pain points of the need to maintain individuality, the feeling of being valued in the workplace, and the desire to be in a compatible company culture.

Initial Idea:

A work-style and values quiz that matches the user with companies that aligns with such, focusing on company culture, preferences, and career goals.

Drawbacks:

Many companies already use a personality test internally in the onboarding process
May not be unique enough to stand out on its own

Camille's Wireframe

FINAL DESIGN

Career Compass:

A two-part design that helps students with the job searching process, ensuring that can find the places where they best fit.

Part One: Website

Wireframes by Cindy Hansen and Ajith Anand

Part Two: Browser Extension

Wireframes by Cindy Hansen

How It Works

When users first sign up for Career Compass, they complete a short survey style questionnaire in which they select their preferences in the workplace with categories such as values, location, company culture, and pay/benefits. From there, all of the information is saved and the user is encouraged to download the browser extension.

With the browser extension installed, the user can go to any company's website and run the extension. The extension will then pop up and populate with information about the company, the most prominent being if the user is a good fit for the company based on the information that was given on the website.

Benefits for the User

Convenient To Use: The browser extension already populated with the user's preferences allows for much quicker research and insights in companies
Intention: Users can be more intentional on where they apply to
Customized: All the results are tailored to the user

Benefits for the Company

Visibility: Quick, accessible information will pique interest from users
Better fits: Candidates that will be more beneficial to the company will be found
The company's values and cultures will be more quickly and concisely conveyed to the user

Team: Lexie Becerra, Camille Coopwood, Cindy Hansen, Ajith Anand, Brooke Hudy

Class: Applied Experience Design (Taken Fall 2025)

Software: Figma