Overview
Haitou
Haitou is a job search platform tailored for international students, with a focus on opportunities that provide visa sponsorship and users job hunting experience.
Responsibilities & team structure
Responsibilities
User interface design / User experience design / User research
Tools & software
Figma / Adobe CS / Miro / Google Docs / ProtoPie
Timeline
6 months
Collaborations
PM / Eng / UX / Marketing
How might we decrease the Increase in drop-off rate
Why do Users choose to use HT?
International students need immigration (which Haitouwang provides) during job searching.
Other job hunting platforms like LinkedIn or Indeed are not design for such people.
Why do users drop?
Users need further immigration info in order to apply for the positions.
Why go to these platforms?
Went to immigration websites of visa and historical sponsorship information
HT did not have a direct application portal
HT’s job tracker was not very usable, need more comprehensive and customizable tools
Research
Approach & Methods
I conducted a 25-participants user interview & 200+ user surveys and wanted to understand why users left the product.
To uncover how users engage with the platform—identifying their pain points, unmet needs, and the key reasons behind drop-offs.
Who are the participants?
Out of the 25 participants:
96% were international students
88% were recent graduated or about to graduate
Where do users drop?
Nearly 98% of users dropped off after the job post research.
Where do users go after drop-off?
92% of users USCIS or websites that can provide company immigration info
97% went through external application portals
80% went to tracking applications (Excel, Google sheet, Notion) to record application progress
Over the past 6 months, the platform has been a steady decline in performance:
Daily Active Users (DAU) has dropped 10% monthly, conversion rates fell 9%, and drop-off rates rose over 15% per month.
10 %
Decrease in DAU in the past 6 months
15 %
Increase in drop-off rate in the past 6 months
Data indicates that 90+% users are international students.
Original design was created by a few Eng by using bare-bone template
Initial goal
Based on data points above, PM team wanted to:
The PM team proposed a platform redesign to elevate the UI language, aiming for a more refined and bold aesthetic to resonate with our younger audience.
Their hypothesis? A visually striking and dynamic interface would boost both user retention and acquisition.
How might we increase Daily Active Users (DAU)
Redesign & Upgrade the overall design language.
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The platform was losing users
User Insights
Ideation
Immigration info remains our top priority
International students rely on Haitouwang for immigration support. Our platform simplifies their next step by focusing their job search and saving valuable time
Users need more immigration info
Despite the tags, users remained dissatisfied, forced to visit other sites for comprehensive sponsorship details and records
No On-Site Applications
HT's absence of direct application portals forces users to external sites to apply. Consequently, most participants treat HT solely as a job research engine.
Superior External Trackers
Users frequently migrate to external tools after applying, as they provide more advanced features and flexibility for tracking progress.
