Eth Tech | Job Searching
Haitouwang is a job-searching platform built to help international students navigate the U.S. job market more smoothly. As a Product Design Intern during my junior year, I designed an end-to-end responsive platform by creating wireframes, high-fidelity prototypes, and interaction flows. I developed generative AI–powered job application features that boosted user conversion rates by 12%, and conducted usability testing to identify pain points, driving iterative improvements to the overall experience.
Industry
Job Searching
Time
Sep 2023 - Apr 2024
My Role
UX Designer
Tools
Figma
Google Doc
Skillset
Project Development
UI/ UX Design
User Research
Competitor Analysis
01
Designed and delivered a responsive end-to-end job-hunting platform for international students, creating wireframes, high-fidelity prototypes, and interaction flows that streamlined the application experience.
02
Built generative AI–powered job application features that boosted user conversion rates by 12%, collaborating closely with engineers and PMs to align design with technical feasibility.
03
Conducted usability testing and analyzed user feedback to identify pain points, then iterated on designs to enhance usability and create a smoother, more supportive job-search journey.
The lack of clear information and guides on job searchings for international students.
Users thought Haitouwang was helpful in providing the information of sponsorships. However, the function in the website is limited to provide further guidance and resources, resulting in a drop retention on Haitouwang platform.
User Interview
To better understand the current pain points of users, I conducted a series of interviews with the internal execute search headhunters to gain insight into the scope of the obstacles that they faced.
The interviews were structured around several key sections designed to provide a detailed understanding of users' experiences in the progress of finding the best fit candidate.
Key Metrics
When I began the design phase of this project, I started with listing the key problems that were mentioned by our users repeatedly. With the help of communicating with PM and software engineers, I understood the techical and time restrains and possibilities to improve the current website.
Clarifying sponsorships
Turning sponsorship confusion into approachable, visualized understanding.
Simplifying communication
Turning complex jargon or visa information into clear understanding.
Guiding job success
Creating a workspace for students to track applications with clarity and ease.
By focusing on these objectives, I sought to create a more inclusive and comprehensible job-seeking experience that supports international students in navigating complex systems with ease.
Personas
Based on the insights, I synthesized two representative personas to reflect the core users. The pain points reflect not only the emotional stress caused by a narrow OPT window, but also the structural challenges students face when navigating a complex job market with limited professional guidance.
Users struggle with industry jargon, unclear qualifications, and misleading job descriptions—especially around sponsorship.
Pain points show that students aren’t just searching for jobs; they’re seeking clarity, direction, and confidence during a stressful visa-dependent job hunt.
The persona highlights the deeper emotional layer: pressure from the narrow OPT window and uncertainty around career shifts.
These insights helped me focus the design on reducing confusion, simplifying complex information, and providing structured guidance.
The persona ensures the solution directly addresses users’ real frustrations, not assumptions.
By balancing feedback from my PM and the client team, I revised the design with a focus on the productivity and analysis of clients.
Sponsorship Analysis
When clicking "Read More" under H1B insight, a pop up screen will appear with detailed information and history of sponsorship database such as job title, location, number of people, etc.
AI summary
When users open a job description in the home page, an AI summary appears to distill the key points.
Users can choose to continue for deeper insights or pause at any time for a quick overview.
Jargon Exmplaination
Colored terms indicate key jargon. When users hover over one, a concise definition appears, and all terms transition to colored underlines to maintain a simpler, more cohesive visual flow.
Job Track Board
When users click on an application card, they can edit the dates for each stage. A free space is also provided for taking notes or jotting down to-do lists for every application.
Based on the interviews and insights, I synthesized 2 representative personas to reflect the core users inside an executive search team: the Research Analyst and the Senior Recruiter. Their pain points reveal not only the operational friction caused by scattered communication tools and manual data entry, but also the deeper structural challenges of managing high-volume candidate pipelines with inconsistent systems.
Adaptability
Quickly adapt to shifting directions and tight turnarounds, often reworking designs on short notice. I rapidly learned new user research tools, applied insights in real time, and confidently presented refined concepts to the team under pressure.
Culture Sensitivity in Design
This is a Chinese executive search firm operating in a uniquely Chinese business ecosystem. Cultural sensitivity isn't just "nice to have" — it's critical to product adoption and effectiveness. Constantly reminding myself to design in the Chinese ecosystem and reflect on what the users actually need is important as I design and make changes.