simple steps to stay motivated on the job hunt

HOW DO YOU KEEP DISCOURAGED, UNEMPLOYED

PEOPLE ON THE JOB HUNT?

Saturday, December 8, 12

SOME FACTS


In October ’12, the unemployment rate was at 7.9%


That doesn’t include the people who have given up

looking for jobs


What if we could raise their morale and get them back

on the job hunt?


What could we achieve with that?


-Potential economic impact-Raise standards of living-Improve health


So who was my target audience?


Target Audience - Sam

Sam (fictional)-44 years old-father of two-unemployed programmer-down on his luck-five months unemployed


HOW DO WE GET SAM TO DO WHAT

HE ALREADY WANTS TO DO?


Change his homepage to a job site

Join a mailing list / newsletter for employment opportunities

Sign up for an account on job site

WELL, HE COULD...


HOW I DESIGNED AND TESTED THESE

BEHAVIORS


RUNNING TRIALS

(Thanks for tweeting, BJ!)


(A FEW) TRIALS I RAN

-health issues --> forced to quit-have been working part -time-electrical engineering degree-hard time breaking into CS / marketing jobs-looking for entry-level office work because of health problems-using LinkedIn to find opportunities

S.L.


(A FEW) TRIALS I RAN

M.B.-unemployed after moving from LA to Palo Alto-looking actively, cautiously optimistic-few jobs for skill set-setting up informational meetings to gain connections-volunteering to network-using Jewish Vocational Service (JVS.org) to find opportunities


1. WHAT FEW PEOPLE REALIZE IS...

many people already have accounts on certain job sites


1. WHAT FEW PEOPLE REALIZE IS...increase user activity

it’s just a matter of getting them to check or browse them more


1. WHAT FEW PEOPLE REALIZE IS...increase user activity

I know this because participants in my trials told me that they already have accounts on the sites


WHAT THIS MEANS FOR BEHAVIOR DESIGNincrease user activity

It’s harder to do something they are unfamiliar with than to get them to do more of what they already do



unless they’re already tech-savvy, most people don’t know how easy it is to change their homepages / default new tab pages



I know this because participants in my trials were reluctant to change their homepages until I followed up with simple, terse steps


WHAT THIS MEANS FOR BEHAVIOR DESIGN

Sometimes people overestimate how hard it is or

long it will take to do a simple behavior.



Sometimes people overestimate how hard it is or

long it will take to do a simple behavior.

Explicitly listing out, in terse bullet point format, how to do a behavior can help.



most people aren’t fully aware of the newsletters or learning/networking opportunities that job sites provide



I know this because one of my participants cited JVS.org (Jewish Vocational Service) as having good resources and workshops (for people of any religion)



So sign up for some other accredited sites; they might be spammy, but you can always unsubscribe, and there may be some gems in the newsletters.



Educate people on (make explicit) the positive consequences of desired behaviors.


Contact me!-Andrew Han-freshman at Stanford-student in BJ Fogg’s Behavior Design class

Thank you!

Questions? Comments?

@[email protected]


simple steps to stay motivated on the job hunt

Documents

people dont

people arent

job sitejoin

job sitesign

behavior designits harder

job sites providesaturday

nd opportunitiessaturday

trials thanks