Category Archives: Students

Online ‘Interviews’ – 33 Users in a week

Over the past week we have been learning about how to receive feedback through our online channels to receive more volume. Through this we have discovered that they are lower quality feedback but wee get a lot more this way. This round was just asking for general feedback, trying to find the users that are most interested in our product.

We received 33 out of our 200 person user group to provide feedback on their experience of our product.

We Validated through the responses that:

This is issue is a clear pain for users – stress and difficulty writing job applications is not currently satisfied by the current market.

We also learned about some features that wil give us a competitive advantage and features that are just necessary to have:

1) The ‘Analyze Me’ section was a huge hit. Had about 6 people specifically say they really appreciated that part and it was very ‘interesting’

2) Resume builder – needed to compete in the space

Lastly, we also tested willingness to pay – this test is still on going but from the initial responses we have learned that:

1) Robust Product needed: Students will need a VERY seamless experience to pay

2) 50% said they wouldn’t pay for our product

3) The others would pay for it ranging from $5-20

If you would like to see this report please email – justin@myskillbase.com as it has sensitive personal information on it that I cannot release.

 

Week 3 Student Interview with A

A is a 3rd year environmental design student and involved in residence life on campus. She is very knowledgeable when it comes to creating resumes and cover letters as she is very interested in the topic. She is not a typical student when it comes to studying practices (not a procrastinator) and good at creating resumes. However, she has never received formal training and it was very apparent when she was unaware that she needed to include results in her resume statements.

This is how she sized up to our hypotheses:

  1. What are the specific pain points throughout the job application experience?

    1. Main hypotheses: Students want a step by step tutorial to create job applications – SHE Would use the step by step guide because there were elements she was unaware of. The other main point for her was it was a place to have her master resume and cover letter with all of her experiences. 

      1. Resume Pain Points:

        1. Accomplishment Statements- Proven

        2. Identifying the key qualifications and skills need- Proven

      2. Cover Letter:

        1. Students don’t know the correct elements to include in a cover letter – FALSE

        2. Students see cover letters as more important than resumes (positioning, priority, value, etc) – FALSE

        3. Students change the tone of their cover letter depending on the job they are applying for- TRUE

      3. Online Presence:

        1. Students update their resume and cover letter around the same frequency and time as their online tools. Why? – Thinking about it but not yet – thinks it is a good idea though

 

  1. Why don’t Students use the solutions provided?

    1. Students don’t utilize the assistance that is provided to them because…

      1. Self-esteem / nervous – not comfortable going to talk to an advisor

      2. Inconvenient/unfamiliar – not (like their regular habits) a part of their daily routine/pattern

      3. Time- too long, job application ends too soon

      4. Accessibility

ALL FALSE ON HYPOTHESES 2 – For her she had a set method – talked to her inner circle, past employers, friends and family to gain knowledge – didn’t use the formal channels that most students do. Feels like she has a good grasp and these outlets wont help her.

See her notes here.

Week 2: Student Interview with K

Takeaways from this interview:

  1. He was currently learning how to make cover letters in school
  2. He is more confident than our average interviewee in the quality of his resume and cover letter
  3. When writing resumes, he had trouble remembering the skills he had acquired months back
  4. He has had a LinkedIn profile since high school

The full interview is here.

Resumes
✓ Accomplishment Statements
✓ Identifying the key qualifications and skills needed

Cover Letter
 Students don’t know the correct elements to include in a cover letter
?  Students see cover letters as more important than resumes
✓ Students change the tone of their cover letter depending on the job they are applying for

LinkedIn
✓ Students know that they should have a LinkedIn profile
 Students either do not feel confident making or know how to make a LinkedIn profile
✓ Students don’t use any other platform besides LinkedIn for their professional online presence (doesn’t even use LinkedIn)

Week 2: Student Interview with AD

The most surprising takeaways from this interview were:

  1. She had never heard of LinkedIn
  2. Her least favourite part of applying for jobs was the interview
  3. She did no tailoring between jobs
  4. She did not get her resume and cover letter reviewed

The full interview is here, but the hypothesis summary was:

Resumes
✓ Accomplishment Statements
✓ Identifying the key qualifications and skills needed

Cover Letter
 Students don’t know the correct elements to include in a cover letter
? Students see cover letters as more important than resumes
✖ Students change the tone of their cover letter depending on the job they are applying for

LinkedIn
✖ Students know that they should have a LinkedIn profile
 Students either do not feel confident making or know how to make a LinkedIn profile
✓ Students don’t use any other platform besides LinkedIn for their professional online presence (doesn’t even use LinkedIn)

Interview with L: Subject Matter Expert- Student career coach

Hypothesis: Students find making resumes difficult and stressful

We had the opportunity to interview a staff member in a Co-op office, they had a lot of knowledge about both the student and employer hypotheses.

Here is how the interview stacked up to our hypotheses:

Cover Letter-

Hypotheses 4- HALF yes- Not that they don’t know what elements it is how to write those elements correctly.

Hypotheses 5-NO- It depends on the instance- varys

Hypotheses 6- YES- Students may change their tone a little but nothing close to what they need to be doing.

Below are the key points that were identified:

  • Personality and company FIT need to be expressed in the job application.

    • demonstrating why they want to work through – personality, NOT by reiterating the company

  • TAILORING is very important- to the job- very specific

    • Process – ID what they are looking for and customize it specifically to your experiences

  • When Lynn coaches students she asks them to bring in the job posting – then read it over and decide where to go

    • Using phrases like: Have a conversation- tell me what you did here- Think about what you did at XX in a XX lens (translate)

  • Cover letters:

    • write like you are talking to someone else- lots of students write in the wrong way- write like you talk

      • What can i contribute and can i learn

      • Students don’t have enough content- knowing your background, reflective process, SKILLS MATRIX

    • Lots of students over complicate the issue- simple and easy, say too much. Being direct.  Capture a couple of Targetted things that show you who you are.

    • students struggle with the transition between paragraphs flow in a quick and nice way

  • LinkedIn:

    • Great way to get info about companies

    • Students don’t realize what it is for- not a static page but an active engagement to network

  • Biggest thing from employers- They notice students have a template and the personality doesn’t go through

Student Interview- Graduating Arts Student Leslie

Summary:

 

Leslie, a graduating arts student, was very unsure of her resume writing skills. Thought her resume was pretty bad. In the past she has modelled her resume after the Sauder template she received from a friend. She is looking at getting into student affairs when she graduates and is looking for assistance to create a better resume.

She proved Hypotheses 1 and 5 really well, hypotheses 2 well and not hypotheses 3 and 4. What she remembers from her minimum resume creation training is the value of metrics or results in a statement. She was not focussed on efficiency because she hasn’t needed it yet and is very organized.

See here for the full script and notes

Student Interview- Graduating Arts Student- Mychal

Mychal- in his final year of study in arts is looking to apply for jobs and graduate next semester. We learned that he is very last minute when it comes to applying for jobs. He is starting to use a “master” list for resumes but is not there yet. He uses word and uses his old resumes as templates for his next one.

Mychal proved Hypotheses 1 and 2 very well, did not prove Hypotheses 3-5.

I think in interviews in the Future we need to question online presence and personal branding- We did not talk about those topics at all- See Blog post on Paul Cubbons Interview for more details.

See this link for the interview notes

 

Interview 1: Graduating Arts Undergrad

This student was in our target market, an arts undergrad student in her final year. She has been heavily involved in student leadership opportunities around campus and has been told by mentors and supervisors that her resume needs work.

In summary she proved Hypotheses 1 and 5 very well, 3 and 4 well and didn’t prove 2 at all.  Her process was creating job applications on word and is now starting to seek outside help but is not very knowledgeable of her options.

See our notes for the script with questions, answers and insights.

 

Our First “Interview”

Right after we left our first session on Friday, we ran into four Masters of Management students on their lunch that just had a session on career development. We were very lucky to get them at a time when they were available and in the mindset of creating job applications.

Three main points we took out of the encounter were: Continue reading