A comparative analysis of mobility based recruiting applications in France

By: catalina radu, aLEXANDRE CIORASCU

JokaJobs is a recruitment platform that proposes an innovative way of connecting potential employees and recruiters – through urban mobility. This app aims to help the diaspora community to integrate in their new environments by offering a platform of discovery, connection and support. The following article proposes some methods of analysis and comparison with the existing market to determine the strong and weak suits of JokaJobs and to propose areas of improvements. The purpose of Jokajobs has a huge potential and the concept is existing in other countries and communities but is innovative in France. The app offers a wide selection of jobs for different types of services and supports an in-app application and connection with the employers. Users and interviewees expressed positive opinions on the ideas implemented within the app but also identified multiple areas of improvement especially in the user experience part of the application. Valuable ideas were also drawn from the competitors analyzed to finally create a recommendation plan for JokaJobs.

Methodology

The methodology proposed for this analysis is to focus on the differentiating features of JokaJobs. The process starts with a comparative analysis of the existing market for job recruitment applications in France and abroad. The purpose of this exercise is to place the application in the market looking to search for competitors and therefore areas of improvement. The method then follows to focus on the aspects that represent JokaJobs’s strong suits which are – inclusive urban mobility. For this, we conducted several detailed interviews with actual and potential users and analyzed the design opportunities that could be drawn from them. As a final step, we looked at the data, trying to see what could be used for drawing design opportunities.

Competitive analysis

After thoroughly studying and testing other applications that were similar on the Apple App Store we ended up reviewing 21 applications from and outside of France. Out of these we decided to choose 2 applications to do an in-depth comparison. After a first review we chose the 2 apps having in mind the following aspects:

• offers similar content or functionality – in our case that would be the urban mobility/geolocation of job search
• best overall user experience
• has the same goals – to integrate geolocation features within the job search process and increasing migration inclusiveness

For this case we decided to undergo competitive reviews. See full comparison here.

Source: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/competitive-usability-evaluations/

The two applications selected are Kibbi and Work Japan. These applications have the same goal yet they exist on different markets – respectively Canada and Japan – therefore they would not be direct competitors. Even though there were some direct competitors identified regarding the geolocation feature, their goal either was not clear or the applications had no content to work with ( see Job on Map, Job76).

source: JokaJobs

source: Work Japan

source: Kibbi

The first comparison was made between what are the similarities, the differences and the innovations of each application:

Similarities:

• the jobs are placed on a map
• you can build and visualize your resume within the app
• you can apply to jobs directly in the app

Differences:

• tracking job application process
• discovery process of the map – the nuages
• language diversity

Innovations:

• job filters
• work availability
• sharing jobs
• forums or blogs
• gamification through a point system
• friends option

For a more detailed study of the features, the following feature audit has the purpose of identifying exactly where do the differences stand in these apps:

Feature audit	JokaJobs	Kibbi	Work Japan	Improvements for JokaJobs
Jobs on Map	It has jobs on map but they have to be discovered by travelling to the area.	The jobs are on the map.	The jobs are on the map and have icons that represent the type of service they are.	Improve UX of navigation on the map, use the pins to categorize the type of jobs.
Scrolling through jobs	The jobs can be flipped through once you arrived in the area.	The jobs are in a list form	The jobs are in a list form	Use a system similar to tinder so that you can complete take out of the deck the jobs you’re not interested in.
Filter Jobs	You cannot filter the jobs	You can filter jobs by job titles, language, job type and experience.	You can filter by distance to the nearest station or travel time.	Filtering jobs by types of jobs and languages required.
Gamification	Point system based on discovery and activity. You can accumulate points and receive badges.	No gamification.	Receive financial rewards for completing tasks such as completing your resume.	Make it possible to see the community leaderboard or visualize the profiles of the friends to increase the competitiveness of gathering points and badges. Show previews of what badges can be won and how.
In- app resume	Complete or upload your resume in the app to directly apply	Complete or upload your resume in the app to directly apply	Complete your resume in the app to directly apply	Receive advice on your resume from jokers – send a broadcast specifically for this.
Job application	Directly in the app	Directly in the app	Directly in the app
Job progress	No feature	View a list of the jobs you applied to	View scheduled interviews	View the jobs you applied to and update their status.
Community	Share questions by broadcasting them to the network, make friends, message with them.	No community	Blog posts only	Open forum? Be able to visualize the current broadcasts and be able to engage no matter your status – job seeker or joker.
In-app messaging	Only with friends/jokers	With recruiters	No feature
Sharing jobs	No direct feature – link to description available	No feature	Share them externally

The feature audit emphasizes which areas can be improved for each application but the focus is on what can be improved in JokaJobs. In the following section there will be a deeper dive into the feature of urban mobility including user interviews.

Mobility feature – deep dive

In order to explore the Mobility feature on JokaJobs, story interviews were conducted while using the feature. The participants to the interviews were people who are/would be in the future interested in finding part-time or seasonal jobs. The setting was walking around the city while they are exploring the features of the application, trying to induce a form of thinking aloud combined with an interview to gather as many insights as possible. We also asked them to rank all the features evaluated in the feature audit. Each interview lasted around 30 minutes to 45 minutes, and consisted of taking walks in unexplored areas of Paris to unlock new job and get the full mobility experience. Due to the language barrier and timing and mobility difficulties to conduct these interviews, we could only interview 3 people who matched the target group and had a good knowledge of French to navigate the app.

The interview questions were the following:

1. Have you searched for a part-time job or a job during holidays ?
2. How hard would you say your research was ? Please rate on a scale of 1 to 5, from impossible to easy how difficult it is to find seasonal jobs
3. What did you do for your research ? Can you elaborate ?
4. Could you name platforms/apps you may have used and why you like/dislike them ?
5. How important is it for you the transportation time or the area of your job when looking for a job? Rate from 1 to 5
6. What challenges did you face in the past regarding job search due to transportation limitations?
7. What features would you like to see in a mobility-focused job search app?
8. If you have been helped by someone during your job search process, how valuable was their help ? Rate on a scale from 1 to 5 – not helpful to very helpful.
9. Would you be interested in trying to search for a job by exploring the city with JokaJobs ?
10. How does JokaJobs’ mobility feature eases your job search process? Rate on a scale from 1 to 5.
11. What do you think about mobility as a tool ?
12. How likely are you to recommend JokaJobs to others based on its mobility features?
13. How could JokaJobs leverage the mobility feature to attract more users?

The interviewees were representative of different levels of digital literacies. For example the first interviewer expressed a preference towards traditional recruitment methods such as physically passing on resumes or relying on networking and recommendations. The hypothesis of this kind of user is that direct contact is the most efficient and that technology comes with wasting time.

The rest of the interviewees expressed acceptance towards digital methods and curiosity towards alternative recruitment apps. Even so, concerns such as “what if my job does not require me to go somewhere everyday because it’s not location bound” were expressed. The interviewers showed interest in the geo-localization of jobs and declared it helps them make the application process more efficient and prioritize jobs on criteria that would impact their experience such as daily commute.

Data analysis – quantitative insights

Regarding the data received from the developers, the exports were sent in MySQL formats. After opening the data sets, information such as user profile information and job applications could be found. Even so, most of the data received needed to be cleaned and extracted so that we could analyze active sequences on the app such as the organized testing rallies. Without such information and with the amount of data cleaning and processing required, we decided to not explore further this method.

An idea that was proposed for exploration was using the job applications, the applicants and the success of the hiring to prove the efficacy of the app. Some interesting links could have been made, such as getting to know why some job applications could be more successful than others, or job offers.

Unfortunately, the gaps in the data and the lack of insightful information did not allow us to make those links.

Conclusion – reflections and recommendations

JokaJobs brings innovation into the pool of recruitment applications by offering a shift of focus on what aspects drive applicants when filtering out jobs. It aims to increase mobility and to create a network of people who help each other find jobs. For the recruiters JokaJobs becomes a platform which brings the motivated, driven potential employees, the ones who seek efficacy.

The feature it offers are extensive and could find grow by developing a more in depth logic – such as the presence of points and badges but no leaderboard in the current version. Another aspect which would be highly beneficial is improving overall performance and user experience. By implementing a more fluid design, which allows the user to navigate the application more smoothly. Job search has room to be more efficient by adding filters and preferences of type of activities and by coding them onto the map by using specific types of pins. For job filtering a feature similar to Tinder swiping of keeping available on the map only the jobs that are of interest to the user. For the implementation of a more inclusive environment for migrants, different languages options of the app proved to be beneficial. Navigation directions or integration with a navigation app ( to give directions towards the next point of interest) could be another feature which would drive a more seamless and effortless use of the application.