Interview Central

AT A GLANCE:

• For my UMSI Master’s capstone project, I researched and designed a solution to improve the experience of jobseekers with dyslexia

• Through qualitative interviews and activities, I pinpointed key challenges faced and existing techniques used to offset these challenges

• I designed an interview preparation tool that helps users with dyslexia plan, practice, and master their stories before an interview, receiving positive feedback from members of the dyslexic community

Challenge

Dyslexia is a complex neurological disorder that impacts an individual’s ability to match letters with sounds, making reading, spelling, and word retrieval difficult.

Challenges created by dyslexia do not always impact success. Creativity, problem-solving, and communication skills are just some dyslexic strengths that bring value to any working group.

The hiring process relies heavily on skills that can be difficult for people with dyslexia such as reading, response drafting, and story recall.

Research Goal

Understand the impact of dyslexia on job interviews and determine opportunities for job seekers to leverage their strengths and overcome challenges.

Research Process

I needed to understand the following about jobseekers with dyslexia:

1. Job interview process frustrations and challenges

2. Interview preparation approach and processes

3. Methods and strategies candidates can utilize to prepare for interviews

To gain a robust understanding of the dyslexic experience, I conducted two of our six semi-structured interviews. Of the six participants, five were working professionals and job seekers who had dyslexia and one was a speech-language pathologist who specialized in dyslexia.

These interviews included a hands-on mock interview activity to understand the tools and techniques people with dyslexia use to plan interview responses.

Topics Covered:

• General experience with dyslexia

• Perception of the interview process

• How individuals with dyslexia map out responses to interview questions

Mock Interview Activity:

Participants were asked to plan a response to the question “Tell me about your proudest professional accomplishment and why it is significant to you.” Individuals were told to use whatever materials and techniques they wished to plan a response.

Analysis:

I used qualitative coding and affinity analysis to understand core interview themes. I sectioned quotes, observations, and mock interview artifacts into topics in a Figma board (e.g., strengths, challenges, approach to planning). This created a map of content that facilitated review and further division into subthemes.

This process culminated in the development of four core findings that informed the final design requirements.

Findings

1. Community Variability - Many participants like reading - though they may be slow at it - and will write out ideas. Others are highly visual (relying on maps and drawing) or auditory learners.

2. Time & Practice - Additional time and practice are needed before interviews to rehearse responses and during interviews to recall stories in detail.

3. Differentiated Techniques - Free-form whiteboarding, mind-mapping, and structured bullets are ways people with dyslexia organize responses.

4. Story Sharing - Mentorship and story sharing help people in the dyslexic community share techniques on navigating challenges and capitalizing on strengths.

These results led me to design a solution that addresses the following challenge:

How might we… help job seekers with dyslexia remember and communicate stories that showcase their skills during interviews?

Insights

As research concluded, overarching themes and insights helped guide next steps. From our research findings and my widened knowledge of the problem over the course of my project, the following facts became evident:

• Dyslexia is not a one-size-fits-all experience, so any solutions we design would need to prioritize flexibility in the way people interact with it.

• The structure of interviews is generally rigid and unforgiving to people who may think in an unconventional manner. An ideal solution would accompany the jobseeker before and during their interview to have its optimal effect.

Solution Design

I brainstormed five potential solutions to our challenge, including:

• A flashcard preparation tool to aid storytelling during preparation and recollection during an interview

• A voice transcription tool that uses AI to connect pre-written stories with interviewer questions in real time

As a team, we assessed our 20 combined ideas against our goals and design criteria - focusing on tools that can be directly used by individuals with dyslexia.

Focusing on interview preparation, I created wireframes, iterated on the features and information architecture, then created a digital prototype in Figma that I evaluated and iterated on with our research participants.

Low Fidelity Prototype:

Design Evaluation:

I conducted one of our four moderated feedback sessions with formative research participants. Each 45-minute session walked potential users through core tasks in the product.

Feedback demonstrated:

• Navigation pain points given the system was still too linear and required too many steps to complete a task

• Text issues and required more visuals to relay information

• Community feedback preferences, which were deemed intimidating or less useful

This feedback informed another iteration of design, ultimately leading to our final solution.

Final Solution

Interview Central is an interview preparation tool that helps users with dyslexia to plan, practice, and master their stories before an interview.

Rather than changing the interview process itself, I want to provide a tool to directly uplift people with dyslexia.

Main Features:

Interview Hub – Compile questions and skills information for new roles
My Examples – Document and visualize stories to reference in interviews
Rehearsal Hub – Answer questions while referencing examples

Impact

I expect this solution to enable stronger storytelling, enhanced preparation, and increased confidence as jobseekers enter interviews.

Realization Plan

To bring Interview Central to the next phase of development, several things should be considered:

1. Generate partnership interest - Partnerships with dyslexia-focused organizations like DyslexiaHelp and educational entities like university career centers can help promote and fund the development of Interview Central.

2. Research technical requirements - More research needs to be done to plan out how the tool’s more technical features can be implemented (e.g., AI text analysis, whiteboard).

3. Expand feature implementation - There is potential to expand upon the features identified in this first development phase. Conversations with users and UX professionals highlighted integration and social opportunities.

   1. Indeed integration – connect to job postings

   2. Glassdoor integration – source interview questions

   3. Response feedback – feedback on recorded responses

Lessons Learned

Accessible design benefits everyone – although many design features focused on serving people with dyslexia, we often received feedback that our solution could benefit any jobseeker.

Snowball sampling has pros and cons – while referrals helped increase the number of interviewees, many shared similarities with those who referred them, limiting the diversity of our interviews.

Quantity over quality in brainstorming – our ultimate solution pulled aspects from other brainstormed ideas, creating a more robust and valuable solution.