MAKING GOVERNMENT HIRING FAIR

I was the lead designer for the Subject Matter Expert Qualification Assessment (SMEQA) process. This is a process that introduces and partners subject matter experts into the hiring process to ensure qualified candidates are hired into government. The project takes the existing government hiring process and works with federal agencies to adapt and scale it to their needs. I was responsible for designing and maintaining the website, conducting periodic research to continually make content and structure updates, and tooling and application research and design. Additionally, I supported the roll-out of this process across multiple government agencies and partners.

DESIGN STRATEGY

I worked to create a research practice that built a culture where decision-making was based upon user insights and findings. The team would interview and observe about 5 users a week. It’s important that research is actionable so after each “round” of research, our findings go through a set of criteria that I established that gets turned into user stories to design and implement.

TOOLING / PROCESS SUPPORT

In terms of software to support the process, the team built out a resume review tool. The designs were already created when I joined so I worked on usability testing prototypes, making revisions based on those results for the next set of our users, and front-end development. We were able to launch, test, design, and implement in 2 weeks.