careena - a virtual career adviser in your pocket

Srikant Chari, Derek Han, Yan Su

A Story About Kevin

How Did We Tackle Kevin’s Problem?

Stages To Tackling Kevin’s Problem• Secondary Research• Field Research• Design Thinking• Iteration Of Design• Feedback From Usability Testing

Secondary Research

Figure 1. Excerpt From Paper(Germeijs, 2012)

What Makes People Like Kevin Indecisive About Career Choices?• Career Confidence (Stringer,

2012)• Career Choice Anxiety (Gerneijis,

2006)

How Common Is Kevin’s Situation?• High Attrition Rate For STEM

Majors – 48% (NCES 2014-001).• 60% of First Year Students With

Pre Med Track end up switching out (New York Times, 2011).• No Idea About Career – 24% Of

High School Seniors (CareerBuilder, 2015).

Goals For Figuring Out Kevin’s Needs• Why Is Kevin Wanting To Pursue A Career In Medicine?• Who Does Kevin Consult For Advice?• What Kind Of Answers Does Kevin Hope To Obtain?

Field Research

Interviews• 6 First Year Pre Med Students • Questions – Career Goals, How

They Stick With Goals?, Where The Sought For Advice?, What Advice They Sought For?

Design Thinking

Major Insights Uncovered About Kevin

• Insight #1 – Motivated For Sentimental Reasons.• Insight #2 – Affinity For Math And Science In High School.• Insight #3 – Wanted To Make A Difference In People’s Lives

Major Insights Uncovered About Kevin’s Issues

• Insight #1 – Most advice comes from friends.• Insight #2 – People wanted absolute answers.• Insight #3 – People had to scour around the internet for advice.

Goals For Figuring Addressing Kevin’s Needs• F – Focused• A – Actionable• D – Direct• E – Encouraging

Design Iteration

What If We Designed The App To Be Conversational?

Conversation Mapping

• One-To-One Focus Of A Conversation.• With Instant Access Of

Information.

Design Process For The UI

Feedback From Usability Testing• Feedback From 2 Participants.• More Productive And Clearer

About Direction.• Advice Was More Centralized.• Felt Reminder Feature Was

Helpful In Committing To Action.

Areas To Explore In The Future• Number Of Options (3-4) • Use Of Emoticons In Conversations• Gamification – Rewarding Users For Taking Action• Representing Progress

Careena – Providing Hope Through Guidance

References• Borges, N.J., Richard, G.V., Duffy, R.D. (2007). Career Maturity Of Students In Accelerated Versus Traditional Programs. The Career

Development Quarterly, 56, 171-176.• CareerBuilder. (2015). CareerBuilder’s Q2 2015 nationwide survey of 210 high school seniors conducted by Harris Poll. Retrieved from:

http://www.careerbuilder.com/share/aboutus/pressreleasesdetail.aspx?ed=12%2F31%2F2015&id=pr915&sd=10%2F1%2F2015.• Chen, X. (Nov 2013). STEM Attrition: College Students‘ Paths Into And Out Of STEM Fields. Statistical Analysis Report (NCES 2014-001).

Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. • Drew, C. (2011, Nov 4th). Why Science Majors Change Their Minds (It’s Just So Darn Hard). New York Times, p. ED16. Retrieved from:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/06/education/edlife/why-science-majors-change-their-mind-its-just-so-darn-hard.html?_r=0• Duffy, R.D., Austin, K.L. (2013). Disentangling The Link Between Perceiving A Calling And Living A Calling. Journal Of Counseling Psychology,

60(2), 214-227.• Gerneijs, V., Verschueren, K., and Soenens, B. (2006). Indecisiveness And High School Students’ Career Decision-Making Process:

Longitudinal Associations And The Mediational Role Of Anxiety. Journal Of Counseling Psychology, 53(4), 397-410.• Le, H., Robbins, S.B., Westrick, P. (2014). Predicting Student Enrollment And Persistence In College STEM Fields Using An Expanded P-E Fit

Framework: A Large-Scale Multilevel Study. Journal Of Applied Psychology, 99(5), 915-947.• Stringer, K., Kerpelman, J., and Skorikov, V. (2012). A Longitudinal Examination Of Career Preparation And Adjustment During The Transition

From High School. Developmental Psychology, 53, 1343-1354.