24/7 Program Availability with "MyReBuiltLife"-
Workforce Coaching, Credential Access and Community Disaster Recovery Mitigation in a
Strategic Web Portal Developed to Create More Equitable and Resilient Communities
@Cook County Government
1/3 of all US adults have a criminal background and their workforce user journey needed to be improved to meet today's technology standards to provide better access for everyone. This project was the result of a multi-agency effort to seek innovative solutions to reduce recidivism for Chicago residents by increasing employment options for this large section of the population. After the team had established the goals, outcomes and success metrics, I planned and executed research designed over 500 hours of UX research to uncover systemic roadblocks to employment and create a program and web product that would rectify those impediments in a data compliant, literacy focused manner for non-profit and government agency use.
Background and Goals
After organizing an inter-agency workgroup, we met to establish objectives with
community-based stakeholders and county government stakeholders to determine
the potential interest in a virtual service toolbox that would exemplify non-profit service
delivery by overcoming brick and mortar limitations on service access and reduce duplicated services. We had to determine how our users responded to technology and what motivators would drive them to repeatedly visit a career development web site. Seeking a user base of recently incarcerated individuals, the research took place at 183 prisons, jails, halfway houses and non-profits across a multi-state area and we were assisted by a team from the UIC School of Social Work for data analysis and presentation.
Foundational Research Goals
1. Gain insight into how our users interacted with technology.
2. Understand our user's employment challenges.
3. Gain clarity on how existing service channels served our users needs
Design Research Goals
1. Meet the users at their ability levels.
2. Provide exemplary positive experiences using todays technology
3. Eliminate the most imperative employment roadblocks that exist in the competitive landscape
Methods
The baseline activity was focused on gathering over 500 hours of in-depth user interviews, stakeholder interviews and engaged in concept mapping to gather information on the user and stakeholder pain points and perceptions while building a visual framework that allowed the various agency stakeholders to maintain consistent product vision during the entire process. Using critical incident technique, we collected 120 incidents where our users and stakeholders felt existing systems reduced or impaired community employment options which we analyzed, along with our other data, to determine the MVP.
Technology Was Adding Barriers Before MyReBuiltLife
Several compelling user needs rose to the surface of our research activities but one would be a game changer for our users. The feature that was most needed in the marketplace, would be relatively easy to develop and would impact the users most was a literacy focused resume generator that would create an ATS (Applicant Tracking System) compatible document that would increase user employment by decreasing system rejection.
Nationally profiled in the book, "Untapped Talent"
by second chance hiring advocate Jeff Korzenik
Our market research indicated that workforce development agencies and non profits were engaged in "soft hiring" where companies were expressly asking for workers and paying low to substandard wages. Users identified this practice as not helpful to them. Agencies and non profits expressed dissatisfaction with "soft hiring" realizing that these employment engagements tend to be short lived.
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We created a tool that has to date been the subject of over 2,500 hours of user task analysis and user data analysis. We hired an HR systems expert to ensure our resume product is compatible with the top 5 ATS systems used by the Fortune 500 to ensure product success.
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For information on our additional crucial insights, contact Patricia at pegipciaco@gmail.com.
Knowledge Takeaways
1. Planning for user detention surveys includes methods to create trust and include trauma informed interviewing.
2. A consensus with with Avik Das, then director of Cook County Juvenile Probation to deploy agile methodologies allowed iterative UX Research and Development processes enabling us to scale accessibility and process improvement successes .
3. Programs must address user experience at a perceptual level so the pervasiveness of ADHD, Neurodiversity, Criminal Justice involvement, etc. must be included in program planning and engagement strategy for user and program success.
4. Keep foundational research updated. Our annual reviews allowed for strategically evolving service delivery.