LinkedIn Career Advice Feature
Ask the “Senpai” on the largest career network with the new career advice feature
LinkedIn career advice
2022
new feature design
Growing Demand for Mentorship Platforms
In Nov 2017, LinkedIn launched a Career Advice feature, but it was discontinued in 2021. More and more mentorship platforms available that allow ambitious job seekers to get advice. Increasingly, people are willing to mentor others and mentees are requesting mentorship as well. LinkedIn, as one of the largest professional social network, having huge potential connecting both parties, but currently unavailable.
The problem
Is it possible to utilise the information provided by LinkedIn to enhance the results of searching for a career advisor? There is, however, a lack of visibility for those who are happy to offer career advice or guidance, which means people could only send messages and ask for their willingness to engage.
Project Objectives
Redesign and create better experience building mentorship on LinkedIn, including minimising the expectation communication at the initial stage and enhancing the quality of recommended mentors.
Research Methods
Competitor Analysis
User Interview
User Journey
Usability Testing
Research goal
- Mentorship experiences in the past: what went well, what could have been improved?
- Would there be any information that would help manage expectations on both sides and facilitate the achievement of a successful mentoring relationship?
- What is lacking on the Linkedin design to support the mentorship function?
What do mentees think?
Have difficulties finding a mentor who fits their needs
For the mentee, they are looking for role models who have similar backgrounds from whom they can learn or gain insight into what it is like to be in a similar position. Those seeking career advice online have a variety of preferences concerning what they require. In addition to focusing on their careers and backgrounds, some tried to understand their personalities by examining their posts, reviews, and reputations.
Wish to establish longer relationships
In reaching out through LinkedIn, they were concerned about rejection. After the meeting, they were hesitant to schedule another call. Some hoped to establish deeper relationships. The participants, in general, expressed their appreciation for the career advisors and mentors who took the time to assist them.
"I'm hoping to find a role model to learn from that can also help shape my career.'
"I was exploring a career change, and tried to find someone with similar background on LinkedIn to talk to.
"Reviews and their public post helped me get a sense of their personality, and whether I will vibe with them."
What about the mentors?
Mentorship potentially brings in diversity
The mentors believed that mentorship kept them at the top of their skillset and they also hoped to bring in more diversity into the industry, give back and offer resources to others in need. Some of them preferred to view it as a two-way conversation in which they shared their experiences rather than establishing such a clearly defined relationship.
Clear expectations from mentees is critical
Despite the fact that they didn't mind chatting about design in general, mentors felt that expressing clear expectations and asking the right questions would enable them to provide better advice and resources to the requestor, especially in a one-off session.
"I don't mind talking about design in general, but having a more specific topic can help me prep or refer them to better person or resources"
"People who reached out to me don't necessarily know how to say what specifically they're looking for."
"I think it's important to bring in diversity into the industry, just bring the ladder down
Mentees are looking for a role model based on the professional background and reviews. They were expecting openness to another session.
Mentors found clear-communicated expectations help them provide right advice and resources.
How could the new feature enhance mentorship experience?
From the user interviews, it’s not just about mentoring, the scope should include coaching and simple enquiry. Instead of naming it a mentorship feature, I defined the feature as “Career Advice”.
Attract more visibilities for other career advices platforms.
Strong filtering function to find the perfect mentor based on preferences
Enable direct session scheduling on LinkedIn
Customised questionnaires upon scheduling to communicate expectations of both parties.
Post-session feedback and review functions to enhance session quality and relationship.
The “Career Advice” feature is expected to increase the visibility of other career advice platforms, as well as direct scheduling via LinkedIn. In addition, the whole experience would be improved by better-defined expectations and post-session feedback.
Followed LinkedIn Design System
To ensure that LinkedIn users were familiar with the feature, it closely followed LinkedIn's existing design system.
A complete profile
The profile of a career advisor includes basic information like bio, location, language, industry, expertise, and even other career advice/mentoring platforms. A review feature is available as well.
Customised and comprehensive request process
Requestors could schedule a session via LinkedIn, the feature was simple, yet comprehensive, and could be customised by the career advisor to minimise the gap in expectations on both sides.
Feedback & review
To enhance the session quality and to strengthen the relationship, career advisor could give feedback to the requestor and invite them to give reviews.
Key Takeaways
What I enjoyed the most about this project was that through interviewing the mentors, I got to know their stories, how they were inspired by the mentees, and their passion for their professions. Most mentors gave advice for free, not only to support the voices of underrepresented people but also to give back.
Should this service be free?
From the viewpoint of the business, in order for this feature to be offered, I will need to develop a more persuasive value proposition. How much does it cost to operate this feature? Should this feature be restricted to premium members only? Could it result in the loss or gain of potential users? If we look from the perspective of the users, I believe it should be open to all LinkedIn members, even though it may guide users to other career advice platforms, it may still increase networking among members, and for those who believe it should be a paid service, they can always utilize other platforms and still promote it on LinkedIn.
Next Step
- Research on business value proposition for LinkedIn.
