Background

The Find & Apply service is a comprehensive platform designed to facilitate candidates in their pursuit of post-graduate courses to become teachers. Apply service serves as the gateway for candidates to submit their applications for the identified courses. As part of ongoing improvements, various design initiatives have been undertaken to address specific challenges within the application process, ultimately aiming to optimise user experience and support candidates in their pursuit of becoming teachers.

The problem

• Candidates faced limitations in modifying their submitted applications, leading to reliance on support teams for even minor changes. Support teams received numerous tickets, causing delays for candidates and impacting the accuracy of information held by training providers.
• A significant number of applications were rejected due to a lack of visa sponsorship, wasting both candidate and provider time. Previous warnings in the application process were ineffective in preventing ineligible candidates from submitting applications.
• Lack of awareness among training providers about updates to candidate applications, hindering effective communication. A need to ensure that changes made by candidates are promptly reflected in the Manage teacher training applications interface.
• Candidates faced challenges in reviewing and understanding their applications before submission. Support teams were overwhelmed with requests, including some candidates asking for extensive form completion assistance.
• Ambiguity and inconsistency in responses to the question "What is your immigration status?" due to a free-text input field. Difficulty in understanding the question, particularly for candidates outside the European Economic Area (EEA).

The goal

• Enable candidates to edit specific sections (personal information, contact details, support information, interview availability, and equality and diversity) post-submission for improved user experience. Ensure the changes made are transparently communicated to training providers.
• Implement a design pattern to prevent international candidates without the right to work or study in the UK from applying to courses lacking visa sponsorship. Reduce the number of rejected applications and enhance the candidate's chance of finding a suitable course./li>
• Develop a system to alert training providers when candidates update their applications. Enhance Manage teacher training applications to clearly display the updates made by candidates.
• Redesign the application submission process to include a review step, ensuring candidates can easily comprehend and confirm the accuracy of their submissions. Address the issue of candidates not realising they were submitting their applications.
• Replace the free-text input with a radio button list to streamline the communication of visa or immigration status. Improve clarity and accuracy in responses by providing a predefined list of common visa types.

The approach

Allowing candidates to edit applications:

Conducted user research to understand candidate needs and assess potential risks. Limited edits to specific sections based on discussions with the policy team. Mapped out the user journey, prototyped the features, and implemented changes.

Blocking ineligible visa applications:

Analysed the previous cycle's rejected applications and collaborated with the policy team to design a solution. Redesignd the user journey to hide the submit button and display a warning message for ineligible candidates. Provided a link to Find postgraduate teacher training for alternative courses.

Notifying training providers of application updates:

Talked to training providers to understand preferences for communication about candidates updating their details. Implemented a notification system and updated the Manage teacher training interface to reflect changes made by candidates.

Improving application submission process:

Identified issues with the previous submission process through user feedback and support ticket analysis. Removed redundant questions and reintroduced a review page for candidates to check their applications. Implemented a clear CTAs, explaining the submission process, and monitoring the impact on support tickets.

Enhancing visa and immigration status question:

Analysed user entries and identified common issues with the free-text input. Worked with the international teacher recruitment unit to curate a list of common visa types. Conducted user testing to refine designs, ensuring users find and select their visa or immigration status easily.

Grouping and ordering aplications:

Evaluated different application statuses and created groups for improved organisation. Added headings to the application list based on importance and relevance. Tested the new design with candidates to gather feedback for further refinement.

Interrupting personal statement submission:

Using behaviour insight tools, I have identified scenarios where interrupting the candidate during submission can be helpful. Designed and tested a pattern to interrupt candidates with short personal statements, encouraging them to improve their application.

Each design process followed a user-centric approach, involving collaboration with policy teams, iterative testing, and consideration of user feedback to ensure the changes aligned with candidate needs and expectations.

More detailed descriptions of all the features implemented can be found:

Allowing candidates to edit their application form after they’ve submitted it

Stopping candidates from applying for courses that do not sponsor visas

Showing training providers when an application is updated by a candidate

Improving the designs when a candidate submits an application

Giving applicants the best chance of success

Grouping and ordering applications for candidates

Improving the visa and immigration status question