From our research and interviews, we saw that residents weren’t just looking for jobs but also clarity, guidance, and confidence in the career process. We reframed the user insights into ‘How might we’ statements to spark new solutions. We then ran regular working sessions with our product team and clients to further develop the statements into possible solutions.

One limitation of the site is that users can’t directly sign up for training or apply for jobs within the platform itself. Instead, they are redirected to external partner sites like O*Net or program provider web pages. This creates friction for residents, who expect a seamless experience and may lose momentum when switching between systems.

During ideation, it was important that we make this constraint clear to the user. We focused on clarity of next steps and making handoffs to external sites as smooth as possible.

This limitation has now become a key opportunity for future versions of the platform: which will include full site user authentication, connections to Unemployment Insurance services, a job board, and more. By being honest about the limitations of the tools, we have been able to identify the clearest paths forward to best serve the residents of New Jersey.