Usability Report: Amtrak s Employment Portal Mishaun D. Cannon Concordia University - Chicago October 17, 2015
Introduction: Amtrak is one of America s leading passenger railroad transportation companies committed to moving people and, in doing so, connecting communities, economies, and families. This report serves to evaluate how well Amtrak s job/career portal interface meets the usability needs of its employment candidates. In conducting this evaluation, I used Jakob Nielsen s 10 Usability Heuristics to guide me in my assessment. The key areas of evaluation are the interface s design and navigation and content presentation and architecture. I, the author of this report and graduate student in instructional design and technology (IDT), conducted this usability test and report as the final project for the IDT 6700: Human Computer Interaction & Multimedia Learning course at Concordia University Chicago. The Amtrak job/career portal interface (https://jobs.amtrak.com and/or https://careers.amtrak.com) is the target of this expert design usability evaluation. The usability tests were conducted using a prototype of the Amtrak Candidate Profile employment application form and categorical job search screen; these two sections were noted, by test participants, as being areas with major design concerns. The prototype was designed using Balsamiq mockup tools and session data was collected using Snagit image and video screen capture tools. Because a live prototype was not used, test participants were asked to view the prototype wire frames on a Windows laptop computer and state, during the recorded Snagit session, how they would interact with the prototype testing interface. I, the tester, was present during each testing session to observe and assist participants with the interface. Executive Summary: Three (3) participants were used in the usability testing (one novice, intermediate, and advance user). The purpose of the usability test is to assess the redesign prototype based on the initial feedback from the three (3) participants during the focus group interviews. The three (3) participants initially interacted with the original Amtrak job/career portal and submitted their concerns with using the system. These concerns were discussed in focus group interviews, analyzed, and the redesign prototype was developed. The usability test serves to determine the redesign prototype ease of use under participant interaction. The usability testing was conducted (individually) in the homes of the participants, all within the week of October 5, 2015. Session time averaged around 13 minutes in length and was recorded for future analysis. Overall, all the participants found the redesign prototype to be much more comprehensive than the original interface. The content information is clear, concise, and free of unnecessary verbiage. The navigational tools used help guide users; the labels, links, and language used are exact in meaning and guide the user to associated information. Creating sections for General Candidate Information, Work History, and Educational History provided organization to the application form and promoted ease of viewing information. This change is in line with the Segmentation principle of multimedia design. The form is formatted well, using vertical scrolling and adequate white space; this addresses the issues associated with the Spatial Split- Attention principle. Under the new design, users do not have to use the horizontal scroll bar to
move from one end of the application form to the other in search of important associated information. In the original interface design, the categorical job search screens were poorly formatted; the use of oversized images, videos, and text took up most of the page which left the critical information (the search results) hidden at the very bottom of the page. In the redesign for this page, I scaled-down on the size of the image, video and job description text to allow for much higher visibility of the returned job search results. This redesign effort is in line with the Signaling principle. Participant recommendations for improvement: Application Form: Eliminate one of the previous name boxes on the form, as most applicants have not used more than two (2) names on legal documentation in their lifetime and, if they did, this information can be discovered during a background check associated with that applicant s social security number. Add a description key (a question mark icon) for the question are you enrolled in the PaYS Program ; it is better to keep the user informed at all time and not have them guessing about the meaning of important terminology. Categorical Job Search: Place the categorical job search bar at the top of the page, just below the title bar. This will help users get directly to the point of searching for jobs, which is the sole purpose of this task. Condense the job classification description section; doing this will create more room on the page hence making the job search results more visible on the page. Use an external link to the job classification description so that it opens in another window; this will save room on the page for job search results. Conclusion: Based on the participant recommendations listed above, I propose the following redesign components. I suggest deleting one of the previous name boxes and providing a description key for any uncommon terms. I suggest moving the categorical job search engine bar to the top as stated and reconstructing the job classification description section by reformatting it: Decrease text size and white space.