Monster: Career Advice Microsite

Monster.com's career advice section had been experiencing an increasing bounce rate over time, raising concerns about user engagement with this important content. The career advice section serves as a prime vehicle for maintaining high search engine rankings, making it a strategically important part of Monster's digital ecosystem.

The project was initiated when space became available in the product roadmap to address this long-standing issue. The initial hypothesis within the team was that outdated content was the primary cause of user disengagement, potentially requiring a massive content rewrite initiative. My research would test this assumption and uncover the actual factors driving the increased bounce rate.

This research project aimed to identify the root causes of the increasing bounce rate on the Career Advice microsite and develop evidence-based recommendations for improvement.

I designed a two-phase research approach: an initial pre-kickoff study to challenge assumptions and gather directional insights, followed by targeted mini-studies to explore specific problem areas in depth.

For the pre-kickoff study, I designed a questionnaire that first captured users' initial expectations of the microsite, then asked them to explore the site for relevant content, and finally reassessed their perceptions after this exploration. This approach allowed me to identify gaps between expectations and reality while minimizing moderator bias.

The research revealed a significant disconnect between users' initial impressions of the site (influenced by visual design) and their assessment of the actual content quality after exploration.

Based on the findings from both the initial research and the focused mini-studies, I developed specific insights and actionable recommendations to address the bounce rate issue.

This research had significant strategic impact by redirecting resources from an unnecessary content rewrite to targeted improvements in visual design and information architecture.

The findings from this research directly informed the redesign of the Career Advice microsite, focusing on improving visual design, navigation, and information architecture while preserving the valuable existing content. By addressing the actual issues identified through research rather than assumed problems, Monster was able to allocate resources more effectively and create a better user experience that leveraged existing assets.

This project reinforced the importance of challenging assumptions through research before embarking on potentially costly initiatives. What was initially assumed to be a content quality issue turned out to be primarily a presentation and user experience challenge.