LinkedIn Extension

Promoting a sense of growth and guidance in a world that overlooks people too easily.

As a college student, there’s this unspoken grind for a summer internship or a job after graduation. LinkedIn can be both a tool and a barrier—it can help people land opportunities, but it can also get in their heads. Seeing peers secure jobs left and right can leave others stuck in an endless cycle of self-doubt, wondering what’s wrong with them and why they aren’t good enough. This case study explores a LinkedIn extension designed to break that cycle by providing personalized resume feedback, helping users navigate the job search with clarity and confidence instead of facing yet another blank screen.

Personalized Resume Feedback

Role: Product Designer

Club: Product Space @ UCSD

Timeline: January - February 2025

Skills: User Research, Crazy 8's, Wireframing, Interaction Design, and Usability Testing

Tools: Figma and Hand sketching

Background

We have all been here...or we are there right now.

"it's a numbers game - just gotta keep applying"

"another one ghosted me...not even a rejection email"

"i guess no response is a response"

"I wish they'd at least tell me why I wasn't chosen"

i feel like i'm wasting my time"

"at this point, i'm just shooting applications into the void"

"i swear my resume is just disappearing into the abyss"

Rejection: The Endless Job Search Struggle

Job seekers face rejection time and time again—often without ever hearing back from a company. It leaves many wondering: Why is it so hard to get an interview? Where am I going wrong? I'm sending so many job applications through LinkedIn where are they all going?!

What is LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is one of the biggest job searching platforms with

1.1 billion registered members worldwide
~175.5 million premium subscribers
- with premium subscription plans ranging from $29-$150 depending on tier and region
generating $17.1 billion in revenue in 2024

So...how could LinkedIn get any better??

Problem

Job seekers on LinkedIn often receive no feedback on their applications, leaving them uncertain about rejections and how to improve. This frustration leads to disengagement, reducing user retention and limiting LinkedIn’s growth among active job seekers.

Lack of Clear Feedback

Job Seekers submit many applications through LinkedIn but never hear back or understand why they were rejected. Leaving candidates frustrated and disengaged.

Restricts User Growth

LinkedIn does not provide actionable insights on job applications. Without understanding what they can improve upon after getting rejected they can’t make those improvements.

User Research

To explore how users engage with LinkedIn and their need for personalized resume feedback, I conducted research with 17 participants to understand their challenges and preferences in the job application process.

Satisfication

1 out of 17 respondents indicated that they were satisfied with LinkedIn's feedback, with 11 users frustrated and disappointed.

Cost

15 out of 17 respondents expressed the need for resume improvement tools and sample resumes to support them in the application process.

Premium

13 out of 17 respondents indicated they would be more likely to subscribe to premium if it were included.

Wireframes and Prototypes

Crazy Eights Takeaways:

Applicant Tracking System Check – Ensure resumes align with ATS requirements for better visibility.
Keyword Comparison – Analyze job descriptions and highlight key terms missing from a user’s resume.
Example Resumes – Provide sample resumes tailored to the job description, helping users refine and strengthen their own.

Applicant Tracking System Check: Integrating a feature that highlights key keywords and takeaways an ATS would recognize when analyzing resumes for specific job descriptions.

ATS Analysis Feedback: Implementing an ATS-powered feedback system that analyzes resumes and provides improvement suggestions based on what it detects—or fails to recognize—to align better with the job description.

AI Generated Resume Enhancements: Based on the feedback, it would also highlight potential growth areas that you could edit to make your resume even more competitive.

Generate an Improved Resume: This feature would enable you to generate a revised resume incorporating all suggested corrections while providing a side-by-side comparison for reference.

Low-Fidelity Screens

Flow:

--> when looking at a job application before applying you can hit resume analysis

--> then you would upload your resume

---> it would go through ATS check and highlight everything it picked up with feedback

--> would rank your resume to see the compatibility with the job description and give a summary of possible adjustments

--> then you would get a side by side comparison of your resume with an improved resume allowing the user to make edit and use the updated resume for the job application.

High-Fidelity Screens

Feature 1: Resume Analysis

In order to run the analysis you would upload the resume here.

This feature allows users to upload their resume and compare it against a job description before applying, helping them assess how well their resume aligns with the role and identify areas for

Feature 2: ATS Analysis (Applicant Tracking System)

Highlights all the information that is picked up through ATS

Easy pop up job description, to reference key words and information

Gives a % matching, comparing the job description to your resume.

Provides a summary of feedback and some key improvements.

--> This feature would look through your resume and highlight what it picks up related to the job description. It will then give you a score ranking your resume.

--> It will give a summary of the analysis and some feedback to improve your resume to fit the job description. It also has the full job description to easily reference during this process.

Feature 3: Resume Enhancements

Highlights areas that are marked for improvement

Once clicking on the highlighted parts feedback will pop up here.

These would appear and the user can mark as resolved to reduce clutter

Shown below

This feature provides personalized feedback on a user’s resume, allowing them to click on highlighted areas to view tailored suggestions for improvement.

Shows all the feedback in one place above the blue highlighted box.

The number beside the highlighted sections

This page provides users with a comprehensive view of all feedback in one place. Each suggestion is numbered to correspond with the highlighted areas on their resume, making it easy to identify improvements.

Feature 4: Side-by-side resume comparison

With the new improved resume it would update the ranking percentage.

For either your resume or the improved one you are able to make your own personalized edits and use this resume for the job application.

This feature enables a seamless side-by-side comparison of the original and revised resumes, incorporating all suggested improvements. Users can edit either version and directly upload the updated resume to their job application with ease.

User Testing Changes:

This section was completely blank making it feel like there was something missing.

Here there is a little blurb explaining what will happen with the blue box showing where the feedback will appear.

Intially there was nothing that connected the feedback to the highlighted area making it harder to understand what matched up

Here there are numbers corresponding to the feedback to make it understandable.

Prototype Demo

Looking Back

Reflection

Throughout this design process, I learned how to use techniques like Crazy 8’s to quickly generate ideas, work through low-fidelity flows, and develop an entirely new extension concept. This project deepened my understanding of user needs and helped me refine my ability to iterate efficiently while keeping the user experience at the forefront.

This was one of the first projects I tackled entirely on my own, really pushing me to test my skills as a designer. It challenged me to improve in areas where I was weaker while also giving me the freedom to explore what really interests me. At the same time, it felt like the perfect balance, I had people to turn to, share ideas with, and gain insights from, which made the process even more rewarding and seamless.

Next Steps

Continue User Testing - I want to continue testing my high-fidelity prototype to gather insights and refine the design for a more seamless experience
Easier Access to Feedback - I would like to make the resume feedback available directly from the homepage, allowing users to get insights without needing a job description.
Expand the Job Description Integration - I would like to add more ways for users to input job descriptions for targeted feedback, giving them more freedom to utilize the tools at hand.
Polish the Prototyping Interactions - I want to fine-tune design details, especially on the resume enhancement page to improve usability.

Acknowledgements :)

A huge thank you to Product Space, especially the incredible Product Design Vertical Leads, for dedicating their time to help me refine my product thinking skills and for always supporting me throughout this journey.

I'm also so grateful for my fellow design vertical members, you've been with me every step of the way, and I couldn't have asked for a better group to learn and grow with! :)