Simplot | Personas

Project Brief

The goal of this work was to establish foundational, enterprise-wide personas and customer journey maps, laddering into the vision of One Simplot.​ We were contracted to conduct interviews with both internal Simplot employees as well as their customers across multiple lines of business to help identify current pain points and areas of opportunity in the customer experience. We initially were slated for 40 interviews but it was increased to 80. Our deliverables for this project were to have clearly defined customer personas and an ideal state journey map. My focus on this project was on new hires and their experience, from applying to Simplot to be on-boarded to the company.

My Role
As part of a team of five, we conducted experience audits, created discussions guides, moderated and synthesized UX research such as stakeholder interviews, and developed personas. My role in this project concluded at the persona development phase.

Skills Demonstrated
UX Research
Expert Review Audit
Synthesis and Analyzation
Persona Development
Collaboration

Tools Used
Slack
Miro

Discovery Process

Research Methods

Expert Review

We conducted this review by noting opportunity areas using the Neilson and Normans 10 heuristics as a guide for our review. We then documented everything using an Excel spreadsheet. What we found were inconsistencies in formatting of open position and job requirements, as well as a lack of knowledge about the company and goals. These insights sparked questions about how role descriptions were targeted for candidates in opposing fields, and how a new hire was potentially interpreting these job postings.  

Discussion Guide

We developed two discussion guides for user interviews. The first was for internal HR employees. This was done to learn about the internal process Simplot followed when posting open positions, the channels it had to go through, and how they determined the requirements for their roles. The second discussion guide was for the new hires. What we wanted to understand was who was applying to the company, what attracted them to it, what issues or pain points they had with Simplot’s current career site, and finally, what the appeal was for them to want to work for Simplot. 

We conducted a total of 10 interviews – four with new hires and six with HR employees.

Affinity Diagram

Personas

Two different personas that were identified through our research: The “Technician” and the “Office Worker.” We included common pain points and opportunity areas for each persona for Simplot.

Technician

Pain Points: 

• Missing information from the job listing makes it difficult to understand if role matches skill set

• Lack of communication can lead to uncertainty during the hiring process

• Slower to adopt digital tools and new processes

Key Simplot Opportunities:

• Write clear job descriptions, so the technician knows what skills and experience Simplot is looking for.

• Be proactive and notify the applicant on their application status

• Accommodate possible equipment requests

• Offering more training and development opportunities

Office Worker

Pain Points: 

• Not familiar with Simplot's language and jargon used in job listing

• Missing information from the job listing make it difficult to understand if role matches skill set

• Inconsistent communication with Simplot

• Lack of onboarding support can lead to frustrations and the feeling of being overwhelmed

Key Simplot Opportunities:

• Write clearly defined job responsibilities and qualifications to find the right candidates

• Make sure office workers have the proper equipment and peripherals to do their job

• Provide consistent support during onboarding process

• Proactive communication around the recruiting and hiring process

• Better communicate Simplot brand and everything it has to offer