The Kenyan Government Jobs Portal, ensuring easy access to jobs for Kenyan youth as well as seamless Talent search & HR management for Employers and Agents.

Explore the prototype here: Play prototype

The Kenyan National Employment Authority (NEA) is a state agency dedicated to managing and promoting employment opportunities for marginalized groups, minorities, and youth in Kenya. One of its key initiatives is the National Employment Authority Integrated Management System (NEAIMS), which serves as Kenya’s official jobs portal.

The platform’s primary goal is to provide Kenyan youth with easy access to job opportunities, while also offering seamless talent search and human resource management solutions for employers and recruitment agents.

While NEAIMS was originally designed to connect job seekers with employment opportunities, its interface has proven to be cumbersome, leading to high drop-off rates among users. As a result, many Kenyan job seekers have turned to other platforms to search for both local and international jobs. Unfortunately, this has led to some youth falling prey to scams, with unverified agencies offering false promises of better opportunities abroad.

In response to these challenges, the National Employment Authority recognized the need for a redesign the NEAIMS portal. I worked as the sole UI/UX designer for the project, together with Smart People Africa, an IT consultancy based in Nairobi, to deliver a more user-friendly and efficient platform for job seekers, employers, and employment agents.

The research phase began with a series of workshops and interviews with NEA Representatives to gather data on pain points expressed by job seekers, employers and agents. These were some of the findings:

"The site looks and feels outdated."

"Jarring colors, making it difficult to process info."

"Difficult to scan, as there are many calls to action without clear cues as to what is prioritized.”

"Little to no local jobs. Majority of jobs available fall under the unskilled category."

"Difficult to scan list of jobs - cramped tables, no filters or pagination."

Employers: "The recruitment process is disjointed, as the HR functionalities on the site are not sufficient. We perform most of our HR tasks outside of the platform."

Agents: "There are too many cases of fraudulent agencies seeking out job seekers."

During the brainstorming sessions, the following responses were generated as provisions for the how might we's.

With the team’s responses to the how might we’s in focus, further discussion with NEA Representatives enabled us to outline the business and user requirements. The key features are outlined below.

Job Seeker Platform: • Simplified registration process • Intuitive navigation • Ability to build a CV on the platform and customize personal profiles • Easy job application and progress tracking • Access to career guidance counselors for support • Simple reporting mechanism for employees facing issues abroad Agents Platform: • Streamlined purchasing and renewal process for NEA licenses • Efficient agency verification • Enhanced matching of candidates to job openings • Capability to file employee returns easily Employers Platform: • Ability to post job advertisements on the portal • Access to job seeker profiles for candidate shortlisting • Tools to invite candidates for interviews and manage scheduling • Tracking capabilities for the hiring process, from shortlisting to final hires

Before starting the designs, I recognized it was crucial to ensure the team was aligned on the brand identity of the NEAIMS portal. The NEA team had certain expectations for a design system that reflected their colors, but without a standardized brand document, it was necessary to establish basic guidelines to ensure everyone had a clear understanding of the brand.

To achieve this, I organized a brief brand workshop where the team would answer a few key questions to help clarify the creative direction the portal should take. This allowed us to align on the core elements of the brand and establish a shared vision for the design.

With a clear understanding of user needs and brand direction, I began working on the designs. I developed low to mid-fidelity prototypes, which were shared during review meetings with key stakeholders. Their feedback was instrumental in refining designs before moving on to more detailed high-fidelity prototypes. This iterative process ensured that the designs aligned with user expectations and business goals. Keeping the requirements, mid fidelity iterations and brand identity in mind, I moved on to the high fidelity stage. To begin, I created a comprehensive design system for the application, establishing consistent UI components and guidelines to ensure a cohesive look and feel across all platforms.

I collaborated with the development team to ensure that the prototypes not only looked polished but also functioned smoothly, mimicking the desired user experience of the live platform.

The following screens highlight some of the sections of the app designed to address the pain points faced by job seekers.

The following screens highlight some of the sections of the app designed to address the HR process and verification issues faced by employers and agencies.

Several meetings were held with NEA representatives to walk through and test the designs. The feedback informed the design iterations, ensuring all bases were covered.

Once the designs were finalized, I collaborated closely with developers to ensure successful implementation was met across all three platforms. Further workshops were held to present the implemented progress to stakeholders and receive input. User testing was performed iteratively, enabling the team to tackle issues in manageable phases.

As of Jan 2025, the application is in beta testing, and should be set to launch in 2025.

Explore the prototype here: Play prototype