Upskilling SEEK teams with contextually specific training in harnessing qualitative research

Expanding clients with expanding research needs

Paper Giant had previously worked with SEEK to deliver several mixed-methods market research projects to support gaps in their internal quantitative research capability.

With SEEK expanding into new markets in Asia, they recognised an ongoing need for quantitative research and internal capability to deliver on that need. They were making decisions and solving design challenges on a much larger scale, which required the rigour and reach of quantitative data to minimise risk and maximise outcomes.

Co-designing a course, especially for Seek

To build SEEK APAC’s internal quantitative capability, we started by meeting with stakeholders from the User Experience (UX), Design and Product teams to understand their specific training needs and to co-design the program.

A couple of big challenges emerged early on. Our training would need to work for multiple teams with varying levels of prior understanding and skill. The training would be delivered within a short time frame to fit in around SEEK’s project-based work and support near-future aims. Finally, SEEK had existing techniques and processes for capturing, storing and sharing quantitative data securely. Our training needed to cover high-level best-practice rubrics and incorporate tools and systems that were specific to SEEK and which their teams would need to use.

Planning and pitching the training

Early co-design workshops were key to identifying priority areas for SEEK and ensuring our bespoke program would be fit for purpose. We also undertook an initial survey with potential trainees to find out how much they knew about SEEK’s quantitative research tools and practices more broadly. This helped us to shape and pitch our training resources more finely.
We decided to base much of the training around a specific case study to help participants anchor the concepts and techniques more easily. We chose a research project that Paper Giant had recently conducted with SEEK, with which some people were already familiar.

Delivering workshops and resources

We shaped our training modules around six focus areas prioritised in collaboration with SEEK, including survey design, data review and data visualisation. We taught the modules to participants concerning the case study, ensuring time and space for questions, exploration and reflection during each training session.

We also created bespoke resources that SEEK team members could refer to and revisit after completing the training. These assets—which we designed to be easy to search by topic—include additional in-depth information and guides and explainers around terminology that we couldn’t cover in detail in the training sessions. These resources are handy both for beginners in quantitative research, who might need to recap what they’ve learned in training and those with more technical knowledge and expertise seeking more detailed information about specific aspects of carrying out qualitative research in SEEK’s proprietary context.