I have great relationships with recruiters – both across the US and internationally- and have an amazing ‘Rolodex’ of who is the go-to recruiter for your project. I also have a blacklist! On top of this, I use my free time to seek out recruiters who I don’t know, to constantly expand my network, and to meet with my current network, to see how we can improve and use new tools to get the job done.
At this stage in my career I feel like I have helped ‘make it happen’ in almost every situation you can imagine. 6 market global study recruited in a week and a half? Done. Set up IHUTs for printers in home using a dual screen Zoom setup in the middle of the pandemic? No problem! Manage translations of stimuli, OBB scripts, and other assets for 17 countries? EASY! Organize ethnographies for multiple moderators, with multiple respondents gathering at a main respondent’s house, with items to be delivered in a particular window? Yep!
Concept testing requires the moderator to lean more on the respondent to take a creative leap from paper to reality. For these types of tests in particular, there is more emphasis on acing the recruit in terms of getting respondents who can “go there”. I know how to help do this with a particular screening process and recruiters.
I was first introduced to Usability Research while working at SEGA- we would hire a specialty researcher who would bring in respondents one by one to use the ‘think aloud’ method while playing an Alpha/Beta of the game. I always thought it was some of the most useful research we did. Now, I have grown my skillset as a UX PM. There are all sorts of special logistical and recruiting considerations when setting up UX projects.
I have worked with a wide variety of platforms- Recollective, Indeemo, Incling, Revelation. I understand the challenges regarding this phase both from a respondent and moderation perspective. I am constantly refining what the best practices are, and what new offerings are popping up.
I have set up many projects on a variety of platforms- from Zoom to discuss.io to Forsta. Different projects have different needs, and I have worked towards knowing what platform is the best fit, and gets you the most bang for your buck.
Yes- we’re back to doing these! I have tons of experience in planning in person work at traditional facilities, non-traditional spaces, ethnographies, shopalongs, and everything in between!
While at SEGA the game I worked on that I was most proud of was Bayonetta. From concept through release, we did many iterations of testing, which resulted in lots of input opportunities to tweak for more successful development- from character design, to storyline elements, and even controls. It would end up being one of the highest rated games released in my time there.
Macy’s wanted to do research with some Lapsed Shoppers, and using their typing tool, I recruited respondents for in store shopalongs. Offsite, in person work requires extra attention to detail in terms of research design. Extra ‘security’ measures were put in place to ensure respondents were the perfect fit, an exacting over-recruit schedule was laid out, and hosts were hired to help facilitate moderators with a seamless, stress-free experience.
EA wanted to test some concepts for the next iteration of Sims with Lapsed, Active, and Kim K/Kendall & Kylie Players. I handled recruiting and analyst work + video editing for this project. Teen recruits require a special hand as does mobile gaming work. I did my first mobile game test in 2008 and this test was probably at around the tipping point where I started doing as much console work as mobile work.
I handled many creative tests for Exxon over the years, and it was always one of my most challenging recruits: We would always speak with people in academia, thought leaders, lobbyists, government employees/appointees, and NGOs. These were done on a global scale. As you can imagine, they required specialty recruiters and heavy scrutiny- a true white glove process.
As a Texan, I was proud to work on this one! I helped a new client quickly recruit high end BBQ grill owners in specific markets. We created a security check and pretask to help gauge the best respondents to quickly pull into these Zoom sessions in less than nine days.
I have worked with a variety of financial clients in both PM and Analyst roles over the years. From the dawn of robo-advisers, to positioning of different card offerings, accounts, and investment opportunities for regular customers to HNW individuals, to the age of crypto… it was a sector that took a lot of upskilling but I am proud to hold fairly intense conversations about now.
At this point in my life I have ‘wishlist’ clients and sectors now that I’ve worked on so much. If you’d like to work together, please reach out!