Restructuring a text-heavy Careers page for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to be more mobile-friendly.
The need
- HHS, one of the largest federal agencies, sought to update their Careers site to help applicants understand where they might work through detailed descriptions of all of their divisions.
- The original page contained dense text blocks without clear headings.
- The challenge: Retain extensive content about HHS while improving scannability and encouraging users to search for jobs.
My approach
- Applied web writing best practices for readability.
- For example, incorporated lists, bolding, and accessible headings.
- Simplified the government jargon to plain language.
- For example, relabeled “staff divisions” as “offices” and “operating divisions” as “agencies.”
- Aligned content with the site’s voice and tone by incorporating first-person pronouns.
- For example, revised “The CDC works 24/7 to protect America” to “We work 24/7 to protect America” to create a more personal tone.
The solution
- A refreshed about page featuring scannable lists and accordions describing HHS offices and agencies.
- Matched Heading 1 text to page title text for consistency and to meet users’ expectations.
- Differentiated the HHS staff divisions from the operating divisions with descriptions for all 30.
- Standardized the template for every HHS office and agency that included their location, what they do, and featured jobs.
- Improved job search process.
- For example, added a clear call-to-action to “Search jobs at HHS” and provided instructions on filtering by agency.
Additional portfolio pieces
