Monday, April 11, 2011

LinkedIn's Usability Disaster

If you've ever searched for a job on LinkedIn, you may have noticed a feature that allows you to search for jobs near a particular zip code. Now I'm guessing most people don't memorize the zip codes for major cities in the US, but no problem. LinkedIn provides a nice little "lookup" link right next to the box.  All this sounds just fine. Maybe searching by city would be easier, but it's certainly better than nothing.

But here's the issue. When you click the lookup link, you don't get a simple ajax Javascript popup that allows you to enter a city, and get the correct zip code.  You get a new window and this monster:


Even if GeoNames.org has the best zip code lookup system anywhere online, this type of user experience is shockingly bad. I have to search for the city on another site, then copy and paste the zip code back to LinkedIn? Someone needs to prioritize this JIRA story and fast.