Why mode exists

A college student, an active seeker, and an employed holder do not need the same first action, the same home framing, or the same job defaults. Mode lets the system stay coherent without forcing three disconnected products.

What changes by mode

Navigation

Home becomes Weekly for holders. Jobs becomes The Market. My Dilly becomes My Career.

Home logic

The hero card, briefings, nudges, and what rises to the top all shift by current state.

Job defaults

Students skew internship-first. Holders hide internship listings. Degree and location defaults react to profile context.

Language

The system changes labels and framing so the same surface feels appropriate to the moment the user is in.

What stays constant

  • the underlying identity and profile history
  • wins timeline and accumulated context
  • the system’s memory of what the user has done and where they are trying to go
  • the ability for one surface to improve another surface later

How switching should feel

Mode switching is not a new-account event. It is a state transition. If a seeker lands a job, Dilly should behave like it learned something important about the same person, not like it deleted them and started over.

Where mode flips come from

  • the first onboarding path selection
  • career status changes in settings
  • job landed or job lost flows
  • internship sub-flows that add a more specific state signal

Mode by mode

Design consequence

If a surface cannot explain what it does differently for Student, Seeker, and Holder, it is probably too generic. If a mode flip destroys prior context, the system has broken its own promise.

Related pages