WO2014207652A1

WO2014207652A1 - Method and system for candidate matching for a job requirement

Info

Publication number: WO2014207652A1
Application number: PCT/IB2014/062553
Authority: WO
Inventors: Varun Aggarwal; Himanshu Aggarwal
Original assignee: Varun Aggarwal
Priority date: 2013-06-24
Filing date: 2014-06-24
Publication date: 2014-12-31

Abstract

A system and computer implemented method for candidate screening using an online interface is provided. The method includes steps for providing assessment modules and receiving candidate responses for the assessment modules, and generating a job attribute score for each assessment module, where each assessment module has at least one assessment attribute and a job attribute score generator. Candidate inputs are received for resume attributes as well. Next a tagged candidate profile is generated by tagging the job attribute score and the resume attribute for each candidate. This tagged candidate profile is then matched with a job requirement to generate a list of short listed candidates. Alternately, the tagged candidate profile is matched with system generated job profiles and a list of suitable jobs based on the tagged candidate profile for a candidate are generated.

Description

METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR CANDIDATE MATCHING FOR A JOB REQUIREMENT

This is a complete specification of the provisional application number 1855/DEL/2013 filed on Jun 24 2013 with the Indian Patent Office.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION AND USE OF INVENTION

[0001] The invention relates generally to the field of candidate matching for a given job profile and more specifically to a method and system for providing assessment scores on attributes correlating to the job and generating a tagged candidate profile with both resume attributes and job attributes scores.

PRIOR ART AND PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED

[0002] Currently the various online web-based portals for job search provide typically a database of job seekers and make them available to employers for hiring. This database is usually a collection of information fetched from the candidates' resumes. The employers then use this limited information to shortlist candidates for further rounds (which may be a series of tests, interviews or both).

[0003] There are many missing links in this approach. Firstly, employers shortlist candidates solely on the basis of information presented in the resume - work experience, academic performance, internship details (parameters with little correlation to job performance). Further biases are induced when it comes to short listing fresh graduates, where due to lack of parameters such as work experience employers are left with no option but to shortlist candidates basis superficial parameters like tier of college, academic percentages etc.

[0004] These short-listing practices consequently results in abysmally low interview convert rates. When corporations speak to/interview candidates, they find a majority of candidates unfit for their requirement wasting precious time and money.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

[0005] The method and system of invention provided herein eliminates the above mentioned biases from the short-listing or screening process and provides a novel method of screening candidates based on objective criterion/parameters through an online interface, which have significant correlation to job requirement and consequently improve the interview convert rates.

[0006] The job portal implemented by the method and system of the invention is accessible by corporations and job-seekers and provides not only resume parameters, but also assessment scores on various job parameters and suitability of the candidate for particular profiles based on these assessment scores.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0007] In one aspect, a system for matching candidates with a job profile is provided. The system includes a graphical user interface that has a candidate interface, and an employer interface, for receiving inputs from candidates, and employers respectively. The employer interface is configured for selecting one or more assessment attributes and resume attributes to match with a job profile. The system includes a candidate profile database for storing resume attributes from a candidate resume received from the candidate interface. An assessment component is used that includes different assessment modules, each assessment module has at least one assessment attribute for evaluating a candidate and a score generator to generate a job attribute score for the at least one assessment attribute. These assessments may be conducted in a proctored/auto-proctored/unproctored test environment. An analysis component is used for generating a tagged candidate profile for each candidate comprising the job attribute score for each assessment module and resume attributes, and for mapping the tagged candidate profile with the job profile or a job requirement. If the employer wants the candidates to undergo more assessments in addition to the ones they have already been assessed on then the employers have the option of sending the desired assessments to the candidates and ask them to take the assessments. A reporting component is configured for generating a report based on the job attribute score and the resume attribute, and the tagged candidate profile.

[0008] In another aspect, a system for matching candidates with one or more job profiles is provided where the job profiles are system generated job profiles. The candidate selects a set of assessment modules to generate a job attribute score and the system generates a tagged candidate profile using the resume attributes and the job attributes scores. The system then maps the tagged candidate profile with the system generated job profiles and provides a report listing a short list of suitable job profiles. The tagged candidate profile and the reports are stored in a candidate profile database for future use for a real job requirement.

[0009] In another aspect, a computer implemented method for candidate screening using an online interface is provided. The method includes providing different assessment modules, where each assessment module has at least one assessment attribute and a job attribute score generator. The method includes a step for receiving candidate inputs for one or more of assessment modules, and for receiving resume attributes. The method then includes a step for generating a job attribute score from the candidate inputs for the one or more assessment modules. In the next step a tagged candidate profile is generated by tagging the job attribute score and the resume attribute for each candidate. This tagged candidate profile is used for obtaining a match with a job requirement.

DRAWINGS

[0010] These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood when the following detailed description is read with reference to the accompanying drawings in which like reference numerals represent corresponding parts throughout the drawings, wherein:

[0011] FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic representation for a system for candidate screening based on job attribute scores;

[0012] FIG. 2 is a snapshot representation of a graphical user interface to receive inputs for a job post or a job requirement from an employer;

[0013] FIG. 3 is a snapshot representation of an exemplary report for job attributes scores and a mapping for different job profiles for a candidate;

[0014] FIG. 4 is a snapshot representation of another exemplary report graphical user interface for a candidate's suitability for different job profiles along with a personality score graph;

[0015] FIG. 5 is a flowchart representation of an exemplary method of the invention; and

FIG. 6 is a flowchart representation showing a flow of steps and options for an employer seeking a candidate for a job profile in an exemplary implementation. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0016] As used herein and in the claims, the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" include the plural reference unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

[0017] The term "interface" as used herein means hardware and/or software enabling an operation on a computer system or a computer network.

[0018] The term "component" for the purpose of this invention means program code that enables a computer system to implement the actions described in conjunction therewith using any solution.

[0019] In one embodiment, a system for matching candidate with a job requirement or a job profile is provided. The system 10 includes a graphical user interface 12 as the online interface that further includes different interfaces for different users such as candidates or job seekers (a candidate interface), and employers or any other user authorized for candidate search and screening (an employer interface). The candidate interface is used for receiving inputs from the candidates seeking jobs, and include receiving resume or resume attributes through the candidate interface. A candidate profile database 14 is provided to store the resume attributes for each candidate resume received from the candidate interface. The employer or corporate interface in the exemplary embodiment is configured for selecting one or more desired assessment attributes and resume attributes to match with a job profile. An exemplary user interface 24 for an employer for posting a job profile or a job requirement is shown in FIG. 2. It would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that an administrator interface will also be provided for enabling different control and analysis aspects for all the different components of the system.

[0020] The system advantageously includes an assessment component 16 that includes different assessment modules, each assessment module has at least one assessment attribute on which the candidate response (s) is evaluated. The assessment modules are designed to test the candidate for different skill sets, for example the assessment modules may include one or more of a language skill module (written and/or oral), a cognitive ability module, a functional skill module, and a soft-skill module (including a personality functionality). These are item-response-theory based standardized tests and include one or more of adaptive assessment modules, fixed-form modules, simulation based modules. The assessment modules can be provided in different formats such as a questionnaire format. Further the assessment modules may be text based modules, or an audio or video module. The assessment modules are accessible to the candidates through the candidate interface, and the candidates' inputs for the assessment module is translated into generating a job attribute score as described below.

[0021] An automatic score generator is included in the assessment component to generate a job attribute score for the assessment attribute. The scores may be quantitative scores or a rating such as a high, medium, low rating or a color code to indicate strength or weakness of the candidate related to the assessment attribute. It would be appreciated by one skilled in the art that the scores would be generated based on pre-defined rules and evaluation criterion. Automatic profile to score mapping is enabled through the automatic score generator. In one example, for generating the job attribute score, job/profile analysis is done by experts to ascertain the competencies and skill set needed for a role. The right cut scores or weighted scores (the weighted scores are based on a compensatory model, where there are cutoffs on different weighted linear combinations of scores) on different assessment modules are arrived at, based on the competencies and their level required. In another example, job-profile-to- score mapping to generate the job attribute score is done based on an empirical process called criterion validity. As part of this study the employees of the corporation are tested on standardized assessments and on job performance scores are collected and a criteria is developed to hire candidates who will be successful in the job. These benchmarks or criteria then become indicators of the minimum threshold of the quality of the candidates needed for specific job roles within the corporation. This is also done by tracking candidates hired based on these assessments through the system and method of the invention and gauging their performance/success over time. These cut-offs, thresholds, and criteria form the rules for generating the job attribute score.

[0022] The job attribute scores generated from a battery of standardized, multidimensional assessment modules quantify a candidate's employability. These job attribute scores are provided to job seekers (candidates) to get employability feedback as well as to highlight their credentials to corporations. Based on the job attribute scores, not only do the candidates get feedback and job opportunities, but also get to know the job profiles for which they are employable.

[0023] The system further includes an analysis component 18 for generating a tagged candidate profile where each tagged candidate profile includes resume attributes and job attribute scores from different assessment modules. Further the analysis module maps the tagged candidate profile with the job profile or a job requirement posted by the employer. From the mapping, the analysis module is configured to generate a match between the tagged candidate profile and the job requirement. It would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the same set of job attribute scores for a candidate are used for multiple companies and job profile and job requirements, as it is linked to his/her profile through the tagged candidate profile. Thus the candidate doesn't need to take the same or similar tests again and again. The company or employers can request candidates to take additional test, if required, and then they are also linked to the tagged candidate profile, accessible to multiple companies.

[0024] The system includes a reporting component 20 for generating different reports based on the on the job attribute score and the resume attribute. The resume attributes may include details on name and address, age, gender, education, and job experience, and any other resume attribute as defined by the employer or administrator. An exemplary report may includes a list of candidates (referred as short-list of candidates) with the tagged profiles which meet a pre-defined assessment cut-score for a job requirement posted by an employer. In an exemplary embodiment, the analysis component derives or calculates the desired cut- score based on pre-defined rules, that in turn is based on the job profile the employer desires. Further, the report may include the job attribute score for a strength or a weakness for the desired assessment attributes selected by the employer as shown exemplary reports indicated by reference numerals 26 and 28 in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4. Another exemplary report may include an analysis of the job attribute score (and different job attribute scores for different assessment modules, referred herein as collective job attribute scores), in at least one of a tabular format, a graphical format, in a mapped format, a comparative format, a summary formal and a combination thereof. Thus the employers not only receive the shortlisted candidates list but also see detailed feedback reports for individual candidates highlighting their strengths/weaknesses, job suitability, and percentile of scores.

[0025] The system also includes a communication component 22 for communicating with a short-listed candidate selected from the mapping and matching from the analysis component, through at least one of an email message, or a short messaging service to an external communication device.

[0026] It would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that in another aspect the system 10 as described herein above is tuned to candidate wherein the system presented here is used to generate the tagged candidate profile as described herein that is matched with a system generated job profile (agnostic to an active employer job requirement). Here the candidate selects the assessment modules for which he would like to obtain a job attribute score, and these scores are tagged with the candidate resume attribute as mentioned in the previous embodiment. Here the system generates a report which lists job suitability options (FIG. 5) for the candidate based on the tagged candidate profile. The tagged candidate profile is stored in the candidate profile database, which is available for a future search by an employer, where the employer interface as described in the previous embodiment is used by the employer to select and search the stored tagged candidate profiles, and where the report comprises a list of short-listed candidates based on the search.

[0027] In another aspect, a computer network implemented method for matching candidates with a job requirement or a job profile is provided as shown in flowchart 30 in FIG. 5. The method includes steps for providing assessment modules as indicated by reference numeral 32 , wherein each assessment module comprises at least one assessment attribute and a job attribute score generator. Next the method includes a step 34 for receiving candidate inputs for one or more of assessment modules, and for resume attributes. A step 36 for generating a job attribute score from the candidate inputs for the one or more assessment modules is provided. Next the job attribute score and the resume attribute are tagged as shown in step 38 for each candidate to obtain a tagged candidate attribute profile that is stored in a candidate profile database. Analysis is done next to obtain a match of the tagged candidate attribute profile with the job requirement or a job profile as shown in step 40. Different reports are generated at step 42 that are based on the job attribute scores and resume attributes, and at least one report includes a short-list of candidates or at least one tagged candidate profile that meets a pre-defined assessment criterion as described herein above for the job requirement. Alternately, the method also provides for matching the tagged candidate profile with one or more of system generated job profiles for a candidate. In this case, the report includes a list of job profiles from the system generated job profiles that match the tagged candidate profile.

[0028] The method includes additional steps of communicating with the candidates in the short-list through one or more of communication means such as an email message or short message service for interview scheduling, accepting/rejecting decisions by employer or candidates. [0029] It would be appreciated by one skilled in the art that the system and method described herein advantageously and additionally provide, besides the resume parameters or resume attributes, the assessment scores (job attribute scores) on various job parameters (assessment attributes) and thus provide a more accurate match for the suitability of the candidate for particular job profiles or job requirements.

[0030] The online job portal (a web based portal) that is implemented based on the system and method of the invention allows the employers to find candidates as per their hiring needs in multiple ways. The employers can either search by the job profile for which they are hiring. For this, the automatic score criteria is used for generating a profile-to-score mapping for which score/cutoff recommendations are made to the employers for different job profiles. In yet another example, the employers may search by scores (applying cutoffs) through the employer interface to shortlist and search candidates. In yet another example, the employer may post a job on the portal and solicit interest from interested candidates. All three options draw their data from the tagged candidate profile. Once the job opportunity has been posted by the employer or extended to a selective set of candidates (score/profile short listing) the candidates can accept/decline the opportunity to participate in the next steps of the hiring process. If the opportunity has been extended to a selective set of candidates then the candidates who accept the invitation are invited for further hiring process. If the employer has posted the job, then post interest solicitation, the employer can shortlist interested candidates further basis their job attribute scores or profiles for which they are employable, and then invite the shortlisted candidates for the interview process.

[0031] The corporate/employer interface allows an employer to create an account on the job portal and subsequently use that account to access and search the database of assessed candidates, shortlist candidates as per their requirement (demographic details, assessment scores, job profile, experience and educational background), see reports, contact candidates and manage applications.

[0032] All the tagged candidate profiles are stored in the candidate database (candidate profile database) that is available both online and offline. The data in the candidate database contains the demographic details, education details, work experience, job attribute scores of the candidates and job profile recommendations. [0033] The online portal implemented using the system and method of the invention may be accessible through an application interface on a networked computer or through any other electronic and communication device such as a mobile phone connected via wires or wirelessly which may use technologies such as but not limited to, Bluetooth, WiFi, Wimax. In one example the system and method of the invention are implemented through a computer program product residing on a machine readable medium, where the computer program product is tangibly stored on machine readable media.

[0034] The different users described herein may enter or communicate data or request through any suitable input device or input mechanism such as but not limited to a keyboard, a mouse, a joystick, a touchpad, a virtual keyboard, a virtual data entry user interface, a virtual dial pad, a software or a program, a scanner, a remote device, a microphone, a webcam, a camera, a fingerprint scanner, pointing stick.

[0035] The described embodiments may be implemented as a system, method, tool, apparatus or article of manufacture using standard programming or engineering techniques related to software, firmware, hardware, or any combination thereof. The described operations may be implemented as code maintained in a "computer readable medium", where a processor may read and execute the code from the computer readable medium. A computer readable medium may comprise media such as magnetic storage medium (e.g., hard disk drives, floppy disks, tape, etc.), optical storage (CD-ROMs, DVDs, optical disks, etc.), volatile and non-volatile memory devices (e.g., EEPROMs, ROMs, PROMs, RAMs, DRAMs, SRAMs, Flash Memory, firmware, programmable logic, etc.), etc. The code implementing the described operations may further be implemented in hardware logic (e.g., an integrated circuit chip, Programmable Gate Array (PGA), Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), etc.). Still further, the code implementing the described operations may be implemented in "transmission signals", where transmission signals may propagate through space or through a transmission media, such as an optical fibre, copper wire, etc. The transmission signals in which the code or logic is encoded may further comprise a wireless signal, satellite transmission, radio waves, infrared signals, Bluetooth, etc. The transmission signals in which the code or logic is encoded is capable of being transmitted by a transmitting station and received by a receiving station, where the code or logic encoded in the transmission signal may be decoded and stored in hardware or a computer readable medium at the receiving and transmitting stations or devices. An "article of manufacture" comprises computer readable medium, hardware logic, or transmission signals in which code may be implemented. A device in which the code implementing the described embodiments of operations is encoded may comprise a computer readable medium or hardware logic. Of course, those skilled in the art will recognize that many modifications may be made to this configuration without departing from the scope of the present invention, and that the article of manufacture may comprise suitable information bearing medium known in the art.

[0036] A computer program code for carrying out operations or functions or logic or algorithms for aspects of the present invention may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages which are either already in use or may be developed in future, such as but not limited to Java, Smalltalk, C++, C, Foxpro, Basic, HTML, PHP, SQL, Javascript, COBOL, Extensible Markup Language (XML), Pascal, Python, Ruby, Visual Basic .NET, Visual C++, Visual C#.Net, Python: Delphi, VBA, Visual C++ .Net, Visual FoxPro, YAFL, XOTcI, XML, Wirth, Water, Visual DialogScript, VHDL, Verilog, UML, Turing, TRAC, TOM, Tempo, Tcl-Tk, T3X, Squeak, Specification, Snobol, Smalltalk, S- Lang, Sisal, Simula, SGML, SETL, Self, Scripting, Scheme, Sather, SAS, Ruby, RPG, Rigal, Rexx, Regular Expressions, Reflective, REBOL, Prototype-based, Proteus, Prolog, Prograph, Procedural, PowerBuilder, Postscript, POP-11, PL-SQL, Pliant, PL, Pike, Perl, Parallel, Oz, Open Source, Occam, Obliq, Object-Oriented, Objective-C, Objective Caml, Obfuscated, Oberon, Mumps, Multiparadigm, Modula-3, Modula-2, ML, Miva, Miranda, Mercury, MATLAB, Markup, m4, Lua, Logo, Logic-based, Lisp (351), Limbo, Leda, Language-OS Hybrids, Lagoona, Lab VIEW, Interpreted, Interface, Intercal, Imperative, IDL, Id, ICI, HyperCard, HTMLScript, Haskell, Hardware Description, Goedel, Garbage Collected, Functional, Frontier, Fortran, Forth, Euphoria, Erlang, Elastic, Eiffel, E, Dylan, DOS Batch, Directories, Declarative, Dataflow, Database, D, Curl, C-Sharp, Constraint, Concurrent, Component Pascal, Compiled, Comparison and Review, Cocoa, CobolScript, CLU, Clipper, Clean, Clarion, CHILL, Cecil, Caml, Blue, Bistro, Bigwig, BETA, Befunge, BASIC, Awk, Assembly, ASP, AppleScript, APL, Algol 88, Algol 60, Aleph, ADL, ABEL, ABC, or similar programming languages or any combination thereof.

[0037] The different components and databases referred herein may use a data storage unit or data storage device that is selected from a set of but not limited to USB flash drive (pen drive), memory card, optical data storage discs, hard disk drive, magnetic disk, magnetic tape data storage device, data server and molecular memory. [0038] The term "network" as used herein means a system allowing interaction between two or more electronic devices, and includes any form of inter/intra enterprise environment such as the world wide web, Local Area Network (LAN), Wide Area Network (WAN), Storage Area Network (SAN) or any form of Intranet.

[0039] While only certain features of the invention have been illustrated and described herein, many modifications and changes will occur to those skilled in the art. It is, therefore, to be understood that the appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications and changes as fall within the true spirit of the invention.

Claims

We Claim:

1. A system for matching candidates to jobs , the system comprising: a graphical user interface comprising a candidate interface, and an employer interface, for receiving inputs from candidates, and employers respectively, wherein the employer interface is configured for selecting one or more assessment attributes and resume attributes to match with a job profile; a candidate profile database comprising resume attributes from a candidate resume received from the candidate interface; an assessment component comprising a plurality of assessment modules, each assessment module comprising at least one assessment attribute and a score generator to generate a job attribute score for the at least one assessment attribute; an analysis component for generating a tagged candidate profile for each candidate comprising the job attribute score for each assessment module and resume attributes, and for mapping the tagged candidate profile with the job profile or a job requirement; and a reporting component for generating a report based on the job attribute scores and the resume attribute, and the tagged candidate profile.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the report comprises a short-list of candidates that meet a pre-defined criteria for the job requirement.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the report comprises the job attribute score for a strength or a weakness for the one or more assessment attributes.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the report comprises an analysis of the job attribute score, and collective job attribute scores in at least one of a tabular format, a graphical format, in a mapped format, a comparative format, a summary formal and a combination thereof.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the analysis component matches the job attribute score with the job requirement.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the plurality of assessment modules comprise a standardized language skill module, a cognitive ability module, a functional skill module, a personality module and a soft-skill module.

7. The system of claim 1 further comprising a communication component for communicating with the short-listed candidates through at least one of an email message, or a short messaging service to an external communication device.

8. A system for matching candidates to jobs on an online interface, the system comprising: a graphical user interface comprising a candidate interface, for receiving inputs from candidates; a candidate profile database comprising resume attributes from a candidate resume received from the candidate interface; an assessment component comprising a plurality of assessment modules, each assessment module comprising at least one assessment attribute and a score generator to generate a job attribute score for the at least one assessment attribute; an analysis component for generating a tagged candidate profile for each candidate comprising the job attribute score for each assessment module and resume attributes, and for mapping the tagged candidate profile with one or more system generated job profiles; and a reporting component for generating a report based on the job attribute scores and the resume attribute, and the tagged candidate profile.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the tagged candidate profile is stored in the candidate profile database.

10. The system of claim 8 wherein the report comprises a list of job profiles suitable for a candidate based on job attribute scores for candidate-selected assessment modules.

11. The system of claim 9 wherein the graphical user interface further comprises an employer interface to select and search the stored tagged candidate profile, and wherein the report comprises a list of short-listed candidates based on the search.

12. A computer implemented method for matching candidates with a job using an online interface, the method comprising: providing a plurality of assessment modules, wherein each assessment module comprises at least one assessment attribute and a job attribute score generator; receiving candidate inputs for one or more of assessment modules, and for resume attributes; generating a job attribute score from the candidate inputs for the one or more assessment modules; tagging the job attribute score and the resume attribute for each candidate to obtain a tagged candidate profile; and matching the tagged candidate profile with at least one of a system generated job profile or a job requirement, wherein the job attribute score is indicative of a strength or a weakness for the at least one assessment attribute.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising generating a report of at least one tagged candidate profile meeting a pre-defined criterion for the job requirement.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein the plurality of assessment modules comprise a standardized language skill module, a cognitive ability module, a functional skill module, a personality module and a soft-skill module.

15. The method of claim 12 wherein the method comprises storing the tagged candidate profile in a candidate profile database.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the tagged candidate profile is matched with one or more of system generated job profiles.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising generating a report that comprises a list of job profiles from the system generated job profiles that match the tagged candidate profile.