Remote job application method and apparatus

• US 6,311,164 B1
• Filed: 12/30/1997
• Issued: 10/30/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Job Files Corp.
• Original Assignee: Job Files Corp.
• Inventors: Ogden, Edward W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Millin, Vincent
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Cuong H.
• Application Number:
  US09/000,736
• Time in Patent Office: 1,400 Days
• Field of Search: 705/1, 705/8, 705/9, 705/500, 379/219, 379/88, 379/96, 379/212, 379/218, 379/229, 379/245, 379/243, 235/56, 235/386, 434/336
• US Class Current: 705/7.14
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063112 Skill-based matching of a person or a group to a task
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06316 Sequencing of tasks or work
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

A central location receives calls from remotely located job applicants and handles said calls including transmitting messages to applicants and receiving information from applicants over an electronic telecommunication link, automatically and directly. The system provides for real time applicant involvement while permitting applicants to initiate a job application procedure at a time and location selected by the applicant. Preferably calls are handled by a software engine which can identically process any of a plurality of script files containing both provisions for messages sent to and received from applicants and logic flow or branch records, all of which are preferably end-user configurable.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented process for obtaining, at a central location, job-application information from remotely located applicants for jobs, the process comprising the steps of:

a) providing, at said central location, at least a first computer configured to receive information over an electronic communications link, wherein said electronic communications link is accessible using at least a first identifier;

b) disseminating information advising of the availability of a job application procedure by utilization of said electronic communications link in response to a communications link access using said first identifier;

c) establishing a substantially real-time communications link between at least a first of said applicants and said central location in response to said first applicant inputting said first identifier;

d) receiving, at said central location, information identifying said first applicant;

e) storing, in an electronic memory storage device coupled to said central location, said information identifying said first applicant;

f) transmitting a first series of prompts from said central location over said electronic communications link to said first applicant under control of said first computer, related to a first job wherein said first series of prompts is specific to said first job and is different from at least some prompts in a second series of prompts which is specific to a second, different job, wherein said first series of prompts are presented to said first applicant sequentially, and wherein said second series of prompts are not transmitted to said first applicant;

g) inputting, by said first applicant, responses to at least some of said prompts in said first series of prompts, said responses including at least some of said job-application information;

h) automatically transmitting, over said communications link, directly to said central location, data indicative of said plurality of responses input by said first applicant immediately after each response has been entered by said first applicant;

i) storing, in an electronic memory storage device coupled to said first computer, said data indicative of said plurality of responses wherein said storing is performed in a manner to permit said data indicative of said plurality of responses to be associated with said information identifying said first applicant; and

j) outputting, from said central location, at least some of said job application information and said associated information identifying at least said first job applicant.

2. A computer-implemented process, as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

repeating steps c) through i) with respect to a second job applicant for said first job, wherein at least a first plurality of prompts transmitted to said second job applicant are substantially identical to a corresponding plurality of said prompts transmitted to said first job applicant.

3. A computer-implemented process, as claimed in claim 1, wherein said step of outputting comprises outputting said job application information in a format permitting human perception of said job application information without the need for reference to a response key.

4. A computer-implemented process as claimed in claim 1, wherein said step of storing said data indicative of said plurality of responses comprises storing data indicative of all responses of said first job applicant.

5. A computer-implemented process as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

establishing a substantially real-time communications link between at least a second of said applicants and said central location;

receiving at said central location information identifying said second applicant;

storing, in an electronic memory storage device coupled to said central location, said information identifying said second applicant;

transmitting said second series of prompts from a said central location over said electronic communications link to said second applicant under control of said first computer, related to said second job wherein at least some prompts in said second series of prompts transmitted to said second applicant are different from any of said prompts transmitted to said first applicant, and wherein said first series of prompts are not transmitted to said second applicant;

inputting by said second applicant responses to at least some of said prompts, said responses including at least some of said job application information;

automatically transmitting over said communications link, directly to said central location, data indicative of said plurality of responses input by said second applicant;

storing in an electronic memory storage device coupled to said first computer, said data indicative of said plurality of responses input by said second applicant wherein said storing is performed in a manner to permit said data indicative of said plurality of responses input by said second applicant to be associated with said information identifying said second applicant; and

outputting from said central location, at least some of said job application information and said associated information identifying at least said second job applicant.

6. A computer-implemented process for obtaining, at a central location, job-application information from remotely located applicants for a particular job, the process comprising the steps of:

a) providing, at said central location, at least a first computer configured to receive both audio and keypress information over a telephone link, wherein said telephone link is accessible using a telephone number;

b) disseminating information advising of the availability of a job application procedure by dialing said telephone number;

c) establishing a telephone call between at least a first of said applicants and said central location in response to said first applicant inputting said telephone number at a first telephone keypad;

d) receiving, at said central location, information identifying said first applicant;

e) storing, in an electronic memory storage device coupled to said computer, said information identifying said first applicant;

f) transmitting a first series of audio prompts from said central location over said telephone link to said first applicant under control of said first computer, wherein at least some of said audio prompts are specific to said particular job and are different from at least some prompts in a second series of prompts which is specific to a second, different job, and wherein said second series of prompts are not transmitted to said first applicant;

g) inputting, by said first applicant, audio and keypress responses to at least some of said prompts after each of said prompts is received, said responses including at least some of said job-application information;

h) automatically transmitting, over said telephone link, directly to said central location, data indicative of said audio and keypress responses;

i) storing, in an electronic memory storage device coupled to said first computer, said data indicative of said audio and keypress responses, wherein said storing is performed in a manner to permit said data indicative of said audio and keypress responses to be associated with said information identifying said first applicant;

j) repeating steps c) through i) with respect to a second job applicant, wherein at least a first plurality of prompts transmitted to said second job applicant are substantially identical to a corresponding plurality of said prompts transmitted to said first job applicant; and

k) outputting, from said central location, at least some of said job application information for at least one of said first and second applicants, and said associated information identifying said job applicant, said job application information being output in a format permitting human perception of said job application information without the need for reference to a response key.

7. A computer-implemented process for obtaining job application information in an automated fashion over a telephone link comprising:

providing, at a central location, at least a first computer configured to receive both audio and keypress information relating to a job over said telephone link established by a job applicant placing a telephone call;

storing in a memory, coupled to said first computer, a first plurality of script file elements each script file element being identified as one of a plurality of element types, at least one of said element types being a branch type for causing said script file elements to be processed out of order;

said computer being programmed with software to provide a script element processing procedure which includes performing a look-up to determine the type of action to be performed based on said element type and execution of a module corresponding to said element type configured to perform said action corresponding to said element type;

using said script element processing procedure to process elements of said script file, beginning with a first element in said script file and proceeding sequentially through said script file elements thereafter unless processing out of order is specified by a script file element of said branch type said processing of said script file elements providing a first series of prompts wherein said series of prompts is specific to a first job and is different from at least some prompts in a second series of prompts which is specific to a second, different job, wherein a first applicant for said first job is provided said first series of prompts but not said second series of prompts, wherein a second job applicant for said second job is provided with said second series of prompts but not said first series of prompts; and

wherein, an end user can provide modified call processing to alter the logic of how said telephone call is processed, the messages to be played to said job applicant, the number of questions asked and the number of DTMF characters captured by making modifications to said script file and without requiring recompilation of said software.

8. A process as claimed in claim 7, wherein said script file includes at least one other script file element type selected from the group consisting of:

a type for playing a prompt;

a type for saving DTMF from a caller;

a type for playing a sequence of numbers;

a type for saving a value to a variable;

a type for recording audio messages from a caller;

a type for playing a date;

a type for opening a file;

a type for closing a file;

a type for testing a variable for a given value;

a type for saving an internal variable to a database field;

a type for appending a record to a database;

a type for saving predefined information to a variable;

a type for retrieving a value from a database; and

a type for seeking a value in a database.

9. A process as claimed in claim 7, further comprising receiving a call from a first caller and handling said call using said plurality of script file elements;

storing in said memory a revised script file containing a second plurality of script file elements at least some of which are different from said plurality of script file elements;

receiving a call from a second caller and handling said second caller'"'"'s call using said revised script file before the termination of handling said first caller'"'"'s using said first plurality of script file elements.

10. Apparatus for obtaining, at a central location, job-application information from remotely located applicants for a particular job, comprising:

at least a first computer at said central location configured to receive both audio and keypress information over a telephone link, wherein said telephone link between at least a first of said applicants and said central location in response to said first applicant inputting a telephone number at a first telephone keypad;

means for receiving, at said central location, information identifying said first applicant;

an electronic memory storage device coupled to said first computer, for storing said information identifying said first applicant;

means for transmitting a first series of audio prompts from said central location over said telephone link to said first applicant under control of said first computer, wherein at least some of said audio prompts are specific to a first job and are different from at least some prompts in a second series of prompts which is specific to a second, different job, and wherein said second series of prompts are not transmitted to said first applicant where said first applicant is only applying for said first job;

means for transmitting, over said telephone line, directly to said central location, data indicative of audio and keypress responses input by said first applicant, in response to at least some of said prompts, said responses including at least some of said job-application information;

said electronic memory storage device, further storing said data indicative of said audio and keypress responses, in a mainer to permit said data indicative of said audio and keypress responses to be associated with said information identifying said first applicant; and

means for outputting, from said central location, at least some of said job application information for at least said first and said associated information identifying said job applicant, said job application information being output in a format permitting human perception of said job application information without the need for reference to a response key.

11. Apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein said electronic memory storage device stores all said audio and keypress responses of said first job applicant.

12. Apparatus for obtaining job application information in an automated fashion over a telephone link comprising:

at least a first computer at a central location configured to receive both audio and keypress information relation to a job over said telephone link established by a job applicant placing a telephone call;

memory, coupled to said first computer which stores a plurality of script file elements each script file element being identified as one of a plurality of element types, at least one of said element types being a branch type for causing said script file elements to be processed out of order;

said computer being programmed with software to provide a script element processing procedure which includes performing a look-up to determine the type of action to be performed based on said element type and execution of a module corresponding to said element type configured to perform said action corresponding to said element type;

said computer further programmed to use said script element processing procedure to process elements of said script file, beginning with a first element in said script file and proceeding sequentially through said script file elements thereafter unless processing out of order is specified by a script file element of said branch type said processing of said script file elements providing a first series of prompts wherein said first series of prompts is specific to a first job and is different from at least some prompts in a second series of prompts which is specific to a second, different job;

wherein, an end user can provide modified call processing to alter the logic of how said telephone call is processed, the messages to be played to said job applicant, the number of questions asked and the number of DTMF characters captured by making modifications to said script file and without requiring recompilation of said software.