Intelligent job matching system and method including preference ranking

• US 7,720,791 B2
• Filed: 05/25/2006
• Issued: 05/18/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/23/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Monster Worldwide Incorporated (Randstad NV)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Chen, Changsheng, Hyder, Adam
• Primary Examiner(s): To; Baoquoc N
• Application Number:
  US11/441,638
• Publication Number:
  US 20060265268A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,454 Days
• Field of Search: 707/3, 707/4, 707/5
• 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 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1053 Employment or hiring

Abstract

A job searching and matching system and method is disclosed that gathers job seeker information in the form of job seeker parameters from one or more job seekers, gathers job information in the form of job parameters from prospective employers and/or recruiters, correlates the information with past job seeker behavior, parameters and behavior from other job seekers, and job parameters and, in response to a job seeker'"'"'s query, provides matching job results based on common parameters between the job seeker and jobs along with suggested alternative jobs based on the co-relationships and based on ratings and preferences provided by the job seeker and provides negative filtration of undesirable jobs based on job seeker input and in response to queries from the system in order to efficiently and accurately accommodate job seeker perception. In addition, the system correlates employer/recruiter behavior information with past employer/recruiter behavior, parameters and information concerning other job seekers, which are candidates to the employer, and resume parameters, and, in response to a Employer'"'"'s query, provides matching job seeker results based on common parameters between the job seeker resumes and jobs along with suggested alternative job seeker candidates based on the identified co-relationships and specifies job seekers to be eliminated from displayed results.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a database comprising data related to a plurality of job seekers and/or a plurality of jobs;

a matching module executed on a computer and in communication with the database, the matching module producing matching results by matching one of the job seekers to a potential job through finding one or more common parameters between job seeker parameters from the one job seeker and one or more job parameters; and

a correlation module executed on the computer and in communication with the matching module, the correlation module determining a correlation between one of the common parameters and one or more jobs of the plurality of jobs, wherein the correlation module includes a ranking module operable to permit one job seeker accessing the system to assign ranking preferences to one or more of a plurality of the parameters considered in the correlation module to enhance the potential job recommendations provided in the matching results downloadable to the one job seeker, and

wherein the correlation module has an affinity engine operable to determine alternative jobs to the matching results based on jobs applied for by the plurality of job seekers.

2. The system according to claim 1 wherein the matching module determines a matching score for each of the common parameters between the one job seeker and the one or more jobs.

3. The system according to claim 2 wherein suggestion jobs are arranged according to the ranking of matching scores for download to the job seeker.

4. The system according to claim 1 wherein the correlation module considers the ranking for correlation of subsequent matching suggestion jobs.

5. A method comprising:

building a job seeker profile of job seeker parameters in response to job seeker Input;

in response to a job seeker query, producing matching results by matching the job seeker to one or more potential jobs through finding one or more common parameters between job seeker parameters and job description parameters;

determining, by a computer, alternative jobs to the matching results based on an affinity between the one or more potential jobs identified in the matching results and other job seekers interest in the one or more potential jobs and based on a preference ranking of one or more of the parameters provided by the job seeker; and

making the matching results and the alternative jobs available for downloading for consideration by the job seeker.

6. The method according to claim 5 further comprising determining a matching score for each of the common parameters between the job seeker and the identified potential jobs.

7. The method according to claim 5 further comprising determining an affinity relevance value for each alternative job based on a popularity of the alternative job.

8. The method according to claim 7 further comprising ranking the alternative jobs according to the affinity relevance value.

9. The method according to claim 5 further comprising:

querying the job seeker for a change to one or more of the preference rankings, then re-determining subsequent matching results.

10. The method according to claim 9 further comprising storing the preference rankings in a personal profile for the job seeker.

11. The method according to claim 10 wherein each parameter for which a preference ranking is provided is also provided with a weighting factor.

12. The method according to claim 11 wherein a sum of all weighting factors for parameter preferences equals 100%.

13. A method comprising:

storing one or more job seeker parameters in response to job seeker input by each of a plurality of job seekers;

storing job parameters in response to input by an employer/recruiter for each of one or more jobs;

in response to a query from one of the job seekers, finding one or more common parameters between the one job seeker'"'"'s parameters and the stored job parameters to produce matching job results;

correlating, by a computer, one or more matching job parameters in the matching job results with other jobs based on stored other job seeker parameters;

determining, by the computer, alternative jobs to the matching jobs from correlation data;

receiving a weighting factor from one of the job seekers associated with one or more of the job parameters; and

permitting the one job seeker to provide a most preferable value for one or more job of the job parameters.

14. The method according to claim 13 further comprising permitting the job seeker to provide a least preferable job parameter and re-correlate matching job parameters to determine alternative jobs for retrieval by and display to the job seeker.

15. The method according to claim 13 further comprising repeating the storing, finding, correlating, determining and querying operations if the one job seeker applies for one of the displayed alternative jobs.

16. The method according to claim 13 wherein the other job seeker parameters include jobs that the other job seekers applied for.

17. A system comprising:

means for storing job seeker parameters in response to job seeker input by each of a plurality of job seekers;

means for storing job parameters in response to input by an employer/recruiter for each of one or more jobs;

means for, in response to a query from one of the job seekers, finding one or more common parameters between the one job seeker'"'"'s parameters and the stored job parameters to produce matching results comprising matching jobs;

means for correlating between one or more matching job parameters and the stored job seeker parameters of one or more of the other job seekers to produce alternative jobs;

means for querying the one job seeker for job parameter ranking preferences; and

means for updating the matching results and the alternative jobs for consideration by the one job seeker.

18. The system according to claim 17 further comprising means for querying the job seeker to modify a preference weighting factor associated with each job parameter ranking preference.

19. The system according to claim 17 wherein the means for correlating comprises an affinity module that determines affinities based on jobs applied for data for each of the plurality of job seekers.