Method and system for processing an employment application

• US 8,843,388 B1
• Filed: 06/04/2009
• Issued: 09/23/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/04/2009
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: West Corporation
• Original Assignee: West Corporation
• Inventors: Westfall, Robin Lanae, Zeller, Wendi Lee
• Primary Examiner(s): Singh, Gurkanwaljit
• Application Number:
  US12/477,978
• Time in Patent Office: 1,937 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 705/7.13
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063112 Skill-based matching of a person or a group to a task
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0639 Performance analysis of employees; Performance analysis of enterprise or organisation operations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1053 Employment or hiring

Abstract

A web-based employment application process is accessed by a candidate who browses, from a client terminal, to the website that hosts the process. From the website, maintained by a server, the candidate launches the program that executes and manages the process. During an online session, the candidate can navigate through the entire process, including the eligibility determination, resume submission and evaluation, and KSA assessment. Following the last stage of the process, an interview conducted by an interactive voice response system, the program evaluates the interview responses. If acceptable, the candidate is hired.

Claims

1. A method of evaluating an applicant for employment, comprising the steps of:

receiving via a receiver from the applicant, via an interactive electronic medium, first data relating to qualifications of the applicant the qualifications comprising at least one of applicant education, prior applicant experience, applicant work history, applicant professional affiliations, applicant achievements, applicant recognitions, and applicant job skills, the applicant providing the first data in response to at least one corresponding first query communicated via the interactive medium during a first stage of the employment evaluation;

evaluating via a processor qualification data received from the applicant to determine whether the candidate possesses one of an adequate, sufficient, and satisfactory qualification level to permit continuance of the application process;

identifying the qualification level of the applicant to be at least at a satisfactory qualification level prior to proceeding to a second stage of the employment evaluation;

evaluating via the processor the first data received from the applicant, according to predetermined criteria and storing the first data in a memory;

receiving from the applicant, via the interactive medium, second data suitable for making an assessment of the applicant relative to work performance competency, the applicant providing the second data in response to at least one corresponding second query communicated via the interactive medium and storing the second data in the memory;

identifying the work performance competency of the applicant to be at least at a satisfactory knowledge skills and abilities (KSA) level prior to proceeding to a third stage of the employment evaluation;

evaluating via the processor the second data received from the applicant, according to predetermined criteria;

retrieving from a database predefined correct answers;

comparing the predefined correct answers to at least one of the first data and the second data;

evaluating the results of the comparing operation;

calculating a score based on a measured correlation between the predefined correct answers and the at least one of the first data and the second data;

initiating an interactive voice response (IVR) candidate selection operation that facilitates a live interview stage with the applicant over a voice connection;

retrieving interview questions from an automated query generator and submitting the questions to the applicant over the voice connection;

receiving answers to the questions from the applicant over the voice connection;

comparing the answers to predetermined criteria stored in a database via an evaluator module;

determining evaluation results and transmitting the evaluation results to a controller to determine a next course of action; and

determining a suitability of the applicant for employment, based on the results of the first data evaluation, the second data evaluation, the live interview stage, and the calculated score.

2. The method of claim 1, further includes the steps of:

receiving from the applicant, via the interactive medium, third data relating to employment eligibility of the applicant, the applicant providing the third data in response to at least one corresponding third query communicated via the interactive medium;

determining an eligibility of the applicant for employment, using the third data; and

proceeding to cause the at least one first query communication and the at least one second query communication upon a satisfactory determination of eligibility.

3. The method of claim 1, further includes the steps of:

following a favorable determination of suitability of the applicant for employment, conducting an automated interview with the applicant and generating interview data representative thereof;

evaluating the interview data; and

generating a hiring decision concerning the applicant, based on the results of the interview data evaluation.

4. The method of claim 3, further includes the step of:

following an affirmative hiring decision, receiving from the applicant, via the interactive medium, fourth data relating to new hire information, the applicant providing the fourth data in response to at least one corresponding fourth query communicated via the interactive medium.

5. The method of claim 1, further includes the step of:

generating a plurality of user-interactive web pages to facilitate communication of the at least one first query and the at least one second query, and to facilitate collection of the first data and the second data submitted by the applicant in response to the queries.

6. The method of claim 1, further includes the steps of:

providing a client, a server, and an operative connection between the client and the server;

conducting at least one communication session between the client and the server;

enabling the server, in the at least one communication session, to communicate to the client the at least one first query and the at least one second query;

enabling the applicant, in the at least one communication session, to communicate to the server, via the client, the first data and the second data; and

the server performing the evaluation of the first data, the evaluation of the second data, and the determination of suitability of the applicant for employment.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein:

the step of enabling the server to communicate to the client includes the step of generating at least one web page for transmission to the client; and

the step of enabling the applicant to communicate to the server via the client includes the step of the applicant interacting with the at least one web page transmitted by the server.

8. The method of claim 6, further includes the steps of:

the server maintaining a website; and

facilitating conduct of the at least one communication session by the client obtaining access to the website.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first data includes resume information, and the second data includes information indicative of at least one of knowledge, skills, and abilities of the applicant.

10. A method of evaluating an applicant for employment, the method comprising:

generating via a processor at least one query relevant to an application for employment by presenting at least one first query relating to eligibility for employment, at least one second query relating to qualifications, and at least one third query relating to an assessment regarding work performance competency, the qualifications comprising at least one of applicant education, prior applicant experience, applicant work history, applicant professional affiliations, applicant achievements, applicant recognitions, and applicant job skills;

enabling the applicant to provide at least one response to the at least one first query, the at least one second query and the at least one third query during a first stage of the employment evaluation;

evaluating via the processor qualification data received from the applicant to determine whether the candidate possesses one of an adequate, sufficient, and satisfactory qualification level to permit continuance of the application process;

identifying the qualification level of the applicant to be at least at a satisfactory qualification level prior to proceeding to a second stage of the employment evaluation;

identifying the work performance competency of the applicant to be at least at a satisfactory knowledge skills and abilities (KSA) level prior to proceeding to a third stage of the employment evaluation;

including a computing facility, for processing and evaluating the at least one applicant response to determine a suitability of the applicant for employment;

retrieving from a database predefined correct answers;

comparing the predefined correct answers to the at least one response;

evaluating the results of the comparing operation;

calculating a score based on a measured correlation between the predefined correct answers and the at least one response;

initiating an interactive voice response (IVR) candidate selection operation that facilitates a live interview stage with the applicant over a voice connection;

retrieving interview questions from an automated query generator and submitting the questions to the applicant over the voice connection;

receiving answers to the questions from the applicant over the voice connection;

comparing the answers to predetermined criteria stored in a database via an evaluator module;

determining evaluation results and transmitting the evaluation results to a controller to determine a next course of action; and

providing a determination of eligibility of the applicant for employment responsive to applicant responses to the at least one second query, the live interview stage, and applicant responses to the at least one third query by comparing the applicant responses to the at least one second query and the applicant responses to the at least one third query and the applicant responses to the live interview stage to predetermined criteria and based on the calculated score.

11. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein:

the generating is performed via a server;

the enabling is performed via a client, the client configured for operative communication with the server; and

the processing and evaluating are performed via an executable program, the program configured for operation by the server.

12. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein:

the generating further comprises providing at least one web page presenting the at least one query; and

the enabling is performed via an internet-enabled client having a graphical user interface, the client facilitating access to and presentation of the at least one web page, the client configured for operative communication with the server.

13. The method as recited in claim 10, further comprising:

conducting an automated interview with the applicant via an interactive voice response system and generating interview data representative of the interview; and

evaluating the generated interview data and generating a hiring decision concerning the applicant based on the results of the interview data evaluation.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions for execution by a processor, that, when executed, cause the processor to:

generate at least one first query during a first stage of the employment evaluation relating to applicant qualifications, the qualifications comprising at least one of applicant education, prior applicant experience, applicant work history, applicant professional affiliations, applicant achievements, applicant recognitions, and applicant job skills;

generate at least one second query relating to an assessment of the applicant relative to work performance competency;

receive at least one response to the at least one first query and to the at least one second query;

evaluate via the processor qualification data received from the applicant to determine whether the candidate possesses one of an adequate, sufficient, and satisfactory qualification level to permit continuance of the application process;

identify the qualification level of the applicant to be at least at a satisfactory qualification level prior to proceeding to a second stage of the employment evaluation;

receive information representative of an interview conducted with the applicant;

process and evaluate the at least one first query response, the at least one second query response, and the received interview information to determine a suitability of the applicant for employment, using the processing and evaluation results as the basis for the suitability determination;

identifying the work performance competency of the applicant to be at least at a satisfactory knowledge skills and abilities (KSA) level prior to proceeding to a third stage of the employment evaluation;

compare the at least one received response to predetermined criteria specifying an acceptability metric;

retrieve from a database predefined correct answers;

compare the predefined correct answers to the at least one response;

evaluate the results of the compare operation;

initiate an interactive voice response (IVR) candidate selection operation that facilitates a live interview stage with the applicant over a voice connection;

retrieve interview questions from an automated query generator and submitting the questions to the applicant over the voice connection;

receive answers to the questions from the applicant over the voice connection;

compare the answers to predetermined criteria stored in a database via an evaluator module;

determine evaluation results and transmitting the evaluation results to a controller to determine a next course of action; and

calculate a score based on a measured correlation between the predefined correct answers, the at least one response and the live interview stage and wherein the suitability determination is further based on the score.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:

generate at least one query relevant to eligibility for employment;

receive at least one response to the at least one eligibility query;

render an eligibility determination based on the at least one received eligibility query response; and

use the eligibility determination to decide whether to proceed with operations in furtherance of the application for employment.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:

generate web page content communicating the at least one generated query;

receive at least one web page submission responsive to the at least one query communicated by the generated web page content; and

process and evaluate the at least one received web page submission.