Match-based employment system and method

• US 20060229896A1
• Filed: 04/11/2005
• Published: 10/12/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/11/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania (Citizens Financial Group Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Jobfox, Inc. (Axel Springer SE)
• Inventors: Evans, Andrew, Anderson, Erik, Rosen, Howard, Smith, Brent, McGovern, Robert J., Ferry, Leslie, Farmer, Brian, Koczara, Pam
• Granted Patent: US 7,805,382 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/321
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1053 Employment or hiring

Abstract

In one embodiment of the present invention, a match-based employment system and method of operation are provided. The match-based employment system collects a plurality of employer seeker and employee seeker profiles, bi-directionally matches the employer seeker and said employee seeker profiles and displays at least a portion of the results to an employer seeker or an employee seeker. The match-based employment system can also order the bi-directional matching results based on a bi-directional match score and display the bi-directional matching results according to the ordering. The match-based employment system can also perform the matching such that approximately 70% of a matching score depends upon the quality of the match between employee seeker desires and employment seeker attributes and approximately 30% of the matching score depends upon the quality of the match between employment seeker desires and employee seeker attributes.

Claims

1. A method of operating an employment system comprising:

receiving an attribute of an employment seeker;

associating said employment seeker and an employee seeker;

receiving a change made to said attribute; and

notifying said employee seeker of said change.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said attribute is work history information.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said attribute is skill information.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein said attribute is education history information.

5. A method of operating an employment system comprising:

receiving an attribute of an employment seeker;

associating said employment seeker and an employee seeker;

associating a history with said attribute; and

presenting said history to said employee seeker.

6. A method of operating an employment system comprising:

receiving an attribute unit, wherein said attribute unit comprises;

an attribute identifier;

associating a duration with said attribute unit; and

associating at least a portion of said duration with said attribute identifier.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein associating said duration comprises:

receiving a beginning time.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein associating said duration comprises:

receiving an ending time.

9. The method of claim 6 wherein associating said duration comprises:

receiving said duration.

10. A method of operating an employment system comprising:

enabling a first entity to specify an attribute;

enabling said first entity to specify a threshold recency condition; and

determining whether to associate said first entity and a second entity at least partly based upon whether a recency measure associated with said attribute for said second entity satisfies said threshold recency condition.

11. A method of operating an employment system comprising:

receiving a desired quantity of time, wherein said desired quantity of time is associated with an attribute;

adjusting said desired quantity of time for recency to produce an adjusted desired quantity of time;

receiving a quantity of time, wherein said quantity of time is associated with said attribute;

adjusting said quantity of time for recency to produce an adjusted quantity of time; and

comparing said adjusted desired quantity of time and said adjusted quantity of time.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein adjusting said desired quantity of time includes:

partitioning said desired quantity of time into one or more time periods;

adjusting each time period for recency; and

combining each adjusted time period.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein adjusting each time period includes multiplying each time period by a factor, wherein the factor depends on the recency of the time period.

14. A method of operating an employment system comprising:

enabling a user of said employment system to specify a first comparison condition;

determining a first group of a plurality of entities, wherein said first group satisfies said first comparison condition;

determining a second comparison condition, wherein said second comparison condition is the result of modifying a comparison condition field of said first comparison condition;

determining a second group of said plurality of entities, wherein said second group satisfies said second comparison condition, wherein at least one member of said second group is not also in said first group;

displaying information about said first group; and

displaying information about said second group, wherein said step of displaying information about said first group is performed at least partly concurrently with said step of displaying information about said second group.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

determining a third comparison condition, wherein said third comparison condition is the result of modifying said comparison condition field of said first comparison condition and wherein said third comparison condition is not identical to said second comparison condition;

determining a third group of said plurality of entities, wherein said third group satisfies said third comparison condition; and

displaying information about said third group.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein said information about said first group, said information about said second group and said information about said third group are displayed substantially colinearly.

17. The method of claim 14 wherein said information about said first group is an indicator of a size of said first group.

18. The method of claim 14 wherein determining said second comparison condition is performed automatically.

19. A method of operating an employment system comprising:

providing said employment system;

determining human resources information from said employment system; and

providing said human resources information to a user of said employment system.

20. A method of operating an employment system comprising:

enabling an employment seeker to enter a first match profile;

enabling an employee seeker to specify a second match profile; and

generating a match score, wherein said match score is determined by matching desires from said first match profile with attributes of said second match profile and matching desires from said second match profile with attributes of said first match profile.

21. A method of operating an employment system comprising:

collecting a plurality of employer seeker profiles;

collecting a plurality of employee seeker profiles;

bi-directionally matching said employer seeker profiles and said employee seeker profiles; and

displaying at least a portion of the bi-directional matching results to at least one employer seeker or at least one employee seeker.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein said displaying includes:

ordering the bi-directional matching results based on a bi-directional match score; and

displaying at least a portion of the bi-directional matching results according to the ordering.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein approximately 70% of any matching score in the bi-directional matching results depends upon the quality of the match between employee seeker desires and employment seeker attributes and approximately 30% of the matching score depends upon the quality of the match between employment seeker desires and employee seeker attributes.

24. A method of operating an employment system comprising:

enabling a first user to remove a second user from a favorites list; and

notifying the second user of the removal, if the first user removes the second user from the favorites list.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

prompting the first user to enter a reason for the removal, if the first user removes the second user from the favorites list; and

providing the reason to the second user, if the first user removes the second user from the favorites list.

26. A method of operating an employment system comprising:

matching a first match profile and a second match profile, wherein the first match profile is associated with a user; and

displaying to the user the quality of the match between the first match profile and the second match profile, wherein displaying includes;

determining one or more components for display, wherein the components contribute to the quality of the match; and

displaying a geometric representation for each of the components, wherein the size of the geometric representation corresponds to how much the component contributes to the quality of the match.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein displaying to the user the quality of the match also includes:

associating a color or pattern with each of the components, wherein the color or pattern corresponds to how much the component contributes to the quality of the match;

displaying a textual representation for each of the components, wherein the textual representation is associated with the color or pattern associated with the geometric representation of the component.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein the geometric representation is a wedge in a pie chart.

29. A method of operating an employment system comprising:

matching a first match profile and a second match profile, wherein the first match profile is associated with a user;

matching the first match profile and a third match profile;

displaying to the user the quality of the first match between the first match profile and the second match profile, wherein displaying the quality of the first match includes;

determining one or more components of the first match for display, wherein the components of the first match contribute to the quality of the first match; and

displaying a geometric representation for each of the components of the first match, wherein the size of the geometric representation corresponds to how much the component of the first match contributes to the quality of the first match; and

displaying to the user the quality of the second match between the first match profile and the third match profile at least partly concurrently with displaying the quality of the first match, wherein displaying the quality of the second match includes;

determining one or more components of the second match for display, wherein the components of the second match contribute to the quality of the second match; and

displaying a geometric representation for each of the components of the second match, wherein the size of the geometric representation corresponds to how much the component of the second match contributes to the quality of the second match.

30. An employment system comprising:

a storage device operable to store an attribute of an employment seeker;

an association unit operable to associate said employment seeker and an employee seeker; and

a notification unit operable to notify said employee seeker of a change to said attribute, if said change occurs.

31. The employment system of claim 30 wherein said attribute is work history information.

32. The employment system of claim 30 wherein said attribute is skill information.

33. The employment system of claim 30 wherein said attribute is education history information.

34. An employment system comprising:

a storage device operable to store an attribute of an employment seeker;

a first association unit operable to associate said employment seeker and an employee seeker;

a second association unit operable to associate a history with said attribute; and

a display unit operable to display said history to said employee seeker.

35. An employment system comprising:

a storage device operable to store an attribute unit, wherein said attribute unit comprises;

an attribute identifier;

a first association unit operable to associate a duration with said attribute unit; and

a second association unit operable to associate at least a portion of said duration with said attribute identifier.

36. An employment system comprising:

a user interface operable to enable a first entity to specify an attribute and to specify a threshold recency condition; and

a processor operable with said user interface to determine whether to associate said first entity and a second entity at least partly based upon whether a recency measure associated with said attribute for said second entity satisfies said threshold recency condition.

37. An employment system comprising:

a storage unit operable to store a desired quantity of time, wherein said desired quantity of time is associated with an attribute, wherein said storage unit is also operable to store a quantity of time, wherein said quantity of time is associated with said attribute; and

a processor operable to adjust said desired quantity of time for recency to produce an adjusted desired quantity of time, adjust said quantity of time for recency to produce an adjusted quantity of time and compare said adjusted desired quantity of time and said adjusted quantity of time.

38. The employment system of claim 37, wherein said processor is also operable to partition said desired quantity of time into one or more time periods, adjust each time period for recency and combine each adjusted time period.

39. The employment system of claim 38, wherein said processor is also operable to multiply each time period by a factor, wherein the factor depends on the recency of the time period.

40. An employment system comprising:

a user interface operable to enable a user of said employment system to specify a first comparison condition;

a processor operable to determine a first group of a plurality of entities, wherein said first group satisfies said first comparison condition, wherein said processor is also operable to determine a second comparison condition, wherein said second comparison condition is the result of modifying a comparison condition field of said first comparison condition, and wherein said processor is also operable to determine a second group of said plurality of entities, wherein said second group satisfies said second comparison condition, wherein at least one member of said second group is not also in said first group; and

a display unit operable to display information about said first group to display information about said second group at least partly concurrently.

41. The employment system of claim 40, wherein said processor is also operable to determine a third comparison condition, wherein said third comparison condition is the result of modifying said comparison condition field of said first comparison condition and wherein said third comparison condition is not identical to said second comparison condition, wherein said processor is also operable to determine a third group of said plurality of entities, wherein said third group satisfies said third comparison condition, and wherein said display unit is also operable to display information about said third group.

42. The employment system of claim 41 wherein said information about said first group, said information about said second group and said information about said third group are displayed substantially colinearly.

43. The employment system of claim 40 wherein said information about said first group is an indicator of a size of said first group.

44. The employment system of claim 40 wherein determining said second comparison condition is performed automatically.

45. An employment system comprising:

a database operable to store transactions of said employment system;

a processor operable to determine human resources information from said database; and

a display device operable to display the human resources information to a user of said employment system.

46. An employment system comprising:

a storage unit operable to store a first match profile and a second match profile; and

a processor operable to generate a match score, wherein said match score is determined by matching desires from said first match profile with attributes of said second match profile and matching desires from said second match profile with attributes of said first match profile.

47. An employment system comprising:

a storage unit operable to store a plurality of employer seeker profiles and a plurality of employee seeker profiles;

a processor operable to bi-directionally match said employer seeker profiles and said employee seeker profiles; and

a display unit operable to display at least a portion of the bi-directional matching results to at least one employer seeker or at least one employee seeker.

48. The employment system of claim 47, wherein said processor is also operable to order the bi-directional matching results based on a bi-directional match score, and wherein said display unit is also operable to display at least a portion of the bi-directional matching results according to the ordering.

49. The employment system of claim 47, wherein approximately 70% of any matching score in the bi-directional matching results depends upon the quality of the match between employee seeker desires and employment seeker attributes and approximately 30% of the matching score depends upon the quality of the match between employment seeker desires and employee seeker attributes.

50. An employment system comprising:

a user interface operable to enable a first user to remove a second user from a favorites list; and

a communication unit operable to notify the second user of the removal, if the first user removes the second user from the favorites list.

51. The employment system of claim 50, wherein said user interface is also operable to prompt the first user to enter a reason for the removal, if the first user removes the second user from the favorites list, and wherein said communication unit is also operable to provide the reason to the second user, if the first user removes the second user from the favorites list.

52. An employment system comprising:

a processor operable to match a first match profile and a second match profile, wherein the first match profile is associated with a user; and

a display unit operable with said processor to display to the user the quality of the match between the first match profile and the second match profile, to determine one or more components for display, wherein the components contribute to the quality of the match and to display a geometric representation for each of the components, wherein the size of the geometric representation corresponds to how much the component contributes to the quality of the match.

53. The employment system of claim 52, wherein said display is also operable with said processor to associate a color or pattern with each of the components, wherein the color or pattern corresponds to how much the component contributes to the quality of the match and to display a textual representation for each of the components, wherein the textual representation is associated with the color or pattern associated with the geometric representation of the component.

54. The employment system of claim 52, wherein the geometric representation is a wedge in a pie chart.

55. An employment system comprising:

a processor operable to match a first match profile and a second match profile, wherein the first match profile is associated with a user, and to match the first match profile and a third match profile;

a display unit operable with said processor to display to the user the quality of the first match between the first match profile and the second match profile, to determine one or more components of the first match for display, wherein the components of the first match contribute to the quality of the first match, to display a geometric representation for each of the components of the first match, wherein the size of the geometric representation corresponds to how much the component of the first match contributes to the quality of the first match, to display to the user the quality of the second match between the first match profile and the third match profile at least partly concurrently with displaying the quality of the first match, to determine one or more components of the second match for display, wherein the components of the second match contribute to the quality of the second match, and to display a geometric representation for each of the components of the second match, wherein the size of the geometric representation corresponds to how much the component of the second match contributes to the quality of the second match.

56. A computer program product comprising:

a computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein configured to operate an employment system, said computer program product comprising;

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to receive an attribute of an employment seeker;

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to associate said employment seeker and an employee seeker;

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to receive a change made to said attribute; and

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to notify said employee seeker of said change.

57. The computer program product of claim 56 wherein said attribute is work history information.

58. The computer program product of claim 56 wherein said attribute is skill information.

59. The computer program product of claim 56 wherein said attribute is education history information.

60. A computer program product comprising:

a computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein configured to operate an employment system, said computer program product comprising;

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to receive an attribute of an employment seeker;

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to associate said employment seeker and an employee seeker;

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to associate a history with said attribute; and

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to present said history to said employee seeker.

61. A computer program product comprising:

a computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein configured to operate an employment system, said computer program product comprising;

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to receive an attribute unit, wherein said attribute unit comprises;

an attribute identifier;

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to associate a duration with said attribute unit; and

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to associate at least a portion of said duration with said attribute identifier.

62. The computer program product of claim 61 wherein said computer readable code configured to cause a computer to associate said duration comprises:

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to receive a beginning time.

63. The computer program product of claim 61 wherein associating said duration comprises:

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to receive an ending time.

64. The computer program product of claim 61 wherein associating said duration comprises:

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to receive said duration.

65. A computer program product comprising:

a computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein configured to operate an employment system, said computer program product comprising;

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to enable a first entity to specify an attribute;

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to enable said first entity to specify a threshold recency condition; and

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to determine whether to associate said first entity and a second entity at least partly based upon whether a recency measure associated with said attribute for said second entity satisfies said threshold recency condition.

66. A computer program product comprising:

a computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein configured to operate an employment system, said computer program product comprising;

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to receive a desired quantity of time, wherein said desired quantity of time is associated with an attribute;

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to adjust said desired quantity of time for recency to produce an adjusted desired quantity of time;

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to receive a quantity of time, wherein said quantity of time is associated with said attribute;

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to adjust said quantity of time for recency to produce an adjusted quantity of time; and

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to compare said adjusted desired quantity of time and said adjusted quantity of time.

67. The computer program product of claim 66, wherein said computer readable code configured to cause a computer to adjust said desired quantity of time includes:

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to partition said desired quantity of time into one or more time periods;

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to adjust each time period for recency; and

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to combine each adjusted time period.

68. The computer program product of claim 67, wherein adjusting each time period includes multiplying each time period by a factor, wherein the factor depends on the recency of the time period.

69. A computer program product comprising:

a computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein configured to operate an employment system, said computer program product comprising;

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to enable a user of said employment system to specify a first comparison condition;

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to determine a first group of a plurality of entities, wherein said first group satisfies said first comparison condition;

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to determine a second comparison condition, wherein said second comparison condition is the result of modifying a comparison condition field of said first comparison condition;

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to determine a second group of said plurality of entities, wherein said second group satisfies said second comparison condition, wherein at least one member of said second group is not also in said first group;

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to display information about said first group; and

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to display information about said second group, wherein said step of displaying information about said first group is performed at least partly concurrently with said step of displaying information about said second group.

70. The computer program product of claim 69 further comprising:

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to determine a third comparison condition, wherein said third comparison condition is the result of modifying said comparison condition field of said first comparison condition and wherein said third comparison condition is not identical to said second comparison condition;

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to determine a third group of said plurality of entities, wherein said third group satisfies said third comparison condition; and

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to display information about said third group.

71. The computer program product of claim 70 wherein said information about said first group, said information about said second group and said information about said third group are displayed substantially colinearly.

72. The computer program product of claim 69 wherein said information about said first group is an indicator of a size of said first group.

73. The computer program product of claim 69 wherein determining said second comparison condition is performed automatically.

74. A computer program product comprising:

a computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein configured to operate an employment system, said computer program product comprising;

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to provide said employment system;

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to determine human resources information from said employment system; and

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to provide said human resources information to a user of said employment system.

75. A computer program product comprising:

a computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein configured to operate an employment system, said computer program product comprising;

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to enable an employment seeker to enter a first match profile;

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to enable an employee seeker to specify a second match profile; and

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to generate a match score, wherein said match score is determined by matching desires from said first match profile with attributes of said second match profile and matching desires from said second match profile with attributes of said first match profile.

76. A computer program product comprising:

a computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein configured to operate an employment system, said computer program product comprising;

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to collect a plurality of employer seeker profiles;

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to collect a plurality of employee seeker profiles;

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to bi-directionally match said employer seeker profiles and said employee seeker profiles; and

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to display at least a portion of the bi-directional matching results to at least one employer seeker or at least one employee seeker.

77. The computer program product of claim 76, wherein said computer readable code configured to cause a computer to display includes:

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to order the bi-directional matching results based on a bi-directional match score; and

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to display at least a portion of the bi-directional matching results according to the ordering.

78. The computer program product of claim 76, wherein approximately 70% of any matching score in the bi-directional matching results depends upon the quality of the match between employee seeker desires and employment seeker attributes and approximately 30% of the matching score depends upon the quality of the match between employment seeker desires and employee seeker attributes.

79. A computer program product comprising:

a computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein configured to operate an employment system, said computer program product comprising;

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to enable a first user to remove a second user from a favorites list; and

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to notify the second user of the removal, if the first user removes the second user from the favorites list.

80. The computer program product of claim 79, further comprising:

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to prompt the first user to enter a reason for the removal, if the first user removes the second user from the favorites list; and

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to provide the reason to the second user, if the first user removes the second user from the favorites list.

81. A computer program product comprising:

a computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein configured to operate an employment system, said computer program product comprising;

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to match a first match profile and a second match profile, wherein the first match profile is associated with a user; and

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to display to the user the quality of the match between the first match profile and the second match profile, wherein said computer readable code configured to cause a computer to display includes;

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to determine one or more components for display, wherein the components contribute to the quality of the match; and

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to display a geometric representation for each of the components, wherein the size of the geometric representation corresponds to how much the component contributes to the quality of the match.

82. The computer program product of claim 81, wherein computer readable code configured to cause a computer to display to the user the quality of the match also includes:

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to associate a color or pattern with each of the components, wherein the color or pattern corresponds to how much the component contributes to the quality of the match; and

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to display a textual representation for each of the components, wherein the textual representation is associated with the color or pattern associated with the geometric representation of the component.

83. The computer program product of claim 81, wherein the geometric representation is a wedge in a pie chart.

84. A computer program product comprising:

a computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein configured to operate an employment system, said computer program product comprising;

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to match a first match profile and a second match profile, wherein the first match profile is associated with a user;

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to match the first match profile and a third match profile;

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to display to the user the quality of the first match between the first match profile and the second match profile, wherein said computer readable code configured to cause a computer to display the quality of the first match includes;

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to determine one or more components of the first match for display, wherein the components of the first match contribute to the quality of the first match; and

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to display a geometric representation for each of the components of the first match, wherein the size of the geometric representation corresponds to how much the component of the first match contributes to the quality of the first match; and

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to display to the user the quality of the second match between the first match profile and the third match profile at least partly concurrently with displaying the quality of the first match, wherein said computer readable code configured to cause a computer to display the quality of the second match includes;

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to determine one or more components of the second match for display, wherein the components of the second match contribute to the quality of the second match; and

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to display a geometric representation for each of the components of the second match, wherein the size of the geometric representation corresponds to how much the component of the second match contributes to the quality of the second match.