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Using Machine Learning To Find a Better Job 55

Posted by samzenpus from the working-it-out dept.
An anonymous reader writes Artificial intelligence is gaining popularity in startups, with efforts ranging from virtual assistants to deep-learning approaches to business. An MIT Media Lab spinout called Beansprock is using natural language processing and machine learning to scour job listings for good matches for engineers and developers. The software breaks down users' skills and maps them to its understanding of open positions at companies. The site focuses on Boston-area jobs for now, but could expand if it's successful.
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Using Machine Learning To Find a Better Job More

Using Machine Learning To Find a Better Job

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  • Let me translate (Score:3)

    by Torp ( 199297 ) on Thursday February 05, 2015 @04:26AM (#48987179)

    They've automated the work of the drones that spam my linkedin profile after matching keywords and NOT reading anything in the free form text?

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      The unaddressed problem is that there is never any discernable relationship between the advertised job and the actual job - nor any relationship between the resume of the job seeker and the actual person...

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by umghhh ( 965931 )
        this is a black and white vision that would make any geek proud. The thing is - there is a relationship but it is not direct and straightforward. It reminds me of an Inverted Pendulum or rather a set of those to be held up just by moving their only support point.
      • Nor is there any direct relationship between the recruiter who's emailing you and your resume. Place key information about your career objectives (e.g. "i want you to get me a visa to work in $location") within the first paragraph and watch it be gleefully ignored, not just by the usual spammer suspects but by a variety of guys with a coherent pitch and several major tech shops like Amazon, Facebook, et cetera. :(

  • a bit of history (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Look up FlipDog, a spinout of the WhizBang startup in 2001.
    Got obsorbed by Monster.com.
    Had the same description.

    • Man, I loved Flipdog. I only got a few job recommendations from it at a time, but they were all spot on. Monster's recommendations are worthless.

  • I don't know, and perhaps it isn't so.
    But the more machines control our gates,
    The less we humans can control our fates.
    But into the future we go!

  • So (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    The next step will be to reverse the process and fire the hiring department?

  • depends on the requirements of the position... (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward

    ... here in Europe (Germany and Austria) those requirements usually look like a letter to Santa Claus...

  • Mapping lies to lies... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by tommeke100 ( 755660 ) on Thursday February 05, 2015 @07:51AM (#48987657)
    Crap in -> Crap out.
    But seriously, don't the common job sites do this already? I'm pretty sure a Monster; GlassDoor or LinkedIn already have departments working on better matching algorithms ( using NLP, supervised or un-supervised machine learning).

  • In other words, they've replaced the keyword-matching recruitment agent with a script? Way to go!

    OK, I'm off to read the article now. Or at least the summary.

  • Yeah, the people who need help getting jobs most are hipsters in the world's top startup hotspots. Great work, guys.

  • job search / response (Score:3)

    by NynexNinja ( 379583 ) on Thursday February 05, 2015 @10:08AM (#48988143)
    I wrote a machine learning program that did when dice.com came online around 1990. I still use it today and it searches jobs (or any posting) on craigslist, monster, dice.com, hotjobs. It looks for keyword pattern matches in the job title, job description, etc, to give a score to a job posting, then if the job scores past a threshold, it will send a cover letter and email to the job. some of the most advanced features is that it will auto-generate sentences in the cover letter and/or job description depending on what it says in the job posting.
    • I think you might want to check your DOS Visual Basic for 1990 program it may be dated.

    • Will it also go to the interview for you too? I'd probably want to double check what it is going to do before firing off a job application. But then again if you never hear back for 99% of them, that's no different than doing it the manual way I guess.

  • MIT Media Lab (Score:3)

    by bluegutang ( 2814641 ) on Thursday February 05, 2015 @10:17AM (#48988215)

    Interesting that this comes from MIT Media Lab - where you can find job descriptions [mit.edu] like the following:

    2. UNDEFINED DISCIPLINE

    The Media Lab is a cross-disciplinary research organization focusing on the invention of new media technologies that radically improve the ways people live, learn, work, and play.

    We are seeking a new kind of early career faculty member, not defined by discipline, rather by his or her unique and iconoclastic experience, style, and points of view. You can be a designer, inventor, scientist, or scholar – any combination – as long as you make things that matter. Impact is key.

    This means somebody with at least these three sets of characteristics:
    1) Being deeply versed in a minimum of two fields, preferably not ones normally juxtaposed;
    2) Being an orthogonal and counter-intuitive thinker, even a misfit within normal structures;
    3) Having a fearless personality, boundless optimism, and desire to change the world.

    Any disciplines apply as long as their confluence shows promise of solving big, difficult, and long-term problems. And, most importantly, candidates must explain why their work really can only be done at the Media Lab. We prefer candidates not be similar to our existing faculty. We welcome applicants who have never considered academic careers. If you fit into typical academia, this is probably not the job for you.

    The position has no specific degree requirement. Instead, candidates must show evidence of engineering accomplishment, scientific achievement, design innovation or artistic accomplishment. We are looking for a strong mix of invention, discovery and expression.

    Applications should consist of one URL—the web site can be designed in whatever manner best characterizes the candidate’s unique qualifications. Web site should include a CV or link to a CV.

    I wanted to nominate David Icke :)

  • now if HR would *write* good postings (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    One of the biggest problems is finding someone in HR who is willing to actually collaborate with the appropriate (knowledgable) people to craft a good positing. If conventional "I" can't read postings and figure out what the real job is about, then AI has no prayer of sussing out good patterns. I have done NLP and do ML on a regular basis -- there's no magic there. If the results are magical then your AI is locking onto nonsense inputs. As the data piles become ever larger, it becomes more common that

    • This wouldn't stop someone from "tweaking" the job description that was carefully drafted in the first place. I see this all the time - job descriptions from multiple, usually, offshore, agencies and recruiters with minor differences. The tweaks and grammar are so bad that when combined with their lack of US geography so poor (CA or WA is thousands of miles from my home - without company jet, it's not exactly commuting distance), that I simply laugh at them.

      I want to receive honest job descriptions that m

  • and, just one step in the right direction. But, it does mean being locked into a single job site or agency.

    For me, a bigger issue is getting all the job descriptions (via email) that sound similar...but are being represented by multiple, usually, offshore, agencies. There are minor differences in the job descriptions that make it hard to know for sure they represent the same position. And, they don't like to tell you who the potential employer is UNTIL you sell them your first born and drink demon blood.

  • ... would employ this software in their HR departments to better match prospective employees who've sent their resumes into the company to job openings that would actually be appropriate. I can't remember how many times I've received an email from a company that has my resume on file about a job that would be a "great match" only to read on and discover that the Venn diagram of the position's "gotta have" requirements, previous experiences, and technologies and those listed on my resume don't intersect. At

  • Does machine learning overcome the HR requirement to have five years of experience in a technology that just came out six months ago?

  • How much are a dozen deep-learning researchers worth? Apparently, more than $400 million to Google with their DeepMind purchase:
    http://www.technologyreview.co... [technologyreview.com]

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