

Ask HN: computer dating, but for jobs--does it exist? - tutufan

You're probably familiar with the concept of computer dating: You fill out an extremely detailed questionnaire and some complex solver finds potential mates that are (in theory) highly suitable matches.  (Or at least, this is how I imagine it, not having done it myself.)<p>It seem like this would be useful for matching job candidates to employment positions.  Do sites like this exist?  Current methods for matching seem inefficient and produce seriously suboptimal solutions.  Is there a better way?
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srconstantin
www.whitetruffle.com is the best I've found so far.

It matches based on skills and a few other attributes (like location and
whether you have a US visa.) I've talked to them, since this is a subject
close to my heart and I'm curious, and they're planning on adding a more
detailed questionnaire and a little machine learning.

Right now they're restricted to New York and the Bay Area and they're focused
on engineering positions, mostly at startups. But they do a pretty darn good
job. I'm on there, and I get a job offer every few weeks or so, many from
excellent companies.

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tutufan
Thanks!

I think there's a real opportunity here for someone who can do this well. The
current system works okay when you're just looking for a warm body with
something dreary and obvious like "15 years of Java". But it's terrible for
trying to match people who just f*cking love technology (and have the
corresponding broad and idiosyncratic skillsets) to matching opportunities.

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srconstantin
Oh, I think so too. For a while that was what I wanted to work on, except that
I figured Whitetruffle were too good to compete with.

One critical part of a business like that is connections with the recruiting
industry, because you're essentially asking employers to let you serve as
their recruiter, and you need to build trust. You can't just build the site
and wait for people to come. Whitetruffle got that part right: their founder
is a former recruiter.

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steventruong
There are a few job sites cropping up trying to tackle this but aren't fully
scaled yet so I guess time will tell whether or not they end up being
effective. The issue is, like dating sites, they're not going to be perfect
solutions.

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whichdan
There's Hirelite[1] which touts itself as "Speed Dating for Jobs." Not exactly
what you're looking for, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

[1] <http://www.hirelite.com/>

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tutufan
Thanks!

