WO2014082118A1

WO2014082118A1 - Systems and methods for managing human resources

Info

Publication number: WO2014082118A1
Application number: PCT/AU2013/001337
Authority: WO
Inventors: Tyrone HELM
Original assignee: Navagate Asia Pacific Pty Ltd
Priority date: 2012-11-30
Filing date: 2013-11-21
Publication date: 2014-06-05
Also published as: AU2013351906A1

Abstract

Systems and methods of managing human resources to facilitate the assigning of contractors to work contracts including the steps of: preparing contract information which includes details of contracts which are to be fulfilled; preparing contractor information which includes details of contractors who are seeking work contracts; and associating contractors with contracts based on the contract information and the contractor information.

Description

SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MANAGING HUMAN RESOURCES

Technical Field

The present invention relates to systems and method for managing resources and particularly relates for systems and method for managing human resources to facilitate the assigning of contractors to work contracts.

Summary of the Invention

In a first aspect the present invention provides a method of managing human resources to facilitate the assigning of contractors to work contracts including the steps of: preparing contract information which includes details of contracts which are to be fulfilled; preparing contractor information which includes details of contractors who are seeking work contracts; and associating contractors with contracts based on the contract information and the contractor information.

The method may further include the step of notifying contractors that they have been associated with contracts.

Both of the contract information and the contractor information may include skills information and the step of associating is carried out based on a comparison of the contract skills information and the contractor skills information.

The skills information may include indications of the level of skill of the contractor with particular products or services.

The products or services may be arranged in a series of categories and a summary of the skill of a contractor in particular categories is displayed on a user interface of the system.

The step of preparing the contractor information may include allowing the contractor to make an assessment of the strength of their skill in a category.

The method may further include the step of offering training to a contractor based on the contractor information.

The method may further include the step of the contractors earning points which can be redeemed by way of payment for the training courses.

In a second aspect the present invention provides a system for managing human resources to facilitate the assigning of contractors to work contracts including a processing means configured to carry out the steps of: preparing contract information which includes details of contracts which are to be fulfilled; preparing contractor information which includes details of contractors who are seeking work contracts; and associating contractors with contracts based on the contract information and the contractor information.

The system may further include means for notifying contractors that they have been associated with contracts.

The system may further include a user interface for displaying the skill of a contractor in particular categories of products or services.

In a third aspect the invention providees a software program including instructions which, when carried out by a processor, cause a computing system to operate a method according to the first aspect of the invention or to embody a system according to the second aspect of the invention.

In a fourth asepct the present invention provides a computer readable medium which is populated with a software program according to the third aspect of the invention.

Brief Description of the Drawings

An embodiment of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is schematic diagram of an embodiment of a system for managing human resources to facilitate the assigning of contractors to work contracts according to the invention;

Figure 2 is a user interface used by an employer using the system of figure 1; Figure 3 is another screen of the user interface of figure 2;

Figure 4 is a flow chart outlining a method conducted by the system of figure i ;

Figure 5 is a flow chart detailing the first method step of figure 4;

Figure 6 is a user interface used by the operator of the system of figure 1; Figure 7 is a flow chart detailing the second method step of figure 4;

Figure 8 is a user interface used by a candidate using the system of figure 1 ;

Figure 8 A is another screen of the user interface of figure 8;

Figures 9 and 10 show another screen of the user interface of figure 8 in collapsed and partially expanded configurations; Figure 11 is a flow chart detailing the third method step of figure 4

Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiment

Referring to figure 1, a system 10 is shown for managing human resources to facilitate the assigning of contractors to work contracts. The system takes the form of a web-server computer which runs under the control of suitably configured software and includes a processing device 12 and database storage 14.

System 10 is configured to operate a method for managing human resources to facilitate the assigning of contractors in the form of prospective candidates 30, 31, 32 to work contracts in the form of job openings that are sought to be fulfilled by employers 20, 21, 22. The candidates 30, 31, 32 and employers 20, 21 22 interact with system 10 by way of running web-browser software on their own computing devices, such as a desktop or laptop computer or smartphone etc. The system administrator 40 also accesses system 10 by way of a web-browser. Each of the candidates 20, employers 30 have registered with the operator 40 of the system and have been provided with their own usernames to login to the system. Each username is associated with privileges and options appropriate to the type of user. The system 10 presents each user with appropriate options and functions accessible via a user interface presented in their web browser.

As part of the registration process for employers 30, 31, 32, the operator 40 compiles information regarding the products of particular companies that the candidates sought by each employer are required to have experience with. These products are arranged into categories and within each category are further arranged into subcategories as will be later described.

As part of the registration process for candidates 20, 21, 22, the operator 40 determines which of the particular companies products the candidate has had experience in and configures their user account so that the names of the products of these companies are displayed to a candidate to allow them to rate their level of experience with each product, as will be later described.

Operation of system 10 will now be described with reference to a simplified worked example in the scenario in the IT industry in which an employer 30 has a job opening which requires a person who is familiar with the products of a company known as company A, and a candidate 20 known as John William is seeking a job. In this example, company A is a software company and its products are software products. The employers' computer systems operate using software products of company A and it is seeking persons skilled in those products to either deploy, maintain or otherwise operate or work on their computer systems or software installations.

In some cases, the employer may themselves be one of the companies whose products the candidates are required to have experience in. In the following described worked example, a distinction is drawn between the "employers" and the "companies" to illustrate that these may be different entities.

Referring to figure 2, the interface displayed at the home screen 50 of employer 30 is shown. The home screen 50 shows a summary of the contracts 51 that the employer currently has on foot with contractors sourced using system 10 showing the percentage of the contract completed by way of progress bars. Jobs board section 52 shows the number of live and pending jobs that the employer has with system 10. Candidate Job Application area 54 shows the progress of job applications made through system 10. Events section 55 shows details of upcoming events which the employer can publicise using system 10. The employer 30 can manage the jobs they have in job board 52 by clicking on screen button Job Management 53 which opens the interface 60 shown at figure 3.

Referring to figure 3, interface 60 shows a summary list of the jobs that the employer 30 has on system 10 including the status of the job, job title and number of applicants.

Referring to figure 4, a method conducted by the system is shown as a series of steps. At step 200, system 10 prepares contract information by receiving and processing job information received from any one of employers 30, 31, 32. This step is shown in further detail at figure 5.

Referring to figure 5, at step 210 employer 30 commences the operation of inputting job information by way of clicking on screen button Add a New Job 62 shown in figure 3. The employer is presented with on screen data entry fields whereby they can input details of the job opening they are seeking to fill including location, an indication of whether it is a permanent or temporary job, salary and a written description of the job. The job is submitted to system 10 and appears as a "Pending Job" in the employer's jobs board 52.

At step 220, the operator 40 of the system reviews the job information submitted by the employer and prepares job skills information by indexing the job by products of the companies that are relevant to that particular employer. This is accomplished by way of interface 221 shown at figure 6.

Referring to figure 6, at the time of registering employer 30 it was determined that they would be seeking candidates with experience of products of company A, therefore interface 221 shows the products and services 224 of company A and the categories 222 and sub-categories 223 into which they were previously organised by operator 40. The operator can specify whether or not experience is required with particular products 224 by marking the particular check boxes 225 associated with each product 224. In the example shown, experience is indicated as being required in relation to products known as "Product C" and "Product E". The selections made are recorded as skills information in database 14.

When the job information has been reviewed and selections of products made, the operator 40 publishes the job as a "Live" job, which appears in employers "Jobs Board" 52. Once a job is published as "live" is becomes viewable to candidates and may become suggested to a candidate as will be later described.

Referring again to figure 4, at step 300, system 10 prepares contractor information by receiving and processing candidate information received from any one of candidates 20, 21, 22. This step is shown in further detail at figure 7.

Referring to figure 7, at step 310 candidate information is received by system

10. As mentioned above, before using the system a candidate must pre-register with the operator 40 of the system. During this registration process the operator obtains basic contact information of the candidate and also determines which companies products the candidate has experience with. This determination controls the options that are presented to a candidate to allow them to rate their strength of experience in products as will be later described. In the present example, it is determined that candidate John William has experience of the products of Company A.

Referring to figure 8, following user registration, candidates are able to login the system and are presented with home screen 65. By clicking on "My Profile" 66 candidates may enter free text information into an editable profile interface 70 shown at figure 8A. The information includes various contact details as well as work experience and education details. The candidate may upload a traditional CV document to the system. The candidate can indicate their availability for work by way of selecting from drop down box 72.

Referring again to figure 7, at step 320 candidate skills information is recorded relating to the depth of the candidates experience of particular products of particular companies. This procedure is initiated by the candidate clicking on the on screen button "My Skills Map" 71 in figure 8 A which brings up the interface shown at figures 9 and 10.

Referring to figures 9 and 10, interface 80 allows a candidate to rate their skill level by way of assessing their level of experience with particular products produced by companies configured in the system. In the present example, John William is presented with options allowing him to rate his experience with products of Company A as previously defined in figure 6.

Figure 9 shows the interface 80 in a collapsed view. The categories 82 of products relevant to Company A are shown along with a summary 86 of John William's experience with the products. To enter information, one of the category headings must be clicked on to expand the interface.

Figure 10 shows interface 80 partially expanded with the category heading "Monitor & Operate" having been clicked on. The sub-category headings 83 are now displayed along with the names of products that were assigned to these headings as defined by the interface of figure 6. The candidate, John William, may now rate his experience in the various products by use of segmented bars 85 to select either one, two three or four segments of each bar. A rating of one segment corresponds to an experience level "Limited". A rating of two segments corresponds to experience level "Skilled". A rating of three segments corresponds to an experience level of

"Advanced" and a rating of four segments corresponds to an experience rating of "Expert".

In the present example, John William has indicated an experience level of "Skilled" in relation to Product A, an experience level of "Advanced" in relation to Products B and D, and an experience level of "Expert" in relation to Products C and E. Of course, in a real life implementation the various product or services will be referred to by their usual names, and not by reference to letters A, B, C, D, E which are used herein only for the purpose of illustration.

As can be seen when compared to figure 9, the summary 86 of the category 82 Monitor and Operate provides a snap shot of the candidate's level of experience within a category by indicating the number of products that have been selected for each available experience level. In this case, zero products were rated at experience level "Limited", one was rated at experience level "Skilled" and two were rated for both of "Advanced" and "Expert". In contrast, for the category "Integrate and Orchestrate" five products were ranked with experience level "Limited". Candidate John William is therefore not particularly experienced in this category.

From the interface shown in figure 9 it is possible to gain an understanding of a candidate's level of experience in a particular category without analysing the detailed selections for the various products in the category.

The ratings made by John William are saved as candidate skills information by the system.

Whenever a candidate makes changes to their information, be that by way of updating their profile, or by adjusting their ratings in the section "My Skills Map" the operator of the system is notified by way of an internal message or email. The operator 40 may then review the changes made by the candidate for the purposes of ensuring ranking accuracy and overall quality control.

The procedures described above for preparing contract information and contractor information are repeated as necessary for multiple jobs and candidates. In this way, the system accumulates details of numerous job openings and numerous candidates.

Referring again to figure 4, at step 400 system 10 facilitates the assigning of candidates to jobs as described in further detail with reference to figure 11.

Referring to figure 11 at step 410 the system is configured to associate candidates with jobs based on thejob information and the candidate information previously prepared. In particular, system 10 associates candidates with jobs based on comparing thejob skills information with the candidate skills information.

Returning to the worked example, system 10 periodically analyses the recorded job skills information and candidate skills information to identify candidates who have recorded at least a level of "Advanced" against all of the products which have been indexed against ajob. In this case, system associates candidate John William to thejob opening of employer 30 because John William has recorded a level of experience "Expert" against both of products "Product C and "Product E" that were specified in relation to thejob opening. The threshold criteria for associating candidates with jobs is configurable by the operator of the system. For instance, instead of requiring experience in all products, the system may associate a candidate with a job if experience in only one of the nominated products, or a certain number or proportion of the nominated products.

Furthermore, the system may be configured to associate a candidate to a job if they have recorded a skill level of at least "Skilled" in relation to the product. In some

embodiments, the system may rank the candidates in terms of their level of experience, and the proportion of the products that they have experience in, and may associate a pre-determined number of the higher ranked candidates to the jobs.

The location of the job and the location of the candidate may also be taken into account when associating jobs with candidates. Candidates may indicate a particular distance they are willing to travel, or specify particular locations in which they are willing to work. Furthermore, the availability of a candidate is also taken into account. A candidate may indicate that they are currently available, not available, or will be available from a particular date. The availability information is assessed in relation to the start date of each job.

At step 420, system 10 notifies candidates that they have been associated with jobs. This is done by way of a notification area in each candidate's user interface (labelled 67 in figure 8). Alternatively, candidates may elect to be notified by email or SMS message or similar in their user preferences. Candidates may view the j ob details of the j obs that they have been associated with by way of their interface. The identity of the employer is not disclosed to the candidate.

At step 430, the system is configured to manage job placements. If, upon viewing details of a job suggested to them, the candidate is interested in applying for the job then they select an onscreen option "Apply for Job". Details of candidates who have selected "Apply for Job" are presented to employers on their user interface. The identity of the candidate is not disclosed to the employer.

The employer may then review certain profile information of the candidate, including their skills information as depicted in figures 9 and 10 to assess their suitability for the job. If, upon viewing details of a candidate, the employer is interested in assigning the job to the candidate then they can indicate this using their interface, or instead may invite the candidate to participate in an interview where each party may have further discussions with one another. Candidates are notified by way of job application status area 68 of figure 8 if they have been assigned to a job, or invited to an interview . Similarly, following an interview, candidates are notified of the outcome of the interview, which may be that they have not been assigned to job, that they have been assigned to the job, or that they are invited to attend a further round of interviews.

As well as receiving details of candidates who have responded positively to suggested jobs, employers may make their own searches of candidates based on the candidate information with a view to fulfilling live job openings that they have entered in the system. During such searches, the identity of the candidates is not disclosed to the employer, but they may initiate suggestions of jobs to candidates which are then managed by the system.

In the embodiment described above the operator of the system indexed the job with the appropriate products of the company that the candidate was required to have experience of to prepare the job skills information. In other embodiments the employer could carry out this function. In such an embodiment, the operator may review the skills information recorded by the employer for quality control purposes.

In the embodiment described above the skills information related to particular products produced by companies. In other embodiments the skills information may be prepared by reference to the names of services offered by companies.

In another aspect of the system and method, the employers (or companies) may offer training courses to the candidates. This training can be targeted to candidates based on their skills information. Based on the skills information it is possible to determine that a particular candidate may benefit from improving their experience in particular areas. This in turn will increase their chances of securing jobs.

In some embodiments, a candidate may earn points with employers by completing various job contracts. These points can be redeemed by way of credit instead of paying money for training courses. Details of training courses are presented to candidates by way of screen area 69 of figure 8.

It can be seen that embodiments of the invention have at least one of the following advantages:

Contracts are automatically associated with contractors to relieve manual assessment of resume information in light of available jobs Skills requirements and skill levels are able to be expressed by employers and contractors in terms that each other can directly relate to Employers and candidates are provided with their own interface which can initiate, manage and complete all stages of assigning contracts to contractors

Any reference to prior art contained herein is not to be taken as an admission that the information is common general knowledge, unless otherwise indicated.

Finally, it is to be appreciated that various alterations or additions may be made to the parts previously described without departing from the spirit or ambit of the present invention.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A method of managing human resources to facilitate the assigning of

contractors to work contracts including the steps of:

preparing contract information which includes details of contracts which are to be fulfilled;

preparing contractor information which includes details of contractors who are seeking work contracts; and

associating contractors with contracts based on the contract information and the contractor information.

2. A method according to claim 1 further including the step of notifying

contractors that they have been associated with contracts.

3. A method according to any preceding claim wherein both of the contract information and the contractor information includes skills information and the step of associating is carried out based on a comparison of the contract skills information and the contractor skills information.

4. A method according to claim 3 wherein the skills information includes

indications of the level of skill of the contractor with particular products or services.

5. A method according to claim 4 wherein the products or services are arranged in a series of categories and a summary of the skill of a contractor in particular categories is displayed on a user interface of the system.

6. A method according to claim 4 wherein the step of preparing the contractor information includes allowing the contractor to make an assessment of the strength of their skill in a category.

7. A method according to any preceding claim further including the step of

offering training to a contractor based on the contractor information.

8. A method according to claim 7 further including the step of the contractors earning points which can be redeemed by way of payment for the training courses.

9. A system for managing human resources to facilitate the assigning of

contractors to work contracts including a processing means configured to carry out the steps of: preparing contract information which includes details of contracts which are to be fulfilled;

10. A system according to claim 9 further including means for notifying

contractors that they have been associated with contracts.

11. A system according to either of claim 9 or claim 10 further including a user interface for displaying the skill of a contractor in particular categories of products or services.

12. A software program including instructions which, when carried out by a

processor, cause a computing system to operate a method according to any one of claims 1 to 8 or to embody a system according to any one of claims 9 to 11.

13. A computer readable medium which is populated with a software program according to claim 12.