Technology Opportunities

General description

• Our team is highly experienced in research and application in the field of vocational psychology and career counselling, with a focus on developing Internet-based, interactive career information and guidance systems.

Background

• We developed a sophisticated Internet-based career-guidance system – Hamivdak, which is used now by thousands each month. This system (and its US version, MBCDTM, which was developed in cooperation with the University of Oregon) is a unique combination of expert, decision-support, and information systems, and is aimed at facilitating the individual’s career decision-making process. Based on the individual’s specifications, the system recommends educational and occupational options worth further exploration, and some initial information about these options.

Advantages

• There are tens of thousands of individuals searching for jobs on the on hand, and there are tens of thousands of positions which waiting to be filled by qualified employees, on the other. The proposed system aims to help both employers and job seekers in the process of their search; specifically, helping employers locate the best candidates for a given job, and job seekers locate the best available career options. The matching algorithm of the proposed system increases (a) the efficiency of the search process for both the employers and the job-seekers, and (b) the quality of the match.
• The proposed system is a unique application of a decision making model that was tested and proved to be most effective, with the required adaptations of the algorithms to the job market. The system employs a flexible search that minimizes misses and maximizes matches for both job seekers and employees, with a unique quality-control component that allows “sensitivity analysis” for both individuals and employers.
• The proposed procedure circumvents the tendency of job-seekers to tailor their responses to fit the requirements of a given job.
• Using the Internet as the platform for the proposed system, employers will directly provide (structured and unstructured) information about the job. Job-seekers will provide (structured and unstructured) information about themselves.
• Unique permission and access codes will allow individuals control over the information accessible to employers, and employers will be able to monitor the information they provide and the access to it.

Achievement record

• The developed tools and interactive systems can be seen at: www.cddq.org, http://mbcd.intocareers.org, www.kivunim.com, http://mivdak.yoram.co.il
• Our research and development team has received international recognition for their development of cutting-edge interactive, decision-theory-based career-guidance tools, and implementing them in the Internet environment. Our tools are scientifically based and empirically tested.
• The development of the matching algorithm, the core of the proposed matching system, has received support from the Wolfson Research Foundation of the Hebrew University.

Objective

• Yissum, the Research and Development Company of the Hebrew University, is looking for a partner to implement the proposed system, and to operate it on an ongoing basis. The research provided by the system is intended to be marketed to employers and recruitment companies; it will be free of charge for job-seekers.

Staff

• Prof. Itamar Gati, PhD, team leader
• Shiri Tal, MA, Reuma Gadassi, MA, Lisa Peretz, BA, Valentina Israelevitz, BA, Michal Eliakim

Contact

• Itamar Gati, tel: 02-5882170, fax: 02-5882084, e-mail: itamar.gati@huji.ac.il

Link to Homepage:

• www.kivunim.com/gati