candidate ranking system

[renierdbruyn]

Hi there,

I am developing a site for a recruitment agency, and I have now come to the point where I need to develop a ranking system of some kind to pull the best candidates for a particular job out of the database and display it or notify the candidates of the job. the candidates fill out an application form which I am going to use to rank then..

now, I don’t know where to start or how exactly it will work.. any suggestions will be appreciated.

PS. I’m still young developer so I dont hve much experience...

[pritaeas]

First define what you will be ranking on. Skills, age, experience, ratings, ...

[renierdbruyn]

Thanks for your reply.
they would be ranked on their quilifation, experience in a certian job field, prefered salary, skills, if they are willing to relocate, on their location and age.

[mmcdonald]

I'm not too sure how you're thinking of doing it but if this was me I would collect years of experience in the job they are applying to, their age (could break certain discrimination laws), their location by postcode and similar variables when they apply. I would then enter desirable figures when I'm filtering (I.E. I'm looking for a mature individual (say, 30), with 6 years experience in the industry and no more than 30 miles from my office.). I would then execute a PHP script that would find the best matching individual and list the next best belo and so forth. I couldn't see it being done any other way without some sort of NASA standard algorithm. Don't take my word for it though as I'm quite new to this too.

I built the ranking algorithm at http://vote4mc.com and it's a similar thing but for gaming servers rather than people.

[renierdbruyn]

Thanks, Ill try it. ill let you know if I get stuck...

[renierdbruyn]

okay so what ive got so far:

//I get the candidates data from the database like so:

class ranking_model extends CI_Model {

    function __construct() {
        parent::__construct();
    }

    function age() {
        $sql = "SELECT * FROM membership";
        $query = $this->db->query($sql)->result();
        foreach ($query as $row) {
            $id = $row->id_number;
            $dobs = substr($id, 0, 6);
            $dob = str_split($dobs, 2);
            $day = date('d', mktime(0, 0, 0, 0, $dob[2], 0));
            $month = date('m', mktime(0, 0, 0, $dob[1] + 1, 0, 0));
            $year = date('o', mktime(0, 0, 0, 0, 0, $dob[0] + 1));
            $date = "$day/$month/$year";
            //explode the date to get month, day and year
            $date = explode("/", $date);
            //get age from date or birthdate
            $age = (date("md", date("U", mktime(0, 0, 0, $date[0], $date[1], $date[2]))) > date("md") ? ((date("Y") - $date[2]) - 1) : (date("Y") - $date[2]));
        }
        return $age;
    }

    function job_experience() {
        $sql = "SELECT * FROM  job_list 
        JOIN job_history
        ON job_list.job_history_id = job_history.job_history_id";
        $query = $this->db->query($sql)->result();

        foreach ($query as $row) {
            $start = $row->start_date;
            $end = $row->end_date;

//            //explode the date to get month, day and year
            $start = explode("-", $start);
            $end = explode("-", $end);
//            //get age from date or birthdate
            $exp_in_years = (date("md", date("U", mktime(0, 0, 0, $start[2], $start[1], $start[0]))) > date("md", mktime(0, 0, 0, $end[2], $end[1], 0)) ? ((date("Y", mktime(0, 0, 0, 0, 0, $end[0])) - $start[0])) : (date("Y", mktime(0, 0, 0, 0, 0, $end[0])) - $start[0]));
        }

        return $exp_in_years;


    }

    function location() {
        $sql = "SELECT * FROM personal";
        $query = $this->db->query($sql)->result();

        foreach ($query as $row) {
            $city = $row->city;
        }
        return $city;
    }

    function relocate() {
        $sql = "SELECT * FROM personal";
        $query = $this->db->query($sql)->result();

        foreach ($query as $row) {
            $relocate = $row->relocate; //are you willing to relocate yes/no
        }
        return $relocate;
    }

    function get_personal() {
        $this->db->select('*');
        $this->db->from('membership');
        $this->db->join('personal', 'membership.id_number = personal.id_number');
        $query = $this->db->get()->result();

        foreach ($query as $row) {
            $row->id_number;
            $row->firstname;
        }
        return $query;
    }
//and the advert details like this:

    function get_advert() {
        $sql = "SELECT * FROM job_advert";
        $query = $this->db->query($sql)->result();
        foreach ($query as $row) {

            $job_id = $row->job_id;
            $job_title = $row->job_title;
            $salary_offered = $row->salary_offered;
            $is_negotiable = $row->negotiable;
            $company_location = $row->company_location;
            $experience = $row->required_experience;
            $age = $row->age;
        }
    }

}

now I don't know how to compare the candidates data with the data that I get from the job_adverts table. I really have no idea. Help of any sort would be appreciated.

Database structure

bold PK itacic is FK.

membership(id_number, firstname, lastname, username, email, phone, password, role, Reg_time, activated);

personal(person_id, address, city, licence, id_number, gender, relocate, minimum_salary, prefered_salary, contract_type);

job_list(job_list_id, job_history_id, start_date, end_date, income, company_name, industry_type, reason_for_leaving, job_title);

job_history(job_history_id, id_number);

job_advert(advert_id, job_title, job_description, start_date, end_date, salary_offered, negotiable, benefits, company_location, required_experience, age);

I have more tables in the db, but these are the ones I use for ranking.