Computerized job search system and method for posting and searching job openings via a computer network

A method and apparatus for providing an interactive computer-driven employment recruiting service. The method and apparatus enables an employer to advertise available positions on the Internet, directly receive resumes from prospective candidates, and efficiently organize and screen the received resumes. The method and apparatus further is capable of monitoring employment advertisements for a job seeker and automatically notifying the job seeker when a position for which the job seeker is suitable becomes available. The method and apparatus further enables a plurality of companies to advertise job positions at a single location accessible via the Internet by a job seeker, and enables the job seeker to communicate directly with a company via the Internet if the job seeker is interested in exploring further information pertaining to an available position at that company.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for providing an 
interactive computer-driven employment recruiting service. More 
specifically, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus 
which enables an employer to use a computer network, such as the Internet, 
to advertise available positions and receive resumes electronically from 
prospective applicants, and enables prospective applicants to use the 
Internet to find those available positions. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
Many resources are presently available to assist businesses in finding 
suitable candidates to fill available positions. Perhaps the most common 
recruiting method is direct advertising by employers in the employment 
section of a newspaper, or in a magazine that is targeted to people having 
specific skills (e.g., engineers, attorneys, computer programmers, and so 
on). A typical employment advertisement will generally include a brief 
description of the available position, along with the address, telephone 
number, facsimile number and/or e-mail address of the employer. Applicants 
can apply for the advertised position by sending their resumes directly to 
the employer by facsimile, regular mail or e-mail. An employer will 
usually have a person in its employment or human resources department 
screen the resumes to identify the applicants best suited for the 
position. 
Many disadvantages are inherent in this conventional recruiting method. For 
instance, a magazine and especially, a newspaper, has a limited amount of 
subscribers and generally services only a limited region. Therefore, the 
company's advertisement may never be seen by many qualified people outside 
of that region. In order to distribute the advertisement more universally, 
it may be necessary for the employer to run the advertisement in several 
newspapers or magazines, thus substantially increasing the advertising 
expense incurred by the company. 
Furthermore, this conventional method is also very inefficient even after 
the resumes are received by the company. For example, because the resumes 
must be manually organized and screened, a person in the company's 
recruitment or human resources department may need to spend a significant 
amount of time every day performing this task. In a large corporation 
having many positions becoming available on a daily basis, it may be 
necessary for several people to devote most of their time to organizing 
and screening applicants' resumes. Furthermore, because a large amount of 
resumes may be received, the task of organizing and screening those 
resumes may be particularly onerous and thus, a certain resume may be 
overlooked or mishandled. As a result, a candidate who is well suited for 
a position may never be considered. 
In an attempt to increase the scope of their advertising, some companies 
have begun using computer networks, such as the Internet, to post 
employment opportunities. For instance, a company may set up its own "home 
page" on the World Wide Web (the "Web") on which various job openings can 
be posted. Anyone who subscribes to the internet can thus access or "log 
on" to that company's home page, determine which positions at that company 
are available, and send a resume to the company via regular mail, 
facsimile or e-mail. 
Although a home page can be a useful tool in enabling a company to expand 
its advertising capabilities, a home page provides no mechanism for 
organizing or screening resumes that are received. The received resumes 
still must be organized and screened by a person in the company's human 
resources department in the traditional manner. Hence, the possibility 
still exists that a resume will be overlooked or mishandled. 
Furthermore, in order for an applicant to see the company's advertisement, 
the applicant must be aware that the company exists and has a home page on 
the Web. Hence, if the applicant has never heard of the company, the 
applicant would not be aware that company has a home page. Many highly 
qualified candidates therefore may overlook a company's advertisement 
because they simply are not aware that the company exists. 
Several advertisement agencies have recognized these potential shortcomings 
and have developed "career bulletin boards" on the Web. A career bulletin 
board, such as CareerMosaic, MonsterBoard, and the like, is an electronic 
bulletin board on which messages can be "posted" as on a conventional 
bulletin board. A career bulletin board is advantageous because it 
provides a single location at which many companies can post employment 
opportunities. A job seeker can log onto the bulletin board to peruse the 
posted available positions. However, several problems are inherent with 
career bulletin boards. 
For example, if a company wants a job seeker to see complete descriptions 
of their job openings, the company must send those complete descriptions 
directly to the bulletin board provider. The computer at the site of the 
bulletin board provider must store all of the company's information and 
thus, must have access to a large amount of memory. 
Furthermore, the computer must be capable of continuously accessing that 
information to display it on the bulletin board. These accessing and 
displaying operations, which involve the handling of large amounts of 
data, may slow the computer's operation significantly. As a consequence, 
if many job seekers are accessing the bulletin board at the same time, the 
computer may be incapable of handling this high level of activity. Hence, 
additional job seekers may be unable to access the bulletin board at that 
time, or job seekers who are already logged onto the bulletin board may 
experience very slow service. Also, if a failure occurs with the computer, 
the entire bulletin board will become unavailable and thus, every job 
posting will become unavailable. 
Additionally, bulletin boards are typically set up so that a job seeker 
submits a resume directly to the bulletin board provider. The resume is 
stored in a central repository along with all of the other resumes, and 
must be forwarded to the company to which the job seeker is applying for 
employment. This type of arrangement decreases the confidentiality of the 
resumes, because they are handled by the bulletin board provider instead 
of only by personnel at the company. Also, this type of arrangement 
decreases the company's confidentiality, since a complete job description 
is sent to the bulletin board provider. Furthermore, once the resumes are 
received by the company, they still must be manually organized and 
screened. In addition, if a company updates its listing of job 
descriptions, the updated list must be sent to every bulletin board to 
which the company subscribes. 
It is further noted that the direct advertising methods discussed above 
require that a job seeker monitor the advertisements on a regular basis in 
order to ascertain whether a specific position is available. Hence, 
instead of relying on advertisements, an employer or job seeker may use a 
professional recruiter to find suitable candidates for available positions 
and vice-versa. However, the efforts of professional recruiters are 
limited by the resources available to them. 
For example, if a recruiter has been hired by an employer to find suitable 
candidates for an available position, the recruiter must undertake efforts 
such as "cold calling" suitable candidates employed by other companies, 
networking with other recruiters to obtain names of potential candidates, 
and the like. Conversely, if a recruiter has been hired by a job seeker to 
find a suitable position, the recruiter may need to undertake similar 
efforts to locate such a position. Hence, it is likely that a recruiter 
will overlook available positions and suitable candidates. Furthermore, 
since recruiters charge a substantial fee for their services, many 
companies and job seekers are reluctant to use a recruiter and incur such 
expense. 
In order to assist companies in facilitating their recruiting efforts, 
several software companies have developed resume screening programs which 
can be configured to screen a collection of resumes for the most qualified 
candidates. Resumes that are received by an employer who uses this 
software are first scanned into a computer and stored. The computer 
running the resume screening software can then be controlled to search 
those resumes for various attributes, such as college degrees, prior 
experience, special qualifications, and the like. The computer will then 
provide a list of the most qualified candidates out of the entire 
collection of resumes. This computerized screening and sorting method 
allows human resource personnel to devote more time to other tasks. 
However, known resume screening software does not assist employers in 
advertising available positions. Although the resume screening software is 
useful once a resume has been received by the company, it provides no 
advantage in enabling the company to seek out the most qualified 
candidates. A company must still use either the conventional methods of 
advertising (e.g., newspaper, magazines, professional recruiter, etc.) or 
a career bulletin board in order to solicit resumes. Hence, the drawbacks 
associated with those types of advertising methods have not been resolved. 
Therefore, a continuing need exists for a system which will maximize the 
scope of a company's advertising efforts while also providing a reasonably 
secure and efficient manner of forwarding resumes to the company and 
enabling the company to efficiently screen and categorize the resumes 
received. Additionally, a continuing need exists to assist a job seeker in 
locating available positions quickly and effectively. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
An object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus 
which enables an employer to advertise available positions on a computer 
network, such as the Internet, to directly receive resumes from 
prospective candidates, and to efficiently organize and to screen the 
received resumes. 
A further object of the present invention is to provide a method and 
apparatus which monitors employment advertisements for a job seeker and 
automatically notifies the job seeker when a position for which the job 
seeker is suitable becomes available. 
A further object of the present invention is to provide a method and 
apparatus which enables a plurality of companies to advertise job 
positions at a single location accessible via a computer network, such as 
the Internet, enables a job seeker to access those positions via the 
computer network, and then disconnects a job seeker from the single 
location while enabling the job seeker to communicate directly with a 
company via the computer network when the job seeker selects an available 
position at that company. 
The above objects are substantially achieved by providing a software 
program, recorded on a computer readable medium, for controlling a 
computer of a potential employer to generate a listing of available 
employment positions that can be accessed via the Internet. Specifically, 
the software program is adaptable to be run by an employer's computer to 
control the computer to generate a computer readable file (position file) 
that includes information pertaining to available employment positions and 
which can be accessed from a remote site via the Internet. For example, 
the position file can be posted as a Web site on the World Wide Web. A job 
seeker can access the Web site and search the information in the position 
file for a desired position. 
Also, a portion of the position file can be uploaded to a remote site 
computer to link the position file to a computer readable file, such as a 
remote Web site, that is hosted by the remote computer. Job seekers can 
access the remote Web site and search the uploaded portion of the position 
file for a desired position. The remote computer also is capable of 
automatically searching the uploaded portion of the position file for data 
that matches data provided by the job seeker, and is capable of informing 
the job seeker's computer by an electronic message sent via the Internet 
when a match is found. 
Furthermore, the portion of the position file which includes more detailed 
information about the available positions is maintained by the employer's 
computer instead of by the remote site. Hence, when a job seeker chooses 
to explore this additional information, the job seeker's computer is 
disconnected from the remote site, and reconnected to a new site which 
possesses this additional information that has been provided to that site 
by the computer of the employer offering the position. The position file 
further includes linking data which enables the job seeker's computer to 
send an electronic message, such as an e-mail or the like, to the 
employer's computer and vice-versa via a computer network such as the 
Internet.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
An overview of an embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in 
FIG. 1. Specifically, this figure illustrates a relationship between a 
computer 40 used by a person searching for a position (job seeker computer 
40), a plurality of employers or companies 41 each having a computer 42 
(company computer 42) which runs computer readable software according to 
an embodiment of the present invention, and a remote location 43 having a 
computer 44 (remote site computer 44) which runs additional computer 
readable software according to the present invention. The remote location 
computer 44 is maintained by a service provider which typically has 
contractual relationships with the employers or companies 41. The job 
seeker computer 40, company computers 42, and remote site computer 44 are 
provided with suitable modems and communications software so that they can 
communicate with each other via the Internet 46. 
The operations performed by a company computer 42 running computer software 
according to an embodiment of the present invention will now be described. 
The computer readable software is written in the form of a computer 
executable program (hereinafter "the company site program" or "company 
site software"), typically in the form of a magnetic diskette, and is 
written, for example, in scripting languages such as C, Visual C++, HTML, 
JAVA, SQL, and the like. 
Specifically, the company site program that is run by the company computer 
42 is compatible for use with Windows NT.TM. or Windows 95.TM., but can be 
written in any language that is executable by any type of computer, and 
can be configured to be compatible for use with any type of operating 
system, software or Web browser. The company site program can be stored on 
any computer readable medium, such as a CD, floppy disk, or the like, and 
can be transmitted from one computer to another by e-mail or in any other 
known manner. 
FIG. 2 is a state diagram illustrating examples of the tasks that the 
company site program controls each of the company computers 42 to perform. 
That is, the overall operation 48 of the company computer 42 as controlled 
by the company site program includes a position posting operation 50, a 
Web site creation operation 51, uploading operations 52 and 53, resume 
handling operations 54 and 55, and a gateway creation operation 56, all of 
which are described in detail below. The position posting operation 50 
will now be described with reference to FIGS. 3-10. 
FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the operations performed 
by a company computer 42 when the computer 42 is controlled by the company 
site program according to an embodiment of the present invention to create 
a new job posting for an available position, or to manage an existing 
position. Specifically, the program controls the company computer 42 to 
display an interactive screen on its display screen which can be used by a 
person, such as one of the company's human resource personnel (e.g., a 
"hiring contact" for a specific position), to control the computer to 
perform certain operations which are described below. 
The company site program can be configured to control the company computer 
42 to allow a user (hereinafter "hiring contact") to interact with the 
program in any suitable manner. For example, if the company site program 
is being used with Windows 95.TM., the Windows 95.TM. display screen that 
is displayed on screen of the company computer 42 can be configured to 
display an icon which, when selected by the hiring contact (e.g., via 
manipulation of a computer mouse or in any known manner), will enable the 
hiring contact to interact with the program. Alternatively, if the program 
is being used with Windows NT.TM., the hiring contact can also select the 
icon representative of the program. 
Once the icon is selected, the company site program will control the 
company computer 42 to display on its display screen a command requesting 
that the hiring contact enter his or her name, pseudonym, or the like, 
which allows the hiring contact to interact with or "log on" to the 
company site program. After the hiring contact has logged on, the company 
site program can control the computer 42 to display an interactive screen 
as illustrated, for example, in FIG. 4. It is noted that the screen shown 
in FIG. 4, as well as all of the exemplary screen configurations 
illustrated in the attached figures, may be found in the "TeamBuilder.TM. 
Getting Started Guide" (Netstart.TM., Inc., 1996), the entire contents of 
which is incorporated by reference herein. 
As stated, the interactive screen allows the hiring contact to instruct the 
company site program to control the company computer 42 to perform desired 
tasks. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 4, the display screen 60 includes an 
administrative tool bar display 62, a position tool bar display 64 and a 
resume tool bar display 66. The positions at which these tool bar displays 
appear on the screen can be changed by the hiring contact through the 
manipulation of a computer mouse, for example, or by any other method 
similar to that in which icons and display boxes in Windows 95.TM. or 
Windows NT.TM. are manipulated as would be appreciated by one skilled in 
the art. 
As illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5, the administrative tool bar 62 has a 
log-on command key 70, a web settings command key 72, a hiring contact 
address book command key 74, a location address book key 76, and a help 
command key 78, all of which are described in more detail below. These 
"keys" are software generated keys which can be selected, for example, by 
manipulation of a mouse as would be readily appreciated by one skilled in 
the art. It is noted that the use of the term "selected" or its 
derivatives in this application refers to selection by manipulation of a 
mouse, depression of the "enter" key on a computer keyboard, or in any 
manner as would readily be appreciated by one skilled in the art. 
As shown in FIGS. 4 and 6, the position tool bar 64 has an add position 
command key 80, an edit position command key 82, a duplicate command key 
84, a deactivate position command key 86, and a print command position 
command key 88, all of which are software keys as described in detail 
below. As shown in FIGS. 4 and 7, the resume tool bar 66 includes a score 
resume command key 90, an e-mail resume command key 92, an e-mail to 
secondary contact command key 94, a reply to candidate command key 96, an 
export resume to disk command key 98, a print resume command key 100, a 
delete resume command key 102, and a find resume command key 104, all of 
which are software generated keys and described in detail below. 
Turning back to FIG. 3, an example of the interactive process that occurs 
between the company site program and a hiring contact will now be 
discussed. It is noted that the company site program can control the 
company computer 42 to perform other tasks and operations 
contemporaneously with the operations discussed with respect to FIG. 3 
and, for that matter, any of the operations discussed herein. 
It is further noted that before the company site program controls the 
company computer 42 to permit a user to perform certain tasks, such as 
adding a job description, faxing a resume, and so on, the company site 
program will check the status of the license key governing the particular 
tasks or feature to be performed or used. As would be appreciated by one 
skilled in the art, the license keys are provided by the organization 
which provides the company site program to the company, and are set based 
on the agreement between the provider organization and the company using 
the company site program. For example, if the company has not licensed the 
resume faxing feature from the provider, the provider will not have 
activated the license key governing that feature which would instruct the 
program to allow a hiring contact at the company to use that feature. 
Also, if the company has only paid the provider to use the company site 
program to post a certain number of job openings, the license key 
governing the amount of job postings will control the program to prevent 
the hiring contact from posting a number of jobs in excess of that amount. 
When the company site program is controlling the company computer 42 to 
perform the position related operations beginning at step 1000, the 
company site program in step 1010 will cause the company computer 42 to 
monitor the position command keys of the position tool bar 64. In step 
1020, if the company site program determines that the add position command 
key 80 has not been selected, the company site program will continue to 
step 1030 where it will monitor whether any of the position categories 
have been selected. It is noted that in the upper left hand portion of the 
display screen 60, as shown in FIG. 4, the listing of position categories 
will be displayed next to a respective "plus" (+) sign. A hiring contact 
can select any of those position categories by selecting the "plus" sign 
next to that category by manipulation of a mouse, for example, or in any 
manner that would be readily appreciated by one skilled in the art. It is 
further noted that the position categories can be displayed at any 
suitable location on the display screen of the company computer 42, and 
can be displayed in any suitable fashion. 
If the company site program determines in step 1030 that none of the 
position categories have been selected, then the company site program will 
return to step 1010 where it will monitor the position tool bar 64 and 
categories. However, if the company site program determines in step 1030 
that a position category has been selected, the company site program will 
proceed to step 1070 as will be described below. Of course, steps 1020 and 
1030, and any of the steps discussed herein, can be performed in any 
suitable order as would be appreciated by one skilled in the art. 
If the company site program has determined in step 1020 that the add 
position command key 80 has been selected, the company site program will 
proceed to step 1040 where it will control the computer 42 to display on 
its display screen a screen 110 as shown in FIG. 8. Specifically, the 
company site program will control the computer 42 to display on its 
display screen a plurality of commands instructing the hiring contact to 
enter information pertaining to the position for which an applicant is 
being sought. 
For example, as illustrated, the screen display 110 may include a position 
entry location 112 in which the hiring contact can enter the title of the 
position, a category location 114 in which the hiring contact can enter 
the category of the position, a brief description location 116 in which 
the hiring contact can enter a brief description of the position, and a 
detailed description location 118 in which the hiring contact can enter a 
detailed description of the position. 
As the hiring contact enters the information in step 1050, the computer 42 
will store that information at a location in memory pertaining to that 
position which can be accessed with reference to that position. That 
information can also be stored with respect to the particular hiring 
contact. 
When the hiring contact enters all of the information on screen 110, the 
hiring contact can select the next screen command 120 to cause the company 
site program to control the computer to display another screen having 
commands and locations in which the hiring contact can enter further 
information and criteria pertaining to the position, such as salary 
requirements, education requirements, percentage of travel required, 
whether the position is part time or full time, required hours per week, 
the dates during which the position is open, whether the position is a 
high priority, medium priority, or low priority position, and any 
additional information which the hiring contact believes may be pertinent 
in describing the position to a prospective candidate. The company site 
program also enables the hiring contact to perform a spell check on the 
entered information, if desired. 
If the hiring contact then selects a command indicating that the data entry 
has been completed, the company site program will control the computer 42 
in step 1060 to display on its display screen a message indicating, for 
example, that the information has been received and stored, and further 
indicating that the position will be "posted" in the manner described in 
detail below. The company site program can then return to controlling the 
computer to display on its display screen, for example, display screen 60 
as shown in FIG. 4. 
If the company site program has determined in step 1020 that the add 
position command key 80 has not been selected, and has determined in step 
1030 that a position category has been selected, the company site program 
in step 1070 will control the computer 42 to continue to display on its 
display screen a display screen 60 as shown, for example, in FIG. 4. The 
program will then interpret the selection of a position category as a 
request by the hiring contact to manipulate (e.g., edit, copy, 
discontinue, and so on.) a position stored with respect to that position 
category. 
For example, if the hiring contact wishes to take action on a "sales 
representative" position, the hiring contact selects the symbol (i.e., the 
"plus" sign) next to the category "sales" by manipulation of a mouse or in 
any manner known in the art. The company site program will then control 
the computer to display, on its display screen, a screen 130 as shown, for 
example, in FIG. 9, in which the different types of sales positions (e.g., 
sales representative, sales manager--West Coast, and so on.) that have 
been previously added in the manner discussed above with regard to steps 
1020 through 1060 are displayed in a list 132. Of course, the different 
types of sales positions can be displayed in any particular order or 
fashion. 
The hiring contact can then select the particular position that is to be 
acted upon (e.g., "sales representative"). The hiring contact can then 
select a particular command key (e.g., edit position command key 82 from 
the position tool bar 64), and the selection will be identified by the 
program in steps 1080 through 1120. 
For example, if the company site program determines in step 1080 that the 
hiring contact has selected the edit position command key 82 and thus 
wishes to edit the selected position (e.g., the "sales representative" 
position) that has been selected in steps 1030 and 1070 in the manner 
described above, the program in step 1082 will control the computer 42 to 
display on its display screen a screen as shown, for example, in FIG. 8. 
The hiring contact can then edit the information in step 1084 in the 
position in a manner similar to that described above in which the hiring 
contact enters information pertaining to the position. When the hiring 
contact indicates that the editing has been completed, the company site 
program will control the computer 42 to display on its display screen a 
message indicating that the information has been received and stored, and 
further indicating that the position will be "posted" in the manner 
described in detail below. In this regard, it is noted that the updated 
information will automatically be uploaded or reposted to all designated 
locations. Hence, a hiring contact need not update the positions at each 
site individually. 
If the company site program determines in step 1090 that the hiring contact 
has selected the duplicate position key 84 and thus wishes to duplicate 
the existing position that has been selected in the manner described above 
with regard to steps 1030 and 1070, the company site program in step 1092 
will control the computer 42 to display on its display screen a display 
136 as shown, for example, in FIG. 10. The hiring contact can then enter 
the name of the new position which is to be the duplicate of the selected 
position, and thus create that duplicate new position in step 1094. The 
hiring contact in step 1096 can then select to edit the new position by 
selecting the edit position key 82 of the position tool bar 64 and editing 
the position information in the manner described above. After these steps 
have been performed, the company site program will control the computer 42 
to display on its display screen a message indicating that the information 
has been received and stored, and further indicating that the position 
will be "posted" in the manner described in detail below. 
If a position becomes filled or the company is no longer interested in 
hiring a person for that position, the position can be deactivated by the 
hiring contact. A deactivated position is stored for access by the company 
site program, but is not posted in the manner described in detail below. 
Of course, the company site program can be instructed to deactivate the 
position automatically based on information (e.g., the dates during which 
the position is to be active) entered by the hiring contact during the 
position adding step. 
To deactivate a position manually, the hiring contact will select the 
position in the manner discussed above with regard to steps 1030 and 1070. 
Then, if the company site program determines in step 1100 that the hiring 
contact has selected the deactivate position key 86 from the position tool 
bar 64, the company site program will deactivate that selected position in 
step 1102. Alternatively, if the company site program determines in step 
1100 that the hiring contact has selected a delete position command (not 
shown) from the positions menu command 134, the program will delete the 
position from the list of positions 132. 
Additionally, if the hiring contact wishes to print a position, the hiring 
contact can select the position in the manner described above with regard 
to steps 1030 and 1070, and select the print position key 88 of the 
position tool bar 64. The company site program will recognize selection of 
this key in step 1110, and control the computer 42 in step 1112 to print 
the selected position at a printer (not shown). 
As discussed above, the company site program typically will store the 
positions with respect to categories (e.g., sales, marketing), hiring 
contacts, and geographic locations. Accordingly, if a particular hiring 
contact is to be used as the contact person for certain positions, it may 
be necessary to add the name of that new hiring contact to the program. 
In the add hiring contact process shown in FIG. 11 beginning at step 1200, 
the company site program in step 1210 will monitor the hiring contact key 
74 of the administrative tool bar display 62 as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. If 
the company site program determines in step 1220 that the key 74 has not 
been selected, the monitoring will continue. However, if the company site 
program determines in step 1220 that the hiring contact key 74 has been 
selected, the company site program will control the computer 42 in step 
1230 to display on its display screen a screen display 140 as shown, for 
example, in FIG. 12. 
An existing hiring contact can then select a command key 142 (e.g., the 
"new" key) on the screen display 140, which causes the company site 
program to control the computer 42 to display on its display screen a new 
entry box 144 as shown, for example, in FIG. 13. In step 1240, the 
existing hiring contact can enter in the new entry box 144 and screen 
display 140 the new hiring contact information, such as the new hiring 
contact's name, e-mail address, postal address, and the like, which will 
be used by the program. The new name is then stored and displayed in step 
1250 by the company site program in the list of names 146 shown on the 
screen display 140. 
If a hiring contact wishes to add a location in the add location process 
shown in FIG. 14 beginning at step 1300, the company site program in step 
1310 will monitor the location address book key 76 of the administrative 
tool bar display 62 as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. If the company site program 
determines in step 1320 that the key 76 has not been selected, the 
monitoring will continue. However, if the company site program determines 
in step 1320 that the location address book key 76 has been selected, the 
program will control the computer 42 in step 1330 to display on its 
display screen a screen display 150 as shown, for example, in FIG. 15. 
A hiring contact can then select a command key 152 (e.g., the "new" key) on 
the screen display 150, which causes the company site program to control 
the computer 42 to display on its display screen a new entry box 154 as 
shown, for example, in FIG. 16. In step 1340, the hiring contact can enter 
in the new entry box 154 and screen display 150 the new location contact 
information, such as the city, state, country, and the like, which will be 
used by the program. The new location name is then stored and displayed by 
the program in the list of names 156 shown on the screen display 150. 
It is noted that if, at any time, a hiring contact wishes to receive help, 
the hiring contact can select the help command key 78 in the tool bar 62. 
In response to this selection, the company site program will control the 
computer to display various informational commands on its display screen. 
In addition, by selecting the log-on command key 70 of the administrative 
tool bar 62, a hiring contact can log-on to the program again as himself 
or herself, or as another hiring contact. That is, in response to the 
selection of the log on command key 70, the company site program will 
control the computer 42 to display on its display screen instructions 
requesting the hiring contact to enter the name of the hiring contact 
logging on. 
It is noted, for example, that positions are typically stored with respect 
to a hiring contact responsible for that position. Hence, by logging onto 
the company site program as another hiring contact, the hiring contact can 
then access the other hiring contact's positions as would be displayed on 
a screen display (e.g., screen display 130 as shown in FIG. 9) for that 
other hiring contact. Also, by again logging on as himself or herself, a 
hiring contact can have access to resumes received for those positions as 
described in detail below. 
As described briefly above, once a position has been added, or an existing 
position has been modified in the manner described above, the company site 
program will control the computer 42 to automatically upload the added or 
modified positions to all designated locations, as described in more 
detail below. Also, the company site program can be used to create a Web 
site for the company 41 on the World Wide Web on which the positions can 
be listed. A general description of the World Wide Web and Web Sites (web 
pages) is set forth in a book by S. Harris and G. Kidder entitled 
Netscape.TM. Quick Tour for Macintosh (Chapel Hill, N.C.: Ventana Press, 
Inc., 1995), the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference 
herein. The Web site can then be accessed by a job seeker's computer 
(e.g., by a Web browser being run on the job seeker's computer), and the 
job seeker can search the positions listed on the Web site for a 
particular desired position. The positions can also be uploaded to the 
remote site computer 44 as will be discussed in more detail below. 
Specifically, in the Web site creating process 51 (FIG. 2) beginning in 
step 1400 of the flowchart shown in FIG. 17, the program in step 1410 will 
control the computer 42 monitor the web and company settings command key 
72 of the tool bar 62 for selection. If the company site program 
determines in step 1420 that the command key 72 has not been selected, the 
company site program will continue to monitor the command key. However, if 
the company site program determines in step 1420 that the command key has 
been selected, the company site program will control the company computer 
42 in step 1430 to create a Web site for the company which will be 
accessible on the Web, and then in step 1440 will upload the computer 
readable file for the Web site via the Internet to the computer 
responsible for generating the Web site. 
That is, the company site program will control the computer 32 to display 
on its display screen a screen 160 as shown in FIG. 18. The hiring contact 
can enter information pertaining to the company in the available spaces in 
response to the commands set forth on the display screen 160. The company 
site program automatically will control the computer 42 to set up the Web 
site based on the information pertaining to the position and, if 
desirable, the company in general, as entered by the hiring contact. 
For instance, the hiring contact can select the format of the Web site, 
insert a company logo on the Web site, and provide information pertaining, 
for example, to the company's benefits plan on the Web site. The hiring 
contact can further enter an Internet e-mail address on the Web site so 
that e-mail messages can be sent to the hiring contact, for example, by a 
prospective applicant accessing the Web site. The Web site can be used as 
the company's only Web site, or can further be linked to the company's 
existing home page on the Web. 
Typically, the Web site is configured to display the information pertaining 
to the positions in a brief format and a detailed format. That is, the Web 
site can include a "results" page, which is a listing of the available 
positions, and a "position detail" page which provides the more detailed 
information pertaining to the available positions. 
Additionally, the Web site can be configured to include a "search" page. If 
the job seeker accesses this search page, the job seeker's computer 30 
will display commands on its display screen instructing the job seeker to 
enter information, such as type of position, salary requirements, 
geographic location, and the like. The computer responsible for hosting 
the Web site will then search the list of positions to determine if a 
match exists between any one of those positions and the information 
entered by the job seeker. The host computer will control the Web site to 
display a listing of the matching positions on, for example, the results 
page described above. The prospective applicant can then access the 
position detail page to access the more detailed information pertaining to 
those listed positions. 
As stated, the company site program can be used to create its own Web page 
which the company 41 will use to advertise positions that are available. 
Furthermore, the program can be instructed to upload a computer readable 
file including information pertaining to those positions to an remote site 
computer 44 that runs a program (hereinafter "the remote site program") 
which creates its own Web page that a job seeker can access via the job 
seeker's computer (e.g., through the use of a Web browser) and search for 
a particular position. 
For example, when the company computer 42 is being controlled by the 
software to perform an uploading operation 52 (FIG. 2) beginning at step 
1500 in FIG. 19, the computer 42 will determine in step 1510 whether an 
external gateway has been configured giving the company computer 42 access 
to the Internet. If no gateway has been configured, the program will 
control the company computer 42 to create a gateway in step 1520. 
Once the computer 42 determines that a gateway has been created, a position 
to be posted can be created in step 1530 by a hiring contact in the manner 
described above with respect to FIG. 3. In step 1540, the hiring contact 
can then select (e.g., by name) the external site or sites to which a 
computer readable file including the position information is to be 
uploaded. The computer readable file is then uploaded to the external site 
or sites, such as MonsterBoard, CareerMosaic, or the like, in step 1550. 
An external site, such as remote site computer 44, can also run a program 
for hosting a Web site on which the uploaded positions can be posted. For 
example, a service provider at the remote site 43 can maintain a job 
search program which enables job seekers to perform an employment search 
at many companies simultaneously. As indicated in operation 52 illustrated 
in FIG. 2, the company site program run by the company computer 42 can be 
instructed to control the company computer 42 to upload a computer 
readable file including the position information to the remote site 
computer 44 running the remote site program. 
As shown in FIG. 20, which is a state diagram illustrating examples of the 
operations 170 that the remote site computer program controls the remote 
site computer 44 to perform, the remote site program is capable of 
controlling the remote site computer 44 to perform an uploading operation 
172 in which a computer readable file is uploaded from the company 
computer 42. As further illustrated, the remote site program controls the 
remote site computer 44 to perform a job search operation 174, a personal 
search agent operation 176, a job export operation 178 and a content 
magazine operation 180, all of which are described in detail below. 
As indicated in the flowchart illustrated in FIG. 21, when the company site 
program controls the company computer 42 to perform the uploading process 
53 (FIG. 2) beginning in step 1600, the program in step 1610 controls the 
computer 42 to read the database in which the position information is 
stored. In step 1620, the company site program will then control the 
company computer 42 to establish a connection, such as a TCP/IP connection 
or an SMTP mail connection, with the remote site computer 44, by which the 
portion of the computer readable file including the position information 
is uploaded to the remote site computer 44. It is noted that not all of 
the detailed information pertaining to the positions is uploaded to the 
remote site computer 44. Rather, as described below, the portion of the 
position file including such detailed information is maintained by the 
company computer 42. Also, it is noted that in step 1620, the company site 
program can control the company computer 42 to send the portion of the 
position information file to the remote site computer 44 via e-mail. 
The uploaded portion of the computer readable file is then received by the 
remote site computer 44 in step 1630 and stored by the remote site 
computer 44 in step 1640 in the manner shown in the flowchart of FIG. 22. 
Specifically, in performing the uploading operation beginning at step 
1700, the remote site program controls the remote site computer 44 to 
perform a validation operation in step 1710 to determine whether uploading 
of the computer readable file from the company computer 42 is permitted. 
If the remote site computer 44 in step 1720 ascertains that the uploading 
is not permitted, the computer 44 will reject the file in step 1730 and 
thus, refrain from uploading the file. However, if the remote site 
computer 44 determines in step 1720 that uploading of that particular file 
is permitted, the file uploading is completed in step 1740, and the file 
stored in place of any previously stored file including information 
pertaining to the positions available at company 41. It is noted that the 
data is stored as records in a database with data elements corresponding 
to certain fields in the uploaded data. That is, the job postings each can 
be stored as individual records in the database with data elements 
corresponding to certain fields (e.g., salary, location and so on) of the 
record. The remote site computer 44 then generates a Web site on which the 
positions are listed and accessible by a job seeker. 
The program being run by the remote site computer 44 generates a search 
page on its Web page which enables a job seeker to enter information 
pertaining to a particular position in which he or she is interested, and 
will control the remote site computer 44 to search the posted positions 
for positions compatible with that information. Specifically, in 
performing the job search operation 174 beginning at step 1800 shown in 
FIG. 23, the job seeker will access the remote Web site hosted by the 
remote site computer 44 running the remote site computer program. FIG. 24 
illustrates an exemplary first page 185 of the remote Web site. 
In step 1810, the remote Web site will provide instructions to the job 
seeker soliciting information from the job seeker pertaining to the 
position in which the job seeker is interested. That information may 
include, for example, type of position, salary expectations, geographic 
location and the like. In step 1820, the remote site program will control 
the remote site computer 44 to compare the entered information with the 
uploaded information pertaining to the posted positions to determine 
whether any of the positions are compatible with the job seeker's request. 
If one or more matching positions are found, the remote site program will 
control the remote site computer 44 in step 1830 to display the results of 
the comparison on the remote Web page. For example, if the job seeker is 
looking for a sales representative position, the remote Web site will 
display a summary listing of sales representative positions available at 
the company 42 from which the position information file has been uploaded. 
If the job seeker is not interested in investigating that position further, 
the remote site program in step 1840 will stop any further searching or 
displaying operation, and will allow the listed information to be 
displayed on the Web site. However, if the job seeker is interested in 
receiving more information about an available matching position, the job 
seeker can select that particular position (e.g., by manipulation of the 
mouse on the job seeker's computer, or in any other suitable manner). The 
remote site computer 44 will detect this selection in step 1840 and, in 
step 1850, the remote site program will control the remote site computer 
44 to release the job seeker's computer 40 while hyperlinking the job 
seeker's computer 40 directly to the Web site generated by the company 
computer 42. 
Accordingly, the job seeker can access this additional information 
pertaining to the matching position directly from the Web site generated 
by the company computer 42 without intervention by the remote site 
computer 44. The remote site computer 44 therefore need not continue 
servicing the job seeker computer 40 unless the job seeker returns to the 
remote Web site. 
When the job seeker is linked to the Web site generated by the company 
computer 42, the job seeker can peruse the information pertaining to the 
particular position that he or she has selected which was found as a 
result of the search performed by the remote site computer 44 hosting the 
remote Web site. The Web site generated by the company computer 42 will 
generate a display screen allowing the job seeker an option of forwarding 
an e-mail or a resume to the company 42 to apply for that available 
position. 
The off-site program is also capable of controlling the off-site computer 
44 to perform a personal search agent operation 176 (FIG. 20) for the job 
seeker beginning at step 1900 in FIG. 25. Specifically, if the job seeker 
select this feature, the information at the remote Web site, which has 
been created by the remote site computer 44, causes the job seeker's 
computer 40 in step 1910 to display on its display screen instructions for 
the job seeker to enter information pertaining to the position in which 
the job seeker is interested. The job seeker can also enter information in 
step 1920 indicating that the "search agent" is to be a constant search 
agent which monitors new position postings on, for example, a daily basis. 
When the information has been entered by the job seeker in steps 1910 and 
1920, the remote site program will then control the remote site computer 
44 in step 1930 to compare, on a daily basis, the entered position 
information with the information pertaining to the positions which has 
been uploaded to the remote site computer 44 and stored in a data base. If 
the remote site computer 44 determines in step 1940 that no match between 
the entered data and the uploaded position information has occurred, no 
action will be taken. 
However, if the computer 44 determines that a match has occurred, the 
remote site program will control the computer 44 in step 1950 to send a 
message, such as an e-mail message, to the job seeker's computer 40. The 
message includes, for example, the names of the positions and their 
corresponding companies. The e-mail message further includes hyperlinks 
embedded therein. Hence, the job seeker can hyperlink to that company's 
Web site in the manner described above to explore additional information 
pertaining to the available position. The job seeker can also forward his 
or her resume to the company 41 via e-mail, facsimile or regular mail, as 
desired. 
Additionally, the remote site program which is run by the remote site 
computer 44 is capable of controlling the computer 44 to export the 
uploaded positions to an external site. Specifically, in the exporting 
operation 178 (FIG. 20) beginning at step 2000 in FIG. 26, the remote site 
program controls the remote site computer 44 in step 2010 to read from the 
database a file including the position information that has been uploaded 
from company computers 42. In step 2020, the remote site program controls 
the remote site computer 44 to compare the companies included in the read 
database to a previously stored list of companies wanting their position 
information to be exported to other external sites. 
The remote site program will control the computer 44 in step 2030 to delete 
from the read file those positions of companies which do not want their 
position information exported. Then, in step 2040, the remote site program 
will control the computer 44 to export the read file to external site 
computers via the Internet. 
The remote site program is also capable of controlling the remote site 
computer 44 to send a "magazine" to a subscriber electronically over the 
Internet. For example, in the magazine sending process 182 (FIG. 20) 
beginning in step 2100 in FIG. 27, the remote site program controls the 
computer 44 to read a file including a list of subscribers from a 
database. In step 2120, the remote site program controls the remote site 
computer to send the magazine electronically over the Internet to the 
computers of those subscribers on the list. 
Turning now to the handling of resumes by the company computer 42, it is 
noted that the company site program controls the company computer 42 to 
perform the operations 48 and 50 (FIG. 2) of receiving and handling the 
resume beginning at step 2200 in FIG. 28. The company site program can be 
configured to control the company computer 42 to automatically send an 
e-mail to the job seeker informing the job seeker that the resume has been 
received. The company site program will then control the computer 42 to 
determine in step 2010 whether the received resume is in e-mail format. 
If the resume is in e-mail format, or any popular word processing format, 
such as Microsoft.TM., Word.TM. or WordPerfect.TM. (e.g., sent as an 
attachment to the e-mail), then the company site program will control the 
company computer 42 to perform an HTML and text conversion process on the 
data representative of the resume in step 2020 before the resume is stored 
in the database in step 2030. If the resume is not in an e-mail format, 
but rather has been determined in step 2040 to have been received as a fax 
or scanned image, an OCR conversion will be performed in step 2050 prior 
to the HTML and text conversion step so that the converted resume can be 
stored in the database in step 2030. 
The company site program will typically control the company computer 42 to 
store the resume in relation to the position for which the job seeker is 
applying, and further, in relation to the hiring contact responsible for 
that position. Hence, if the job seeker is applying for a sales 
representative position, the resume will be stored in a file which relates 
to that sales representative position. The company site program can 
control the company computer 42 in step 2060 to access and display a 
stored resume on its display screen. An example of the resume displaying 
and handling process is described beginning at step 2300 in the flow chart 
shown in FIG. 29. 
In viewing a screen as shown, for example, in FIG. 4, the hiring contact in 
step 2310 will select the position for which he or she wishes to view 
received resumes in a manner similar to that described above with regard 
to steps 1030 and 1070 in FIG. 3. For example, if the hiring contact 
wishes to view the resumes received for the sales representative position, 
the company site program will control the company computer 42 to display 
on its display screen a screen display 190 as shown, for example, in FIG. 
30. A brief description 192 of the position appears on a portion of the 
screen display 190. 
In step 2320, the hiring contact can then select the position to cause the 
company site program to control the computer 42 to display on its display 
screen a screen 200 including a list 202 of resumes received for that 
position as shown, for example, in FIG. 31. The resumes are listed by name 
of applicant. The hiring contact can then select a particular resume for 
display in step 2330, and the company site program will control the 
computer 42 to display the resume on a portion 204 of the screen as shown 
in FIG. 31. 
Once a resume has been selected, in step 2340 the hiring contact can 
utilize the control keys on the resume tool bar 66 as shown, for example, 
in FIG. 7, to manipulate the resume as desired. For instance, the hiring 
contact can rate on score the resume to indicate whether the applicant is 
suitable for the position. To do this, the hiring contact will select the 
score resume key 90 of the resume tool bar 66. Upon selection of the score 
resume key 90, the company site program will control the computer 42 to 
display on its display screen a screen display 210 as shown in FIG. 32. 
The hiring contact can then enter information in response to the displayed 
information on the screen to score the resume in the appropriate manner 
depending on the suitability of the candidate for the position. The 
scoring will appear as a mark 206 next to the resume as shown, for 
example, in FIG. 31. 
A selected resume can also be e-mailed to anyone with an Internet e-mail 
address. To perform this function, the hiring contact will select the 
e-mail resume control key 92 on the resume tool bar 66, which causes the 
program to control the computer 42 to display on its display screen a 
screen display 220 as shown in FIG. 33. The hiring contact can then enter 
in the spaces provided on the screen display 220 the Internet e-mail 
address of the person to which the resume is to be sent. 
A selected resume can also be sent via e-mail to a secondary hiring 
contact. This secondary contact is defined in advance. When the hiring 
contact selects the e-mail to secondary contact control key 94 on the 
resume tool bar 66, the program will control the computer 42 to display on 
its display screen a screen display 230 as shown, for example, in FIG. 34, 
with the secondary hiring contact's e-mail address automatically appearing 
in the "To:" location. The hiring contact can also enter a message to be 
sent with the resume. 
The hiring contact can also send a reply to a candidate by selecting the 
reply to candidate control key 96 of the tool bar 66. In doing so, the 
company site program will control the computer 42 to display on its 
display screen a screen display 240 as shown in FIG. 35, with the e-mail 
address of the candidate automatically appearing in the "To:" section. The 
hiring contact can then enter a message to the candidate in the box 
provided. The company site program will control the computer 42 to forward 
the reply to the candidate in an e-mail format via the Internet. A 
message, such as a form rejection letter, also can be imported from a 
database into the e-mail message prior to transmission. 
By selecting the export resume to disk key 98 on the resume tool bar 66, 
the hiring contact can cause the company site program to control the 
computer 42 to save the selected resume to any particular drive, such as a 
hard drive, floppy disk, or the like. The selected resume also can be 
printed by selecting the print resume key 100. 
Furthermore, the hiring contact can select the delete resume control key 
102 of the tool bar 66 to manually delete the selected resume. 
Alternatively, the company site program can be configured to automatically 
delete a resume after a selected period of time from receipt (e.g., 180 
days), or to save the resume indefinitely if desired. The resume can also 
be copied to another position if, for example, the person applying for one 
position is also qualified for that other position. 
The hiring contact can also search for a particular resume by selecting the 
find resume control key 104 on the resume tool bar 66. In response to the 
selection of key 104, the company site program will control the computer 
42 to display on its display screen a screen display 250 as shown, for 
example, in FIG. 36. The hiring contact can then enter the key word 
information in the location 252 provided on the screen display 250, and 
the company site program will control the computer 42 to search the 
resumes in the database to find any which contain that key word. The 
resumes containing the key word will appear on a screen display 260 as 
shown in FIG. 37 which is displayed on the display screen of the computer 
42. Those resumes can then be selected for display on the display screen 
of the computer 42. The program further can be instructed by the hiring 
contact to control the computer 42 to generate a position activity report 
summarizing the activity for each position. 
The program is further capable of controlling the company computer 42 to 
perform a resume gateway creating operation 52 (FIG. 2) beginning at step 
2400 in FIG. 38. The computer 32 will determine in step 2410 whether an 
external gateway has been configured giving the company computer 32 access 
to other sites, such as CareerMosaic, MonsterBoard, and the like, via the 
Internet. If no gateway has been configured, the program will control the 
company computer 32 to create a gateway in step 2420. 
Once the computer 32 determines that a gateway has been created, the 
gateway attributes can be configured in step 2430 by a hiring contact. In 
step 2440, the hiring contact can then select (e.g., by name) the external 
site or sites to which a computer readable file including the resumes is 
to be uploaded. Hence, the resumes are effectively copied to the external 
site or sites. 
Although only a few exemplary embodiments of this invention have been 
described in detail above, those skilled in the art will readily 
appreciate that many modifications are possible in the exemplary 
embodiments without materially departing from the novel teachings and 
advantages of this invention. Accordingly, all such modifications are 
intended to be included within the scope of this invention as defined in 
the following claims.