How big data could make job-hunting less stressful

[mahatmakanejeeves]

How big data could make job-hunting less stressful

On I.T.

By Amrita Jayakumar March 15
@ajbombay

Job hunting is never easy, but what if data could be used to make the process a little less stressful? ... Companies such as LinkedIn and Monster.com hold vast amounts of information on people’s professional lives, but there is one organization that surpasses them all: the federal government.

Although rich and comprehensive, government labor data can often be hard to access, bound by red tape and cloaked in jargon.

“With today’s technologies, we can do a lot more to build open data sets for skills,” said Aneesh Chopra, the White House’s first chief technology officer and founder of Arlington-based start-up Hunch Analytics.
....

The closest thing to a standard national database is the Labor Department’s Occupational Information Network Web site, known as O*Net. ... Built in the 1990s, the site compiles data on more than 900 occupations, with details about job skills, average compensation and a search tool to find jobs by state. But although the site is continually updated, it has been slow to keep pace with the changing job market, according to Chopra and {Leighanne Levensaler, senior vice president of products at Workday, a human resources software company}.