Baidu researchers are testing tech that can match job candidates with postings

Guidance counselors can keep their copies of What Color Is Your Parachute? to themselves, because neural networks may soon find you the right job.

In a recent paper, Baidu researchers revealed they’ve been working on a neural net that can match resumes with skills listed in job postings, finding the exact right match for positions, MIT’s Technology Review reports.

The neural network, bluntly called Person-Job Fit, identifies words and phrases in job listings, like “program management” and “project development,” and matches them to skills listed on a candidate’s resume, like “developing projects” and “managing projects.” If the algorithm identifies relevant experience on someone’s job history, the candidate will be flagged as a potential match for the job opening.

The network has a little learning to do, though. According to Technology Review, when it came time to sorting people by educational requirements, the algorithm was stumped because nearly every job required a “bachelor’s degree or higher” (Get your degrees, folks) and nearly every candidate had a bachelor’s degree or higher, which made it difficult for the algorithm to match candidates to jobs. Guess those guidance counselors and HR departments still have a job to do (for now).