System and method for evaluating job candidates

Abstract

Human resource system for collecting and analyzing survey data from reference providers identified by a job candidate for use by an employer. The system sends an electronic communication to the reference providers to request completion of survey questions and electronically receives the survey data from the reference providers, preferably through webpages. An analysis module combines the received survey data from the reference providers and generates a confidential candidate report for an employer which excludes identification of any ratings or comments by any reference providers. The system also generates customized interview probe questions for use during job interviews and coaching tactics for use after the hiring, based on the weak areas that have been identified from the completed surveys in order to assist the hiring manager to bring the new hires up to speed quickly and effectively.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A human resource information system employing competency based performance evaluation parameters for providing an analysis of an object person's competency to a client through interrogation of reference individuals, comprising:
 a data processor,   a predetermined set of competency based questions requesting quantitative responses to provide a set of predetermined competency parameters for the object person,   an I/O interface operable to transmit through the internet a predetermined subset of said competency based questions to a set of reference individuals and to receive through the interne the responses from members of said set of reference individuals,   said data processor coupled to said I/O interface to merge the responses from the members of said set of reference individuals to provide a continuing cumulative quantitative analysis of each parameter in said subset of competency based questions,   a client terminal coupled to said client computer to permit client interrogation of said cumulative quantitative analysis,   said analysis being decoupled from the reference individuals to provide anonymity for said reference individuals.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the client inputs a portion of the contents of said predetermined subset of competency based questions.   
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein:
 said client interrogation is restricted to a stage wherein said cumulative analysis is based on more than a predetermined number of responses received from the reference individuals.   
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein:
 said client interrogation is restricted to a stage wherein said cumulative analysis is based on more than a predetermined number of responses received from the reference individuals.   
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein said data processor is further operable to provide a comparison of said cumulative quantitative analysis of any one or more of said parameters to the corresponding parameter analysis to a predetermined set of individuals whose performance assessment parameters have been processed by the system. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein said data processor is further operable to provide a comparison of said cumulative quantitative analysis of any one or more of said parameters to the corresponding parameter analysis to a predetermined set of individuals whose performance assessment parameters have been processed by the system. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 3 , wherein said data processor is further operable to provide a comparison of said cumulative quantitative analysis of any one or more of said parameters to the corresponding parameter analysis to a predetermined set of individuals whose performance assessment parameters have been processed by the system. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein said data processor is further operable to provide a comparison of said cumulative quantitative analysis of any one or more of said parameters to the corresponding parameter analysis to a predetermined set of individuals whose performance assessment parameters have been processed by the system. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein said data processor merges the responses from the members of said set of reference individuals to provide a continuing cumulative quantitative analysis upon a request from the client. 
     
     
         10 . A method of providing personnel analysis for a client based on competency based performance evaluation questions of an object individual comprising the steps of:
 providing a set of competency based questions request quantitative responses to provide a set of predetermined competency parameters,   transmitting said set of questions over the internet to each member of a set of reference individuals provided by the object individual for use by a client interested m determining the object individual's competency for a given position,   receiving responses to said set of questions over the internet from members of said set of reference individuals,   merging said responses to provide a quantitative score of each of said parameters based on the quantitative responses provided for each of the parameters,   executing said step of merging continuously to provide continuous up-to-date quantitative scores,   providing said quantitative scores to a client terminal to permit continuous client interrogation of said quantitative scores subsequent to processing responses from a predetermined number of reference individuals in said step of merging.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein said step of providing said quantitative scores to a client terminal is limited to a state in said step of executing wherein responses from more than a predetermined number of reference individuals have been merged. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein executing said step of merging continuously to provide continuous up-to-date quantitative scores is performed upon a request from the client. 
     
     
         13 . In a computer network, a computer implemented system for collecting and analyzing survey data from a plurality of reference providers identified by a job candidate for use by an employer, the system comprising:
 a candidate database that stores survey data provided from plurality of reference providers for a job candidate;   a collection module operable to send an electronic communication to the plurality of reference providers to request completion of a survey containing survey questions and to electronically receive through a computer network the survey data front the plurality of reference providers for storage in the candidate database;   an analysis module operable to combine the received survey data from the plurality of reference providers and generate a candidate report for an employer.   
     
     
         14 . The computer implemented system according to  claim 13 , further comprising:
 a survey database that stores a plurality of survey questions for different job types;   a set-up module that allows the employer to select a job type and customize a survey for the selected job type.   
     
     
         15 . The computer implemented system according to  claim 13 , wherein the survey questions are related to competencies that represent the characteristics of an individual. 
     
     
         16 . The computer implemented system according to  claim 13 , wherein the collection module is further operable to generate a web page containing the survey questions and to receive the survey data through the web page. 
     
     
         17 . The computer implemented system according to  claim 16 , wherein the survey includes a plurality of questions and an answer to each of the plurality of questions is a number within a numerical range and the collection module generates a graphical button for each number in the numerical range through which the survey data are collected. 
     
     
         18 . The computer implemented system according to  claim 13 , wherein the collection module is operable to provide status information regarding the progress of completing the survey questions by the reference providers. 
     
     
         19 . The computer implemented system according to  claim 13 , wherein the analysis module generates the candidate report which contains a score for each survey question, the score representing an average of all answers to the each question by the plurality of reference providers. 
     
     
         20 . The computer implemented system according to  claim 13 , wherein the survey questions are grouped into categories, and the analysis module generates a candidate report which contains a score for each category, the score being based on answers from the plurality of reference providers to all questions that belong to the each category.