By Michael Bowman
The Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its August
2011 jobs report on 9/2/11. BLS reported that there were no (zero, zip, nada)
net nonfarm jobs added to the US economy for the month. Pay attention next
month when that number is revised (unexpectedly) downward, and the
"experts" are once again surprised that the actual employment
situation for September is "unexpectedly" worse than their
projections.
One of the talking points used to support passage of
patent reform in the America Invents Act (which is anticipated to occur this
week) is that it will spur job creation. This seems like a good time to take a
look at patents related to hiring.
In the US Patent Classification System, Class 705 is commonly
referred to as “Business Methods”. Within this class, subclass 321 addresses
employment or hiring. This subclass is new, having been created as part of
USPTO reclassification efforts over the past few years. In the class 705
classification schedule, this subclass is indented under subclasses 1.1
(AUTOMATED ELECTRICAL FINANCIAL OR BUSINESS PRACTICE OR MANAGEMENT ARRANGEMENT
) and 320 (Human resources). Subject matter to be classified in 705/321 must
also meet the requirements of their respective definitions. Employment or
hiring (subclass 705/321) is defined as:
Subject matter drawn to a
computerized arrangement for engaging the services of a person or persons for
wages or other payment either directly or through a third party.
A search note refers also to subclass 705/8. This subclass
was eliminated in Classification Order 1904, released on 2/1/11, and the
705/321 schedule has not yet been updated to reflect this change. Searches
should probably also be conducted in the following class 705 subclasses:
7.12 Resource
planning, allocation or scheduling for a business operation
7.13 Scheduling,
planning, or task assignment for a person or group
7.14 Skill based
matching of a person or a group to a task
7.15 Status
monitoring or status determination for a person or group
7.16 Schedule
adjustment for a person or group
7.17 Staff planning
in a project environment
7.18 Calendar-based
scheduling for a person or group
7.19 Meeting or
appointment
7.21 Task
assignment
7.23 Resource
planning in a project environment
7.25 Needs based
resource requirements planning and analysis
Returning to 705/321, employment or hiring, there are 51
issued patents contained therein as of 9-6-11. We'll take a look at a few of
these.
The most recently issued (today) patent in 705/321 is number
8,015,047, “Method, system, and computer program product for employment market
statistics generation and analysis”, invented by Foulger, et al. and assigned
to Archeron Limited LLC. The original classification (i.e., the highest, most
indented classification accepting the subject matter) for this patent is
705/7.14, Skill based matching of a person or a group to a task. Claim 1
states:
A method of generating employment
market statistics via a network, comprising:
accessing, by a data processing device,
an employment resource via the network, the employment resource comprising
data;
matching, by the data processing
device, the data to one of a plurality of employment market categories, wherein
the matching includes matching resources to the plurality of employment market
categories according to a multi-tiered matching strategy;
and updating, by the data processing
device, at least one statistical indicator associated with a matched employment
market category, wherein the updating comprises calculating a ratio of resumes
associated with the matched employment market category to job listings
associated with the matched employment market category.
Given the huge number of unemployed, or underemployed,
workers in the country, screening of job applicants is a potentially critical
bottleneck for human resources departments and hiring managers. Enter patent
number 7,778,938, “System and method for screening of job applicants”, issued
8/17/10 to Stimac and assigned to Accuhire.com Corporation. Claim 1 states:
A method for screening a plurality of
job applicants comprising:
receiving input to a predetermined
plurality of job related profile questions through at least one input device,
which are locked to prevent alteration by the job applicant, wherein the
plurality of job related profile questions include at least one job-related
question regarding a preferred work style for a job applicant, that provides an
indication of motivation for the job applicant to perform a particular job, and
are targeted to a predetermined job opening from the plurality of job
applicants;
providing a numeral score associated
with each predetermined response with at least one processor;
and tabulating the total score for all
predetermined responses so that each job applicant can be objectively compared
to other job applicants based on the received input with the at least one
processor for viewing on at least one electronic display.
Here is one that might be familiar to millions of online
jobseekers. Patent number 6,370,510, “Employment recruiting system and method
using a computer network for posting job openings and which provides for
automatic periodic searching of the posted job openings”, was issued April 9,
2002 to McGovern, et al., and assigned to CareerBuilder, Inc. Claim 1 states:
An employment recruiting method,
comprising the steps of:
receiving first computer readable data,
representing information pertaining to a job, provided by a job seeker user via
a computer network;
automatically periodically comparing said
first computer readable data to second computer readable data including job
opening data representing information pertaining to at least one job opening;
and sending said job seeker user a
message informing said job seeker user when said comparing step determines that
said first computer readable data matches at least a portion of said second
computer readable data, said message including a link to a site at which
additional data pertaining to said job opening is accessible by said job seeker
user via said link.
The earliest patent found in 705/321 is number 5,117,353,
“System for use in a temporary help business”, issued 5/26/92 to Stipanovich,
et al. and assigned to Staff-Plus, Inc. The preamble of claim 1 (the entire
claim is too long to include here) states:
A system for use in temporary help
businesses for screening temporary help employees, testing said temporary help
employees for one or more employee skills, recording a time that said temporary
help employees are available to perform temporary jobs, receiving and recording
job orders from one or more clients requesting temporary help personnel with
one or more specified required skills to perform temporary jobs, assigning said
temporary help employees to said temporary jobs, recording client comments
about said temporary help employees, determining an amount of money due to said
temporary help employees for specified periods of time, determining an amount
of money due from said clients for temporary help services performed by said
temporary help employees for specified periods of time, and reporting trends
and patterns of said job orders and temporary help employees applications based
on specified input criteria . . .
None of these patents create private sector jobs -- they
provide tools for more effective and efficient hiring. Contrary to much of what
is reported in the news, and put forth by government, government doesn't create
private sector jobs either. Specifically, jobs are created primarily by small
employers (less than 500 employees). And as we know, small business owners
today are very averse to hiring given the economic and regulatory uncertainty
they are facing.
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