Search engine improvements help people find dream job faster

You can now find your dream job faster thanks to SEEK search engine improvements developed in a major industry collaboration.

SDGs

Lawrence Cavedon SEEK SEEKSY search engine user analytics search terms job seekers information retrieval

RMIT and University of Melbourne researchers teamed up with SEEK  in an Australian Research Council Linkage project to apply their search engine and user analytics expertise to SEEK’s job-search system.

The project showed significant results even in its final stage in 2018.

Project Lead, RMIT's Associate Professor Lawrence Cavedon, said the Seeksy query amendment system they had developed used text mining techniques, informed by analysis of user history and behaviours, to expand search terms in relevant ways for each query.

Seeksy implements the ability to cope with synonyms like “governess” and “nanny”, or to modify overly specific queries like “training train driver” into “train driver” to increase job matches.

Comparative A/B testing of the technique conducted by SEEK showed click-through rates increased four-fold, and actual job applications six-fold, for certain common queries that had proven hard to find relevant results for.

Cavedon said it was satisfying to know that the improvements had been based on evidence of actual user needs.

Job search involves different behaviours and goals to standard web searching, so we started this project by exploring user behaviours on the site through log data analysis. This showed us where to focus on designing automated techniques that would really help people find what they were looking for more easily.

-Lawrence Cavedon

Meanwhile, researchers in the field of information retrieval are starting to take notice of the impressive results.

The team won best short paper at the latest International Conference on the Theory of Information Retrieval in China and presented their work in July at the top research conference in the field, the SIGIR Conference on Research and Development in Information Retrieval, held in the United States.

We can proudly say we’re one of the strongest research groups on information retrieval systems in the world,” Cavedon said. “This is demonstrated not only by our performance at major conferences in the field, but also by the impact of collaborations with industry.

Head of Product - Search Experience at SEEK, Dr Evelyn Balfe, said the partnership supported SEEK’s mission to constantly innovate and improve product offerings.

“The collaboration with RMIT and University of Melbourne helps us do that by giving us access to world class researchers as well as ensuring we’re kept abreast of the latest advancements in academic and industry research,” she said.

“It also gives us access to a great talent pool of PhDs and really smart early-career computer scientists and engineers."

The team includes leading search engine experts from RMIT’s new Centre for Information Discovery & Data Analytics, including Professor Mark Sanderson and Associate Professor Falk Scholer, along with junior postdoctoral staff and PhD students. Several PhD research graduates from the team have already gone on to work for SEEK.

The RMIT and University of Melbourne collaboration in search and information retrieval research spans more than three decades. It has generated hundreds of high-impact research papers, including seminal work in the area, and produced senior research and executive leaders at Microsoft, Google, eBay and IBM Research.

Continue exploring

Read related RMIT impact stories

3D-printed spine disc recognised for life-changing impact

Researchers at RMIT University collaborated with a medical device company and a neurosurgeon to successfully deliver a 3D printed vertebral cage to a patient with severe back pain.

New touch-screen therapy tool for stroke rehabilitation

New touch-screen therapy tool for stroke rehabilitation and acquired brain injury.

Peer-to-peer mentoring boosts digital and social inclusion for older Australians

RMIT University and the University of the Third Age (U3A) Network Victoria partnered on the ‘Shaping Connections’ project to investigate how to improve social and digital connectedness in older adults.

Coffee concrete trial turns organic waste into a valuable resource

RMIT researchers collaborated with Macedon Ranges Shire Council to conduct a world-first coffee concrete footpath trial.

See more stories +

Connect with RMIT Research

If you're not sure how you can best work with us, our team can explain what's possible and put you in touch with the right person.

Acknowledgement of Country

RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business - Artwork 'Sentient' by Hollie Johnson, Gunaikurnai and Monero Ngarigo.

More information