Science isn’t just cool — it can help you land a job

Bright.com, the recently launched startup with a scientific method to match you with a dream job, has found something cool to do with its backlog of employment data.

Bright doesn’t just want to find you a job, it wants to find you the job. With that goal in mind, it has developed a machine-learning algorithm that examines thousands of data points and crawls its jobs database to recommend a position for you. The user experience emphasizes personalized recommendations and discovery; it’s like Pandora for the job market.

[aditude-amp id="flyingcarpet" targeting='{"env":"staging","page_type":"article","post_id":534451,"post_type":"story","post_chan":"none","tags":null,"ai":false,"category":"none","all_categories":"big-data,business,enterprise,","session":"C"}']

Today, the startup has launched Bright Labs, a set of infographics and tools that shed light on the current employment landscape.

It’s early days still, but the company has already surfaced some interesting findings. In an interview with VentureBeat, Jacob Bollinger, Bright.com’s data scientist, told me anecdotally that most people job hunt on Friday afternoons, and over 50 percent of dental hygienists have CPR skills.

In addition, the company has done some research on the cities that experienced a bump in jobs in August. The results indicate that California is the place for jobs! Of the Top 10 U.S. Cities:

● San Diego, CA (104.77%)
● San Francisco, CA (28.88%)
● San Antonio, TX (19.05%)
● San Jose, CA (13.34%)

Anyone can use Bright Labs as a resource at any time during a job search, but the company will also release a bi-weekly report with its findings. Steve Goodman, the company’s CEO, told me he hopes people will use the site to mash up raw data to create their own graphs, charts, and reports. You can fill them with content from Bright Labs’ library of white papers and academic publications.

For Bright, the two major initial focuses are technology and politics. Tech is a hot job market, and Bright Labs will release data on the top tech cities for jobs, the tech companies with the most open positions, and the skills you’ll likely need to land a dream job at a startup. It will also investigate how the political elections will impact the job market, and whether the leading candidates are staying true to promises made on the campaign trail.

Bright Labs is comprised of five sections, which include information on jobs trends through the lens of pop culture and current events, positive trends within the slowly recovering or otherwise bleak market, and the wider employment landscape.

According to Goodman, the company has more data than any of its more established competitors in the online job search space, including Indeed.com and Monster. “We have millions of active listings,” he told me. “We realized we could do something special with all of this employment data.”

[aditude-amp id="medium1" targeting='{"env":"staging","page_type":"article","post_id":534451,"post_type":"story","post_chan":"none","tags":null,"ai":false,"category":"none","all_categories":"big-data,business,enterprise,","session":"C"}']

This isn’t the first time that Bright.com has leveraged its data. For over a year, the company has been building an algorithm they call the “the Bright Score.” According to them, it will generate the straightest, shortest path between two points: an open position and the perfect candidate.

With its focus on data science, the startup is a popular destination for hot-shot researchers and academics, and I’m told that the company even has a nuclear physicist on staff. Bright has raised $6 million in investment and is based in San Francisco.

Top Image via Shutterstock