The company I currently work for, Trovix, is a job-matching company. The short description of our technology is that we have a search engine for jobs that understands concepts, not keywords. For example, when you type “java”, our search engine understands that it means a programming language, that it is object-oriented, that a branch of Java is called J2EE, etc. Keyword matching will simply try to match strings, so “java” won’t match “j2ee” normally, but will with our engine.
At the moment we are working on a Facebook application. Facebook’s API is very interesting from a developer’s perspective. It’s a bit of a mess, and from what I’ve seen not very well documented or updated (although as a product manager, I don’t often get the chance to work directly on code anymore) . That said, the ability to tap into an existing social network and existing functionality makes it very compelling. For our product we wanted to take advantage of existing social networks as a means of sharing the application (and the ability to send jobs to friends who you know are looking).
To make our application a bit more fun than just a “job site on Facebook” app, we calculate a rating for your resume. By looking at your history and skills, we compare them to what is being looked for in jobs currently on the market. We then give you a rating out of 100 as to how closely your resume matches what is out there. Over time we show you how this ebbs and flows. If you’re a great Ruby on Rails developer, you’ll probably have a high career score now. If Ruby ever falls out of favour, then you can sadly watch it decline. If it becomes more popular (due to increased performance and stability perhaps? Any Ruby developers out there know what I’m talking about), watch your career score soar! People who view your profile can see how in demand you’ve been lately.
As for useful functionality, we make recommendations on your newsfeed when we find a well-matched job for you. This is a nice unobtrusive way to be shown potentially interesting jobs, and is great for the passive seekers out there.
The application is in beta, but if you want to give it a try, simply go to http://facebook.trovix.com/facebook/ and add it to your account!