Identifying Skills Gaps to Reduce Unemployment

Fellows: Nadya Calderon, Scott Cambo, Christopher Lazarus, Raphael Stern
Data Science Mentor(s): Varun Chandola
Project Partner: Skills for Chicagoland's Future, CareerBuilder

Skills for Chicagoland’s Future is trying to make it easier for job seekers and employers to connect by providing resources for training workers who are qualified, but require one or two additional skills to meet job requirements. In cooperation with UST Global’s Step IT Up America initiative — which plans to train 1,000 minority women for IT jobs — Skills for Chicagoland’s Future will develop a training program to bring potential candidates back to the job market. However, it is unclear exactly what skills are relevant to include in their programs.

In 2014 we used data provided by CareerBuilder to build a system that allowed us to search resumes and CVs for job applicants with skill sets that are similar or related to those required in a job description or posting, but might not use the same terms. This also allowed Skills for Chicagoland’s Future to understand what kind of training programs will need to be implemented and which applicants should be admitted to it.