JobIQ : recommending study pathways based on career choices

Modern job markets often require an intricate combination of multi-disciplinary skills or specialist and technical knowledge, even for entry-level positions. Such requirements pose increased pressure on higher education graduates entering the job market. This paper presents our JobIQ recommendation system helping prospective students choose educational programs or electives based on their career preferences. While existing recommendation solutions focus on internal institutional data, such as previous student experiences, JobIQ considers external data, recommending educational programs that best cover the knowledge and skills required by selected job roles. To deliver such recommendations, we create and compare skill profiles from job advertisements and educational subjects, aggregating them to skill profiles of job roles and educational programs. Using skill profiles, we build formal models and algorithms for program recommendations. Finally, we suggest other recommendations and benchmarking approaches, helping curriculum developers assess the job readiness of program graduates.