You Use Open Source Tools? The Robot Recruiters Know It -- and Like It

As we've reported, the rise of the cloud and Big Data tools is also giving rise to a need for expertise in using these tools. Jobs for people with Linux and Big Data skills are readily available around the world.

In an interesting spin on this trend, though, there are also some signs emerging that Big Data analysis tools could even match skilled workers up with their ideal jobs in ways that human recruiters can't. And, these tools may put special emphasis on how savvy job seekers are with open source technology and general computing knowledge.

The Economist provides an interesting report on "Robot Recruiters," and it even suggests that companies that remotely detect or ask about whether you're using the open source browser of your choice instead of the browser that came with your computer could do better at hiring the right employees:

"In the case of hiring American workers who toil by the hour, number-crunching has uncovered some surprising correlations...For instance, people who fill out online job applications using browsers that did not come with the computer (such as Microsoft’s Internet Explorer on a Windows PC) but had to be deliberately installed (like Firefox or Google’s Chrome) perform better and change jobs less often."

If you're savvy with open source tools, you can probably relate to the finding above, which is based on analysis of a lot of data. You are familiar with do-it-yourself tasks. You like flexibility in your technology tools. You don't rely on groupthink in choosing tools. These traits, apparently, correlate with the best kinds of workers.

The Economist notes that Evolv, a company that monitors recruitment data, crunched data points from more than 30,000 employees to arrive at the conclusion about browser choice above.  Evolv's Big Data analysis of workers turns up some curious findings in the story as well. For example, people who jump from job to job appear no more likely to necessarily quit a particular job than anyone else. 

Not only are open source and Big Data skills more in demand in the job market, but your use of open source may be the very thing that helps future data analysis tools match you to the exact right job for you. You can check out more of the quirky but interesting trends on this front here.