As a dating brand eHarmony are one of the best.  Whilst others seem to take the shotgun approach to matching you up with a dream partner, eHarmony have been using their semantic algorithms to provide smarter matches for over a decade now.

So it kinda makes sense that they’d be applying that same matching technology to recruitment, right?  They’re looking to provide a deeper exploration of each candidate than can be provided by more traditional recruitment methods such as the humble CV or even your LinkedIn profile.

“It seems like there’s a social problem here that needs fixing, much in the same that when we started with relationship matching, there just seemed to be a problem,” said Grant Langston, eHarmony’s vice president of customer experience.

It’s an interesting approach, and one that seems to be focusing attention as much on cultural alignment as actual abilities.  After all, research has shown that cultural fit is a better indicator of success in a new role than aptitude.

Langston said eHarmony’s advantage may be in eliciting more honest answers to tough questions. For instance, if you want to know how much a job candidate values work-life balance, the candidate is likely to give you the answer “in the way they think you want them to answer it. It’s such an artificial and weird interaction,” Langston said.

Now it’s worth saying that the product is still in development and is not planned for release until the back end of 2014, so there are still many questions left unanswered in terms of just how the product will work.

Will they be able to compete against established players such as Kenexa, who were of course bought by IBM recently, and who also administer tests to determine the suitability of a candidate.  I suppose only time will tell, but it’s certainly a move that’s worth keeping an eye on.