Generating the Parser Config String

Sovren provides an easy-to-use config string builder in the section below. You can paste in your existing config string, click apply and the form inputs will be filled out to reflect your settings. Your new config string will be output in a box below the form inputs. It updates automatically as you make changes to the form inputs. If you don't have a config string, review the settings to determe any that you want to change.

Here is an example config string that would turn on parsing for Military History, Security Clearance, Patents, Publications, and Speaking Engagements:

"Coverage.MilitaryHistoryAndSecurityCredentials = true; Coverage.PatentsPublicationsAndSpeakingEvents = true"

ExplicitlyKnownDateInfoOnly (default)

In this mode, the Parser outputs dates in one of the following formats:

<AnyDate>YYYY-MM-DD</AnyDate>
<AnyDate>notKnown</AnyDate>
<AnyDate>notApplicable</AnyDate>
<YearMonth>YYYY-MM</YearMonth>
<Year>YYYY</Year>
<StringDate>current</StringDate>

No assumptions are made about the missing date parts. For example:

InferMissingDateParts

In InferMissingDateParts mode, the Parser outputs all dates in this format:

<AnyDate>YYYY-MM-DD</AnyDate>
<AnyDate>notKnown</AnyDate>
<AnyDate>notApplicable</AnyDate>

This format is convenient for database storage and other environments where the stored date must include the Year, Month and Day. It also provides continuity in date ranges where the month and/or day are implied (such as 2005-2006).

Portions of the date that are not explicitly known are inferred. A job date of "1999" is inferred to mean the date range of 1999-01-01 to 1999-12-31. A job date of "March 1999" is inferred to mean the date range of 1999-03-01 to 1999-03-31.

In addition, references to the present, such as “2005 to Present” or “March 2005 until now”, are interpreted as being the same as the RevisionDate (see below).

RevisionDate

The /Resume/StructuredXMLResume/RevisionDate element is unaffected by these settings and is always output in this format:

<RevisionDate>YYYY-MM-DD</RevisionDate>

The RevisionDate is automatically assigned to the local date of the machine that is doing the parsing. The RevisionDate value is used whenever relative dates are used, such as the term “current” in the date range “May 2006 to Current” or when calculating whether a skill is recent enough to warrant additional weighting in best-fit taxonomy calculations.

Additional Remarks

The notApplicable value is never actually output as a result of parsing a resume/CV. However, the Parser will pass-through that value if it exists in an HROpenStandards.org Resume file that is produced by some other means and then loaded into memory (i.e. hrxmlResume.LoadXml) and re-written to XML

Parsing Resumes from Students, Recent Graduates, and Low-Education Workers

The Parser assumes that all resumes contain Employment History and Education, and when confronted with a resume that seems to be missing Employment History or Education, it will assume that it has made a mistake, missed that data, and will try to treat other data as Employment History or Education.

Although that's a good strategy, it fails for student/new graduate/undereducated worker resumes where it is probable that their resume really does not contain any Employment History or perhaps no Education. Therefore, when parsing a resume from a student or recent graduate or a worker with no advanced education (i.e., not even high school), set "Coverage.EntryLevel = true;" in the config string (the default is false). This will tell the Parser that it's acceptable to not find Employment History, and will result in more accurate parsing for student/recent graduate resumes only.

Contact Methods

Each ContactMethod element allows one of each of the following sub-elements:

• Use
• Location
• WhenAvailable
• Telephone
• Mobile
• Fax
• Pager
• TTYTDD
• InternetEmailAddress
• InternetWebAddress
• PostalAddress

If a resume contains more than one of the same type of these items, such as two Telephone numbers, then they must be reported in a separate ContactMethod object. For example:

<ContactMethod>
    <Use>personal</Use>
    <Location>home</Location>
    <Telephone>
        <FormattedNumber>(858) 555-6553</FormattedNumber>
    </Telephone>
</ContactMethod>
<ContactMethod>
    <Use>work</Use>
    <Location>office</Location>
    <Telephone>
        <FormattedNumber>(858) 555-8281</FormattedNumber>
    </Telephone>
</ContactMethod>
<ContactMethod>
    <Use>personal</Use>
    <Location>home</Location>
    <InternetEmailAddress>missmadams@yahoo.com</InternetEmailAddress>
</ContactMethod>
<ContactMethod>
    <Use>twitterHandle</Use>
    <Location>home</Location>
    <WhenAvailable>anytime</WhenAvailable>
    <InternetWebAddress>@twitQueen</InternetWebAddress>
</ContactMethod>

Phone Numbers

The HROpenStandards.org standard for phone numbers takes one of two forms: Formatted or Structured. Unfortunately, a single number cannot be represented in both forms, so you must choose which to use. By default, the Parser only outputs FormattedNumber elements.

Sovren provides the config string setting OutputFormat.TelcomNumber.Style to control the phone number output format. This setting accepts the following values:

"OutputFormat.TelcomNumber.Style = Raw;"
"OutputFormat.TelcomNumber.Style = Formatted;"
"OutputFormat.TelcomNumber.Style = Structured;"

<Telephone>
    <FormattedNumber>+44 76889-8876</FormattedNumber>
</Telephone>

<Telephone>
    <FormattedNumber>(678) 555-1212 x 180</FormattedNumber>
</Telephone>

<Telephone>
    <InternationalCountryCode>1</InternationalCountryCode>
    <NationalNumber></NationalNumber>
    <AreaCityCode>678</AreaCityCode>
    <SubscriberNumber>555-1212</SubscriberNumber>
    <Extension>180</Extension>
</Telephone>

The Formatted and Structured settings currently only apply to US/Canadian numbers. Due to the hugely varied colloquial formats of phone numbers in other countries, we have been unable to reliably normalize the number parts. As a consequence, even if you set the style to Structured, you will still get some FormattedNumber elements in the XML, so your code will need to handle both cases.

Normalize Region

By default, the Parser reports the Region as it was detected in the document. When this setting is turned on ( "OutputFormat.NormalizeRegions = True;"), the parser normalizes Region values to the standard postal abbreviations. For example, 'Texas' to 'TX'. This setting currently only applies to US states and Canadian provinces.

Job Categories

The following type of output is always generated for each PositionHistory element:

<JobCategory>
    <TaxonomyName>Skills taxonomy</TaxonomyName>
    <CategoryCode>Information Technology (10) → Internet (196)</CategoryCode>
    <Comments>Information Technology describes 50% of this job</Comments>
</JobCategory>
<JobCategory>
    <TaxonomyName>Job Level</TaxonomyName>
    <CategoryCode>Experienced (non-manager)</CategoryCode>
</JobCategory> 

For Job Level, the CategoryCode is one of the following values, based on the length of experience and job titles:

• Entry Level
• Experienced (non-manager)
• Senior (more than 5 years experience)
• Manager
• Senior Manager (more than 5 years management experience)
• Executive (VP, Dept. Head)
• Senior Executive (President, C-level)

Stripping Out Reported Data from Jobs

By default, the PositionHistory/Description element includes the descriptive text that is related to a particular PositionHistory element, but not including the portion which contains the title, company, location and date. If you want the Description element to have all of the text associated with a position, including the parsed data points, then set this option to false.

See below that the default behavior strips this text from the “Description” node:

    Technical Difference        October 2004 - Current
    Director of Web Applications Development

While this works well for most resumes, it can cause problems with some resumes that do not have all the data points together. Some data may be buried far away from other data, or at the end of the description, and in such cases, more data will be stripped out than expected, leaving an incomplete Description.

<PositionHistory positionType="directHire" currentEmployer="true">
    <Title>Director of Web Applications Development</Title>
    <OrgName>
        <OrganizationName>Technical Difference</OrganizationName>
    </OrgName>
    <Description>• Managed email marketing campaigns to attract new sales and retain customers.
    • Convert current HRIS from VB to ASP to create complete web based solution.
    • Added custom encryption coding to SQL and ASP web applications.
    • Designed custom applicant tracking ASP program for large client.</Description>
    ...
</PositionHistory>

<PositionHistory positionType="directHire" currentEmployer="true">
    <Title>Director of Web Applications Development</Title>
    <OrgName>
        <OrganizationName>Technical Difference</OrganizationName>
    </OrgName>
    <Description>Technical Difference October 2004 - Current
    Director of Web Applications Development
    • Managed email marketing campaigns to attract new sales and retain customers.
    • Convert current HRIS from VB to ASP to create complete web based solution.
    • Added custom encryption coding to SQL and ASP web applications.
    • Designed custom applicant tracking ASP program for large client.</Description>
    ...
</PositionHistory>

Reformat PositionHistory Description

By default, the PositionHistory/Description element retains as much of the original formatting as possible. For example:

<Description>• Designed & developed web-based gift fulfillment system for use by Mazda and their affiliates. 
• Designed & developed web-based event registration systems for Mercedes and Volvo. 
• Primary contact for Automotive Ride & Drive Marketing Campaigns.</Description>

When this settings is enabled ("OutputFormat.ReformatPositionHistoryDescription = True;") the Parser will remove blank lines, split long paragraphs into separate lines, and other reformatting techniques intended to place each achievement on a separate line. Example:

<Description>Designed & developed web-based gift fulfillment system for use by Mazda and their affiliates. 

Designed & developed web-based event registration systems for Mercedes and Volvo. 

Primary contact for Automotive Ride & Drive Marketing Campaigns.</Description>

Prefer Shorter Position Titles

By default, this setting is turned off and the parser reports position titles exactly as they are found in the document. When true ("OutputFormat.PreferShorterPositionTitles = True;"), titles may be truncated if the additional phrase does not include Job words. For example, VICE PRESIDENT, INFORMATION SYSTEMS would be reported as just VICE PRESIDENT if this switch is set to true.

Position History User Area

The HROpenStandards.org Resume standard defines UserArea elements throughout the schema that can be populated with additional information that is not part of the standard. Sovren inserts significant value-added information in these UserAreas. These sections are documented in this document and defined in the SovrenResumeExtensions.xsd file.

The UserArea content for PositionHistory elements is located at /Resume/StructuredXMLResume/EmployerOrg/PositionHistory/UserArea/sov:PositionHistoryUserArea. This is what a typical PositionHistoryUserArea element looks like:

<sov:PositionHistoryUserArea>
    <sov:Id>POS-1</sov:Id>
    <sov:CompanyNameProbabilityInterpretation>Confident</sov:CompanyNameProbabilityInterpretation>
    <sov:PositionTitleProbabilityInterpretation>Confident</sov:PositionTitleProbabilityInterpretation>
    <sov:IsSelfEmployed>true</sov:IsSelfEmployed>
    <sov:SelfEmploymentPhrase>Self-employed</sov:SelfEmploymentPhrase>
    <sov:NumberOfEmployeesSupervised>15</sov:NumberOfEmployeesSupervised>
    <sov:NormalizedOrganizationName>Egypt Air</sov:NormalizedOrganizationName>
    <sov:NormalizedTitle>Accounting Manager General Manager</sov:NormalizedTitle>
    <sov:Subtitles>
        <sov:Subtitle Value="Subtitle">Accounting Manager</sov:Subtitle>
        <sov:Subtitle Value="Subtitle">General Manager</sov:Subtitle>
    </sov:Subtitles>
    <sov:Bullets>
        <sov:Bullet type="creativeTerm">Designed &amp; developed web-based gift fulfillment system for use by Mazda and their affiliates to intake consumer information from bulk mail sends, accept orders from consumers who completed their incentive program, and to report on all activity</sov:Bullet>
        <sov:Bullet type="creativeTerm">Designed &amp; developed web-based event registration systems for Mercedes and Volvo including comprehensive reporting on system activity</sov:Bullet>
        <sov:Bullet type="sentence">Primary contact for Automotive Ride &amp; Drive Marketing Campaigns</sov:Bullet>
    </sov:Bullets>
</sov:PositionHistoryUserArea>

<sov:PositionHistoryUserArea> 
  <sov:Id>POS-3</sov:Id> 
  <sov:CompanyNameProbability>20</sov:CompanyNameProbability> 
  <sov:PositionTitleProbability>21</sov:PositionTitleProbability> 
  <sov:Bullets> 
    <sov:Bullet type="creativeTerm">Designed & developed web-based gift fulfillment system</sov:Bullet> 
    <sov:Bullet type="creativeTerm">Designed & developed web-based registration systems for Mercedes</sov:Bullet> 
    <sov:Bullet type="sentence">Primary contact for Automotive Ride & Drive Marketing Campaigns</sov:Bullet> 
  </sov:Bullets> 
</sov:PositionHistoryUserArea>

Degrees

In the HROpenStandards.org output, the Parser reports the level of education in the degreeType attribute of the Degree element: <Degree degreeType="bachelors">

These values are not very global-friendly, but the Parser does normalize all degrees to one of these pre-defined degreeTypes. This list is sorted, as well as possible, by increasing level of education. Although, there are certainly ambiguities from one discipline to another, such as whether professional is above or below masters Here are the possible values:

• specialeducation
• some high school or equivalent
• ged
• secondary
• high school or equivalent
• certification
• vocational
• some college
• HND/HNC or equivalent
• associates
• international
• bachelors
• some post-graduate
• masters
• intermediategraduate
• professional
• postprofessional
• doctorate
• postdoctorate

School Types

The HROpenStandards.org enumeration schoolTypes is used for values in the schoolType attribute of the SchoolOrInstitution element like this:

<EducationHistory>
    <SchoolOrInstitution schoolType="lowerSchool">
        <School>
            <SchoolName>St John The Baptist Primary School</SchoolName>
        </School>
        ...

The HROpenStandards.org standard defines these values:

• highschool
• secondary
• trade
• community
• college
• university

The Sovren Resume Parser also defines these values:

Degree User Area

The HROpenStandards.org Resume standard defines UserArea elements throughout the schema that can be populated with additional information that is not part of the standard. Sovren inserts significant value-added information in these UserAreas. These sections are documented in this document and defined in the SovrenResumeExtensions.xsd file.

The UserArea content for Degree elements is located at /Resume/StructuredXMLResume/EducationHistory/Degree/UserArea/sov:DegreeUserArea. This is what a typical DegreeUserArea element looks like:

<sov:DegreeUserArea>
<sov:Id>DEG-1</sov:Id>
<sov:Graduated>false</sov:Graduated>
<sov:NormalizedGPA>0.85</sov:NormalizedGPA>
</sov:DegreeUserArea>

Name

The name or phrase that describes the license or certification. This value is not standardized or mapped to any pre-defined list.

Description

This element reports additional information about the license or certification. It is one of the following values, where the text in square brackets is conditionally output depending on the context:

• license[; found in LICENSES][; matched to list]
• certification[; found in CERTIFICATIONS][; matched to list]

The “found in LICENSES” note indicates that the license was found when parsing the text of a LICENSES section.

The “found in CERTIFICATIONS” note indicates that the certification was found when parsing the text of a CERTIFICATIONS section.

The “matched to list” note indicates that the license was found anywhere within the text of the resume/CV based on matching a specific keyword, key phrase, or pattern as defined in one of the Parser’s data lists.

EffectiveDate.FirstIssuedDate

The date of the license or certification, if any.

EffectiveDate.ValidFrom & EffectiveDate.ValidTo

The effective date range, if any.

Where To Look For Skills

By default, the parser looks in the following sections for skills:

Also Report These As Skills

By default, the parser doesn't report any of these data types as skills. To report any of the following data types as skills refer to the config string value in the table.

Skills Taxonomy Output

This section contains the skill/competency data in the Sovren-preferred format. You may prefer to consume this data rather than the data in the Competencies section or use a combination of both. Note that both sections contain the same data, only the format is different.

<sov:SkillsTaxonomyOutput>
    <sov:TaxonomyRoot name="Sovren">
        <sov:Taxonomy name="Information Technology" id="10" percentOfOverall="57">
            <sov:Subtaxonomy name="Database" id="193" percentOfOverall="33" percentOfParentTaxonomy="58">
                <sov:Skill name="DATABASES" existsInText="true" whereFound="Found in SKILLS" childrenTotalMonths="21" childrenLastUsed="2004-12-01">
                    <sov:ChildSkill name="DATABASE" existsInText="true" totalMonths="21" lastUsed="2004-12-01" whereFound="Found in SUMMARY; WORK HISTORY; POS-2"></sov:ChildSkill>
                </sov:Skill>
                <sov:Skill name="MICROSOFT ACCESS" existsInText="false">
                    <sov:ChildSkill name="ACCESS 97" existsInText="true" whereFound="Found in SKILLS"></sov:ChildSkill>
                </sov:Skill>
                <sov:Skill name="MS SQL SERVER" existsInText="false" childrenTotalMonths="45" childrenLastUsed="2004-12-01">
                    <sov:ChildSkill name="SQL SERVER" existsInText="true" totalMonths="45" lastUsed="2004-12-01" whereFound="Found in SKILLS; SUMMARY; WORK HISTORY; POS-2; POS-4"></sov:ChildSkill>
                </sov:Skill>
                <sov:Skill name="ORACLE" existsInText="true" whereFound="Found in SKILLS"></sov:Skill>
                <sov:Skill name="SQL" existsInText="true" totalMonths="194" lastUsed="2017-05-02" whereFound="Found in SKILLS; SUMMARY; WORK HISTORY; POS-1; POS-2; POS-4"></sov:Skill>
            </sov:Subtaxonomy>
            <sov:Subtaxonomy name="Internet" id="196" percentOfOverall="10" percentOfParentTaxonomy="18">
                <sov:Skill name="ASP" existsInText="true" totalMonths="151" lastUsed="2017-05-02" whereFound="Found in SKILLS; SUMMARY; WORK HISTORY; POS-1"></sov:Skill>
                <sov:Skill name="WEB BASED" existsInText="true" totalMonths="151" lastUsed="2017-05-02" whereFound="Found in WORK HISTORY; POS-1" childrenTotalMonths="31" childrenLastUsed="2004-12-01">
                    <sov:ChildSkill name="WEB-BASED" existsInText="true" totalMonths="31" lastUsed="2004-12-01" whereFound="Found in WORK HISTORY; POS-2; POS-3"></sov:ChildSkill>
                </sov:Skill>
            </sov:Subtaxonomy>
        </sov:Taxonomy>
        ...
    </sov:TaxonomyRoot>
</sov:SkillsTaxonomyOutput>

As you can see above, this view of the skills is structured in the hierarchical manner that matches the Taxonomy > Subtaxonomy > Skill > Child Skill structure that the parser understands. By default, there will only be one TaxonomyRoot, "Sovren". However, if you have added custom skills as described in Customizing Skills, you may see the "Sovren" TaxonomyRoot and your custom TaxonomyRoot(s).

The following table lists the elements and attributes associated with each of the elements above.

DateOfBirth

Date of birth in yyyy-MM-dd format. If the optional inferred attribute (Boolean) is true then the DateOfBirth was inferred from an Age using the following formula: [RevisionDate] - [Age years] - [6 months]

Birthplace

Freeform text that identifies the candidate’s place of birth.

Nationality

Freeform text that identifies the candidate’s country of citizenship. If the optional inferred attribute (Boolean) is true then the Nationality was inferred rather than explicitly stated.

NationalIdentities

Zero or more NationalIdentity elements.

Gender

Male or Female. If the optional inferred attribute (Boolean) is true then the Gender was inferred from the name affix, marital status, national identity number, given name, or some other means. To customize the inference by given name, customize the MALE_GIVEN_NAMES and FEMALE_GIVEN_NAMES data lists.

MaritalStatus

Married, Single, Divorced, Separated, or Unknown. If the optional inferred attribute (Boolean) is true then the MaritalStatus was inferred from the name affix, family composition, national identity number, or some other means.

DrivingLicense

Freeform text that identifies the candidate’s license to drive. May include a license number, type, qualifications, restrictions or any other explanation.

CurrentLocation

Freeform text that identifies the candidate’s current location(s), if specifically stated as such. This value is NOT derived from the contact information postal address.

PreferredLocation

Freeform text that identifies the candidate’s preferred location(s).

WillingToRelocate

One of the following values indicating the candidate’s willingness to relocate: Yes, No, or Unknown.

FamilyComposition

Freeform text that describes the candidate’s family, such as spouse and children.

FathersName

Freeform text that identifies the name of the candidate’s father.

MothersMaidenName

Freeform text that identifies the maiden name of the candidate’s mother.

Availability

Freeform text that describes when the candidate is available to work.

VisaStatus

Freeform text that describes the candidate’s current visa status, expiry date, etc.

PassportNumber

Freeform text that identifies the candidate’s passport number, expiry date, etc.

CurrentSalary

The candidate’s current salary expressed as a monetary amount. The element value is a number. The type attribute is a 3-letter ISO 4217 currency code. This element does not specify whether the monetary amount is annually, monthly, or hourly, however that information can usually be inferred from the value.

RequiredSalary

The salary the candidate expects for any new position, expressed as a monetary amount. The element value is a number. The type attribute is a 3-letter ISO 4217 currency code. This element does not specify whether the monetary amount is annually, monthly, or hourly, however that information can usually be inferred from the value.

HukouCity

Name of City for Chinese household registration (hukou record).

HukouArea

Area/Province for Chinese household registration (hukou record).

PoliticalAffiliation

Freeform text specifying the candidate’s political affiliation.

MessagingAddress

Zero or more MessagingAddress elements. The type attribute identifies the messaging system, such as ICQ, MESSENGER, QQ, etc. The element value is the candidate’s address within that messaging system.

MotherTongue

The mother tongue (also known as primary language, native language, or first language) of the candidate. The value is one of the ISO 639-1 codes. For example: Dutch (nl), English (en), French (fr), or the special value Invariant/Unknown (iv).

Type

Reserved for future use.

TrainingName

Reserved for future use.

Qualifications

Any text within Description that is recognized as a qualification (such as DDS), degree (such as B.S.), or a certification (such as Project Management Professional). Each qualification is listed separately.

Entity

Name of school or company

Description

All of the text associated with this training item.

StartDate

Start date of this training item.

EndDate

End date of this training item.

Patents

For example, this text within a resume results in the following output.

Patents
George Doam and Neil Griffin, inventors, “Method and Apparatus for Removing Corn Kernels From Dentures”, Patent 1,064,098.

<PatentHistory>
	<Patent>
		<PatentTitle>Method and Apparatus for Removing Corn Kernels From Dentures</PatentTitle>
		<Description>George Doam and Neil Griffin, inventors, "Method and Apparatus for Removing Corn Kernels From Dentures", Patent 1,064,098.</Description>
		<Inventors>
			<InventorName>George Doam and Neil Griffin</InventorName>
		</Inventors>
		<PatentDetail>
			<PatentMilestone>
				<Id>1064098</Id>
			</PatentMilestone>
		</PatentDetail>
	</Patent>
</PatentHistory>

Publications

For example, this text within a resume results in the following output.

Publications
"The Way Home:  How GPS Restored My Profits and Saved My Business Life", published in the American Journal of the Lost And Clueless, Volume 1, Number 4.

<PublicationHistory>
	<Article>
		<Title>The Way Home: How GPS Restored My Profits and Saved My Business Life</Title>
		<JournalOrSerialName>published in the American Journal of the Lost And Clueless</JournalOrSerialName>
		<Issue>Volume 1, Number 4</Issue>
	</Article>
</PublicationHistory>

Speaking Engagements

For example, this text within a resume results in the following output.

Speaking Engagements
Main Speaker, AYA Forum, 2006

<SpeakingEventsHistory>
	<SpeakingEvent>
		<EventName></EventName>
		<EventType>conference</EventType>
		<Description>Main Speaker, AYA Forum, 2006</Description>
	</SpeakingEvent>
</SpeakingEventsHistory>

Military History

For example, this text within a resume results in the following output.

Military Service
FIRST LIEUTENANT, US Army, Vietnam theatre, 1966-1967

<MilitaryHistory>
	<CountryServed>VN</CountryServed>
	<ServiceDetail branch="US Army">
		<RankAchieved>
			<CurrentOrEndRank>FIRST LIEUTENANT</CurrentOrEndRank>
		</RankAchieved>
		<DatesOfService>
			<StartDate>
				<Year>1966</Year>
			</StartDate>
			<EndDate>
				<Year>1967</Year>
			</EndDate>
		</DatesOfService>
	</ServiceDetail>
	<Comments>FIRST LIEUTENANT, US Army, Vietnam theatre, 1966-1967</Comments>
</MilitaryHistory>

Security Clearance

For example, this text within a resume results in the following output.

CLEARANCE
Top Secret, expires 2007

<SecurityCredentials>
	<SecurityCredential>
		<Name>Top Secret, expires 2007</Name>
		<EffectiveDate>
			<FirstIssuedDate>
				<Year>2007</Year>
			</FirstIssuedDate>
		</EffectiveDate>
	</SecurityCredential>
</SecurityCredentials>

Culture

The Culture element describes the Language and Region information that is either:

1. Calculated during parsing according to an analysis of the text, or
2. The default specified by in case the culture cannot be calculated.

This culture information influences the way the Parser works, such as how it interprets ambiguous date values such as (5/1/09) or differing linguistic rules for analyzing the text.

A typical Culture element looks like this:

<sov:Culture>
    <sov:Language>en</sov:Language>
    <sov:Country>US</sov:Country>
    <sov:CultureInfo>en-US</sov:CultureInfo>
</sov:Culture>

    <Resume xml:lang="en"

Location

The Location element provides a place to store the geographic coordinates for the primary PostalAddress. This data is no longer provided by Sovren, but instead, is available through the SaaS API. If you are an “installed” customer of Sovren, you have access to the geocoding API call on your own instance of the Sovren SaaS service, using your own credentials to Bing or Google.

A typical Location element looks like this:

<sov:Location>
    <sov:Latitude inferred="true">32.9937</sov:Latitude>
    <sov:Longitude inferred="true">-117.2598</sov:Longitude>
</sov:Location>

Sections

One of the first things the Parser does is split the resume into sections. Each section is then handed to a sub-parser that knows how to handle the type of information in each section. The Sections element contains a collection of Section elements, each of which identifies the types and locations of sections that were found.

<sov:Section starts="25" ends="26" sectionType="SUMMARY">Summary</sov:Section>
<sov:Section starts="27" ends="28" sectionType="OBJECTIVE">OBJECTIVE:</sov:Section>
<sov:Section starts="29" ends="72" sectionType="WORK HISTORY">Experience</sov:Section>
<sov:Section starts="73" ends="79" sectionType="EDUCATION">Education</sov:Section>

ReservedData

The Parser uses this section to output all of the URLs, Email Addresses, Phone Numbers, and Twitter handles found anywhere in the document. These values are not necessarily tied to the candidate.

CustomData

The parser can be customized to extract additional types of data through the use of regular expressions that you provide. For each match, a CustomDataMatch element is reported. The CustomDataMatch elements are reported in the same order they are found in the resume text.

For example, the following output represents an item that was found by setting "Data.UserDefinedParsing = True;" in the config string. This setting loads all of the built-in custom data definitions. You can define your own set by supplying it with a custom version of the CUSTOM_DATA_DEFINITIONS data list. For more information about how to provide this information via a CUSTOM_DATA_DEFINITIONS list, please read Customizing Data Lists.doc.

<sov:CustomData>
    <sov:CustomDataMatch type="SocialNetworkingUrls">
        http://www.linkedin.com/in/missmadams
    </sov:CustomDataMatch>
</sov:CustomData>

CoverLetterText

This element reports all of the text that was determined to be part of a cover letter. HROpenStandards.org Resume elements are NOT parsed from this text.

ParsedTextLength

This element reports the number of characters in the plain text resume.

ParseTime

This element reports the number of milliseconds that were spent within the Parser. This value does not include network transfer times.

ResumeQuality

The Resume Quality is a series of assessments of how well the resume conforms to Sovren's resume building best practices. Assessments are ordered by severity, from fatal problems to suggested improvements. Each assessment contains a list of findings, describing the exact issue with the resume and a recommendation to resolve the issue.

<sov:ResumeQuality>
    <sov:Assessments>
        <sov:Assessment>
            <sov:Level>Major Issues Found</sov:Level>
            <sov:Findings>            
                <sov:Information>[Sovren:311;] The resume contains a contact information section that is not the first section. A resume should always include contact info at the top of the resume.</sov:Information>
                <sov:Information>[Sovren:323;LANGUAGES,SKILLS] The following section types appear multiple times in the resume: LANGUAGES (2 occurrences), SKILLS (2 occurrences). Each section should only appear once in a resume.</sov:Information>
                <sov:Information>[Sovren:325;6] The following sections do not have a header: Section with index 6 (of type: WORK HISTORY). Every section should have a header directly above the content associated to it.</sov:Information>
            </sov:Findings>
        </sov:Assessment>
    </sov:Assessments>
</sov:ResumeQuality>

TimedOut

If the Parser timed out while processing the resume, then a TimedOut element is reported. The value is the number of milliseconds spent parsing before the timeout was reached.

The type attribute has one of these values:

• soft: The 15 second timeout was reached. The parser stopped at the next checkpoint and returned all information that had been processed up to that moment.
• hard: The 22.5 second timeout was reached. The parser stopped immediately (between checkpoints) and returned all information that had been processed up to that moment.

For example, the following represents a soft timeout that occurred after 15.121 seconds:

    <sov:TimedOut type="soft">15121</sov:TimedOut>

ParserConfigurationString

This element reports the Parser configuration that was used during parsing. The configuration is output as a string of Name=Value pairs, each representing a parser setting.

This string value is not necessarily the same as the string that was passed in before parsing. It is the final combination of the value you provided plus pre-configured or built-in defaults and settings changed by the Parser at runtime as a consequence of its locale and language detection.

ParserVersion

This element simply reports the version number of the Parser that produced the output.

Description

The Description element contains a paragraph of text that summarizes the candidate’s experience. This paragraph is generated based on the other data points within the ExperienceSummary. The paragraph is generated in the same language as the resume for Dutch, English, French, Spanish, and Swedish (but not yet for German or Greek).

CareerStory

The CareerStory element contains a paragraph of text that summarizes the candidate’s entire career.

MonthsOfWorkExperience

The number of months of work experience as indicated by the range of StartDate and EndDate values in the various PositionHistory elements. Overlapping date ranges are not double-counted. This value is NOT derived from text like “I have 15 years of experience”.

MonthsOfManagementExperience

The number of months of management experience as indicated by the range of StartDate and EndDate values in the various PositionHistory elements that have been determined to be management-level positions. Overlapping date ranges are not double-counted. This value is NOT derived from text like “I have 10 years of management experience”.

CurrentManagementLevel

Computed level of management for the current position. One of the following values:

• low-or-no-level
• low-level
• mid-level
• somewhat high-level
• high-level
• executive-level

HighestManagementScore

The highest score calculated from any of the position titles. The score is based on the wording of the title, not on the experience described within the position description.

• 0 to 29 = Low level
• 30-59 = Mid level
• 60+ = High level

ExecutiveType

If HighestManagementScore is at least 30, then the job titles are examined to determine the best category for the executive experience, from among the following:

• none
• admin
• accounting
• business_dev
• executive
• financial
• general
• it
• learning
• marketing
• operations

AverageMonthsPerEmployer

The average number of months a candidate has spent at each employer. Note that this number is per employer, not per job.

FulltimeDirectHirePredictiveIndex

A score (0-100), where 0 means a candidate is more likely to have had (and want/pursue) short-term/part-time/temp/contracting jobs and 100 means a candidate is more likely to have had (and want/pursue) traditional full-time, direct-hire jobs.

ManagementStory

The ManagementStory is a plain text line-by-line summary of the management experience.

AttentionNeeded

A message containing information about something abnormal about the candidate (e.g. the candidate was in management at one point but not at their most recent position). This does not appear in the results if nothing abnormal found.

Creating custom skills lists using the Skills Editor app

We have an app for this! The Sovren Skills Editor app! That app will allow you to make changes to the Sovren built-in skills lists for use by Sovren products, and create, import, export, and edit custom lists as well. The custom lists you import should be created in the SDF formats defined above.

The built-in skills are available in an encrypted binary format. They are provided in files with an .SDF extension. These encrypted files can be opened, edited, and saved only with the Sovren Skills Editor, and they can be used anywhere a normal text SDF file or stream can be used; however, you are unable to view, edit, or use these.

The encrypted SDF files binary file format is undocumented. You may not in any way attempt to recreate the Sovren skills lists during your use of the Sovren Skills Editor, nor by any other method. Any attempts to re-type, copy and paste, create screenshots, etc., are strictly prohibited.

As a customer, you should have a login to the Sovren Portal where you have been granted access to the Skills Editor app.

SN.COMPANY.ALL.txt

Contains the normalized company name and then the raw company name, separated by a single tab and only by a single tab. For example, the following company names will all get normalized to “Amazon”:

Amazon	Amazon.co.uk
Amazon	Amazon.com
Amazon	Amazon.com Inc.
Amazon	Amazon.com, Inc

SN.COMPANY_DQ_ANYWHERE.ALL.txt

Contains the normalized company name and then the disqualifier word or phrase, separated by a single tab and only by a single tab. If the disqualifier word or phrase appears ANYWHERE in the resume, it will prevent the company name from being normalized to the value shown. For example, the following company names will not get normalized to “Amazon Web Services” if the term to the right appears anywhere in the resume:

Amazon Web Services	Allied Waste Services
Amazon Web Services	Allied Waste
Amazon Web Services	Waste Services 

SN.COMPANY_DQ_IN_NAME.ALL.txt

Contains the normalized company name and then the disqualifier word or phrase, separated by a single tab and only by a single tab. If the disqualifier word or phrase appears ANYWHERE in the company name, it will prevent the company name from being normalized to the value shown. For example, the following terms will not get normalized to “Amazon” if the term to the right appears anywhere in the company name:

Amazon	Amazon Floral Services
Amazon	Amazon Landscaping 

SN.POSITION_TITLE_SYNONYMS.ALL.txt

Contains the normalized job title word or phrase and then the job title synonym, separated by a single tab and only by a single tab. For example, the following titles will get normalized to “VP”:

VP	Vice Pres
VP	Vice Pres.
VP	Vice President

SN.SCHOOL.ALL.txt

Contains the normalized school name and then the raw school name, separated by a single tab and only by a single tab. For example, the following school names will get normalized to “California Institute of Technology”:

California Institute of Technology	California Institute of Technology Pasadena
California Institute of Technology	California Institute of Technology-United States-CA
California Institute of Technology	Caltech
California Institute of Technology	Southern California Institute of Technology

SN.SCHOOL_DQ_ANYWHERE.ALL.txt

Contains the normalized school name and then the disqualifier word or phrase, separated by a single tab and only by a single tab. If the disqualifier word or phrase appears ANYWHERE in the resume, it will prevent the school name from being normalized to the value shown. For example, the following school names will not get normalized to “California Institute of Technology” if the term to the right appears anywhere in the resume:

California Institute of Technology	California Technology School
California Institute of Technology	California School of Technology

SN.SCHOOL_DQ_IN_NAME.ALL.txt

Contains the normalized school name and then the disqualifier word or phrase, separated by a single tab and only by a single tab. If the disqualifier word or phrase appears ANYWHERE in the school name, it will prevent the school name from being normalized to the value shown. For example, the following school names will not get normalized to “Harvard University” if the term to the right appears anywhere in the school name:

Harvard University	Harvard Technical College
Harvard University	Harvard Community College

SN.SCHOOL_SYNONYMS.ALL.txt

Contains the normalized school word or phrase and then the school synonym, separated by a single tab and only by a single tab. These synonyms are applied to a raw school name to produce one of the standardized variations of the school name used to find a matching entry in SN.SCHOOL.ALL.txt. If a match is not found in the SCHOOL list, then these synonym substitutions are applied to the dynamic normalized value. For example, the following terms will all get normalized to “University”:

University	U
University	U.
University	UNIV
University	UNIV.

SN.DEGREE.ALL.txt

Contains the normalized degree name and then the raw degree name, separated by a single tab and only by a single tab. For example, the following degree names will get normalized to “Bachelors”:

Bachelors	B. A
Bachelors	B. A.
Bachelors	Bachelors of Arts

SN.STRIP_FROM_COMPANY_NAME.ALL.txt

Contains words which will be stripped from the company names. For example, the following terms will be removed from company names if found:

& CO
& CO.
& COMPANY

SN.STRIP_FROM_SCHOOL_NAME.ALL.txt

Contains words which will be stripped from the school names. For example, the following terms will be removed from school names if found:

Inc.
Incorporated
Corp.

Using Namespaces

In your XPath API, associate each namespace with a prefix and then use those prefixes in your XPath statements.

XPathDocument doc = new XPathDocument(new StringReader(xml));
XPathNavigator nav = doc.CreateNavigator();
XmlNamespaceManager manager = new XmlNamespaceManager(nav.NameTable);
manager.AddNamespace("hr", "http://ns.hr-xml.org/2006-02-28");
manager.AddNamespace("sov", "http://sovren.com/hr-xml/2006-02-28");
XPathNavigator givenNameNode = nav.Select("/hr:Resume/hr:StructuredXMLResume/hr:ContactInfo/hr:PersonName/hr:GivenName"));
string givenName = (givenNameNode == null) ? String.Empty : givenNameNode.Value;
XPathNavigator languageNode = nav.Select("/hr:Resume/hr:UserArea/sov:ResumeUserArea/sov:Culture/sov:Language"));
string language = (languageNode == null) ? String.Empty : languageNode.Value;

Removing Default Namespace

If you are unfamiliar with specifying namespaces in XPath, the simplest approach may be to simply remove the namespaces before loading the XML. The following bit of C# code demonstrates how to remove the two primary namespaces in Sovren XML:

xml = xml.Replace("xmlns=\"http://ns.hr-xml.org/2006-02-28\"", "");
xml = xml.Replace("<sov:", "<" );
xml = xml.Replace("</sov:", "</");
XPathDocument doc = new XPathDocument(new StringReader(xml));
XPathNavigator nav = doc.CreateNavigator();
XPathNavigator givenNameNode = nav.Select("/Resume/StructuredXMLResume/ContactInfo/PersonName/GivenName"));
string givenName = (givenNameNode == null) ? String.Empty : givenNameNode.Value;
XPathNavigator languageNode = nav.Select("/Resume/UserArea/ResumeUserArea/Culture/Language"));
string language = (languageNode == null) ? String.Empty : languageNode.Value;

After removing the namespaces, your XPath statements will be simple and will not require any namespace definitions or prefixes.