Automated sourcing and screening of candidate profiles

A computer-implemented -t d of ranking candidate profiles, the method comprising:

• receiving, by the computer, authorization from a participant to access the participant's account on a social networking system, wherein the participant is connected to one or more candidates in the social networking system;
• extracting, by the computer, one or more profiles corresponding to the one or more candidates connected to the participant in the social networking system;
• identifying, by the computer, mutual connections of the one or more candidates connected to the participant in the social networking system and one or more other participants associated with the participant;
• scoring the extracted profiles based on a respective number of identified mutual connections;
• ranking the one or more candidates connected to the participant based on the scoring of the one or more profiles;
• and
• providing a list of the one or more ranked candidates.

A computer-implemented method of graphically representing candidate profiles in a candidate profiles ranking system, the method comprising:

• receiving candidate search data;
• retrieving a set of candidate profiles from a profiles repository, wherein the set of candidate profiles is extracted from social networking accounts associated with multiple participants of a referral system;
• scoring the set of candidate profiles according to a degree of match between the candidate search data and profile data within the set of candidate profiles;
• identifying one or more candidate profiles from the set of scored candidate profiles that meet a threshold score;
• identifying mutual connections of the one or more identified candidate profiles and the multiple participants;
• generating a first graphical representation including the one or more identified candidate profiles and the identified mutual connections;
• providing the first graphical representation for display;
• receiving a selection of at least one of the one or more identified candidate profiles;
• generating a second graphical representation including the selected at least one profile and one or more participants of the multiple participants that are connected to the selected at least one profile;
• and
• providing the second graphical representation for display.

A system operating in a communication network, comprising:

• asocial networking system;
• and
• a computer comprising a memory to store a program code, and a processor to execute the program code to:
• receive candidate search data;
• extract a set of candidate profiles from the social networking accounts of multiple participants of a referral system, wherein the set of candidate profiles correspond to candidates connected to the multiple participants in the social networking system;
• score the set of candidate profiles according to a degree of match between the candidate search data and profile data within the set of candidate profiles;
• identify one or more candidate profiles from the set of scored candidate profiles that meet a threshold score;
• identify mutual connections of the one or more identified candidate profiles and the multiple participants;
• generate a first graphical representation including the one or more identified candidate profiles and the identified mutual connections;
• provide the first graphical representation for display;
• receive a selection of at least one of the one or more identified candidate profiles;
• and
• generate a second graphical representation including the selected at least one profile and one or more participants of the multiple participants that are connected to the selected at least one profile;
• and
• providing the second graphical representation for display.