TalentLens — Semantic, Explainable Search for ATS
8/10
Demand Score
Clunky search buries qualified talent and wastes recruiter cycles; improving retrieval quality directly reduces time-to-fill.
8/10
Blue Ocean
Competition Level
$1k-6k
Price/Month
Predicted customer spend
12 days
Time to MVP
Difficulty: Hard
The Problem
Other Notable Problems
Competitor Landscape
- SeekOut
- hireEZ
- Eightfold
- LinkedIn Recruiter
- Gem
Must-Have Features for MVP
Hybrid retrieval (BM25 + domain-tuned embeddings) with explainable feature weights
Skill extraction and normalization to ESCO/O*NET with seniority and recency signals
Natural language and boolean query builder with semantic filters (must-have/nice-to-have/avoid)
Real-time indexing of new applicants and profile updates
Bias guardrails: redact sensitive attributes and audit search interactions
Search Notebook: save, share, and version complex queries and rationales
Transparent ranking explanations per candidate card
Proactive alerts for new matches to saved searches
⚠️ Potential Challenges
- High-quality, fast resume parsing and normalization
- Scaling hybrid search across millions of profiles
- Avoiding adverse impact and ensuring explainability
- Embedding and UI integration with diverse ATS vendors
Risk Level: Moderate
🎯 Keys to Success
- 50% faster time to first qualified shortlist
- Higher recall and precision vs. baseline ATS search (measured A/B)
- Increased internal mobility placements via unified search
- Recruiter satisfaction gains and reduced reliance on external sourcing
- Clear, auditable rationale supporting fair hiring practices
Ready to Build This?
This hard-difficulty project could be your next micro-SaaS success.