Professional Speed Dating Algorithm

Overview

A template for a pre-career-fair matching event: recruiters and students each fill out a form, and a matching engine turns those responses into a full event plan — printable student cards, recruiter rosters, and a room map — without anyone manually pairing people up. Originally built for a fraternity chapter at Missouri S&T, the repo is set up so any student org, department, or career center can adapt it.

How It Works

Google Forms → forms_to_csv.py → recruiters.csv + students.csv → matching_algorithm.py → workbook + CSVs
 (collect)      (clean & convert)                                  (match & build)

Collect — Recruiters and students fill out Google Forms with their preferences, industries, and majors
Convert — forms_to_csv.py turns messy raw exports into two clean CSVs, resolves each student's guaranteed "wildcard" picks, and flags anything that needs a human look
Match & Build — matching_algorithm.py scores every possible student-recruiter pair and assigns matches in stages (guaranteed picks, equity floor, recruiter floor, general fill, backfill)

Key Features

Multi-stage matching algorithm that balances student preferences, recruiter capacity, and equity constraints
Google Apps Script for building and managing the intake forms
Excel workbook output with 8 tabs including printable rosters, student cards, and room maps
Event timing configuration for food, structured matching, and open mingling periods
Demo mode with realistic synthetic data for dry runs before the real event

Technologies Used

Python — Core matching engine
Pandas & NumPy — Data processing and scoring
OpenPyXL & ReportLab — Excel workbook and PDF generation
Google Apps Script — Form creation and management

Outcome

A fully generic system that any organization can adapt for their own recruiter-student networking events. The matching algorithm ensures fair distribution while respecting preferences, and the output materials are print-ready for event day.