Abstract: The disclosed embodiments provide a system for processing data. During operation, the system determines similarity scores between pairs of skills based on occurrences of the skills in documents. Next, the system determines, based on the similarity scores, a first subset of skills that is similar to a first skill and a second subset of skills that is similar to a second skill. The system then calculates a first normalized similarity score between the two skills based on similarity scores between the first skill and the first subset of skills and calculates a second normalized similarity score between the two skills based on similarity scores between the second skill and the second subset of skills. Finally, the system determines a sequence of the two skills based on a comparison of the normalized similarity scores and stores the sequence in association with the two skills.

Abstract: The disclosed embodiments provide a system for processing data. During operation, the system aggregates a first set of skills associated with an occupation represented by one or more attributes. Next, the system aggregates a second set of skills associated with a course of study represented by one or more additional attributes. The system then calculates a match score representing a similarity between the first set of skills and the second set of skills. Finally, the system stores the match score in association with the occupation and the course of study.