Apparatus and methods for evaluating the likelihood that a candidate will match an employment requirement. The apparatus and methods may be used for electronically accessing a plurality of text strings. A computation machine may score the text string using an objective function module. The objective function module may generate an output score that corresponds to the likelihood of a match between the text string and an employment requirement. Based on the score, the candidate may be invited to participate in an electronic dialog, such as a chat session or electronic message exchange, with a recruiting agent. The computation machine may be used to generate supplemental scores based on the chat session or subsequent chat sessions. The scores may be used to evaluate the likelihood of the match.