The Talent Marketplace: A Skills based Revolution in HR
According to the World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report 2023, 44% of workers' skills will be disrupted in the next five years. This underscores the urgent need for workforce reskilling and upskilling. As Josh Bersin, a globally recognized industry analyst, notes, "The skills economy is here, and it's transforming every aspect of HR and the way we manage people" (Bersin, 2023).
Our CEO, Bryan Bostic sat down with Reworked, a digital publication covering the r/evolution of work and the transformation of the workplace, to discuss the skill-based revolution that is occurring in HR.
Here is an excerpt from the article:
Employers have long tracked employees (and job candidates) based on education, job title and past position. While these are all "skills adjacent," they don’t tell what employees actually know how to do. And that’s a gap that makes companies less adaptable to change.
In this environment, companies need to know what skills are in high demand, who in their workforce has them, and where training or new hires are needed to stay relevant.
Bryan Bostic, CEO of Visual Workforce, explains, "Instead of managers only picking people based on who they know, it lets data drive those decisions. These talent and skills intelligence platforms shift decision-making from subjective manager preferences to data-driven choices, ensuring a more equitable and effective talent allocation process."
In this dynamic landscape, companies can:
Identify high-demand skills
Assess their workforce's existing skill sets
Determine where training or new hires are necessary to maintain competitiveness
Skills and Talent platforms, such as Visual Workforce, are revolutionizing this process. They facilitate:
Efficient project-skill matching
Reduction of unconscious bias
Creation of more inclusive workplaces
The insights derived from comprehensive workforce skills profiles enables:
Enhanced internal mobility programs
Precise identification of in-house talent for specific needs
Strategic prioritization of training resources
Focused and efficient recruiting campaigns
The insights gleaned from these profiles foster a more robust internal mobility program, allowing hiring managers to find the workforce skills and talent they need within the existing workforce. When those workforce skills don't exist internally, companies can use the data to prioritize training resources and focus their recruiting campaigns.
By embracing a skills based approach, organizations can better navigate the complexities of the modern workforce. As Lynda Gratton, Professor of Management Practice at London Business School, points out, "The future of work is not just about technology; it's about how we reimagine the way we develop and deploy human skills" (Gratton, 2023).
The shift towards a skills based approach in HR is not just a trend, but a necessary evolution in talent management and workforce skills. As organizations continue to face rapid technological changes and shifting market demands, their ability to effectively identify, develop, and deploy skills will be crucial to their success and adaptability.