You might recall the 50-plus-company competition going on to develop a job-matching solution for the U.S. government, a competition aimed at helping veterans and separating Service members find employment.
Eightfold had made it to the top 10 in that process. Then, the top five of the Veterans’ Employment Challenge was announced. That list was winnowed down to three.
Now the list has been narrowed down to one: Eightfold.
The U.S. government announced that Eightfold has been selected as the platform the U.S. Department of Labor will use to pilot an improvement to the Transition Assistance Program Employment Workshop at military bases.
“We’ve known that our AI could do for veterans what it has been doing in the private sector,” says Eightfold’s Dan Hopkins, senior director, public sector. “It’s an incredible honor to know that the veterans judging this incredibly competitive program see the same thing.”
What’s at stake, at scale
The goal here is to go beyond the traditional “military skills translators” and instead find a more modern way of connecting the wealth of skills gained in the service to private- or public-sector civilian employment. Hopkins goes on to describe that “military skills translation alone falls short in really understanding a transitioning service member’s true potential. For instance, just because someone drove a truck in the military doesn’t necessarily mean that’s what they want to be doing in civilian life. What’s really needed to unlock opportunities is a capability matrix that understands fit and potential.”
Eightfold uses advanced artificial intelligence to analyze the careers of millions of people as well job requirements worldwide. From there, it knows which of a person’s skills fit for which roles, having digested so much information about other people’s career trajectories.
This idea applies to veterans too. Maybe a former military member has gained additional experience since they put away the uniform and would now make a great sales representative, or a senior human-resources professional, or other roles, but only AI applied at large scale can surface that correlation.
“I am confident that our solution is exactly what Transition Assistance Program coordinators, separating military members, and veterans have clamored for for years,” says Don Moore, Military/Veteran Talent Transformation Advisor for Eightfold and a 24-year Air Force recruiting veteran. “They’ve been frustrated with mundane career suggestions that don’t take into account a variety of skills and accomplishments that don’t always reflect in a resume. This brings the evolution of AI that they are seeing in the combat realm to their fingertips as they research and apply for meaningful, post-service employment.”
The next steps
Now, Eightfold participates in a series of implementation pilots to further test and refine a Veteran-focused product with Service members.
After these pilots, a set of Service members, instructors, and employers will do a final evaluation based on the U.S. government’s ultimate goal, which is to develop a tool that transitioning Service members will use.
Eightfold, if it succeeds in this final pilot, would have the opportunity to have its AI incorporated in the transitioning process for over 200,000 Service members annually, helping them find the right careers.
Eightfold is an active supporter of military veterans and in 2020 became involved in the annual “Carry the Load” event. Its Talent Intelligence Platform uses AI to help large corporations identify which skills veterans have that match up to available jobs.
