Just about every business is trying to transform itself today. Energy companies are going green by refocusing on renewable energy sources. Traditional food companies are innovating more sustainable plant-based products. And healthcare companies are rethinking office visits by embracing tele-health technologies.
These transformations are driving the need to hire people with specialized and often hard-to-find skillsets. At the same time, businesses are making diversity an imperative. For example, executive teams, on average, are comprised of only 20 percent women and 14 percent ethnic minorities.
But according to Diginomica, the talent pipeline is drying up for employers. Only 16 percent of candidates have the skills for current and future success. And people aren’t taking job offers because they’re worried about their health and the safety of the workplace, have kids still at home, don’t feel pay is competitive, and other reasons. So it’s no surprise that in some cases it can take several months to make an experienced hire.
It is time for change
To overcome these challenges and meet growing talent demands, changes must be made to reinvigorate this talent supply chain. They need to be made fast, as the competition is moving quickly. And they can’t be made with outdated technologies and processes. Companies need to harness intelligent technologies that can:
- Match people on a career site and elsewhere using AI, rather than forcing people to search for an open job and then reapply for more jobs later
- Automatically update profiles of past applicants
- Improve diversity and inclusion by giving companies a view of their employees’ and applicants’ skills, rather than having to rely on informal networking for hiring and promotions
- Allow companies to hire for potential, not just “who has done this job before?”
Artificial intelligence to the rescue
The good news is that artificial intelligence has now evolved to the point where it can help solve these talent problems. At the same time, Eightfold AI has aggregated over a billion profiles of people – a huge proportion of the working world – and over a million skills that can be analyzed to generate actionable intelligence. By applying AI to this data, we can derive how people navigate through their careers, what a person could potentially do next, and what they could do after that.
To illustrate, let’s explore one example of how AI can now be used to support workforce planning and hiring. Many businesses have a career Web page where candidates have to search for and find a job that fits them. Often, candidates re-apply again and again for other jobs at the same company.
AI has progressed to a level where a candidate can load up a simple resume, and the AI platform can match a candidate to roles that best match their skills and potential. That’s because the AI has “seen” a billion Eightfold profiles and knows with a very high degree of likelihood what a candidate who worked as an engineer at Amazon has the potential to do next. Or how an Air Force veteran’s skillset can serve them in the civilian workforce. Or why the teacher who uploaded a CV on a career site would make a good corporate trainer.
Equally important, it’s no longer necessary for people to keep applying to the same companies for different jobs. AI can automatically update the profile of a past applicant. If a person applied to a job a couple years ago, but has gained new experience, the AI platform can automatically update their profile and match the person to future roles on the back end. They’ll be pushed to a recruiter or manager as a match to a job long after their original application to a different job. This is a big help to candidates who might have otherwise felt that they had no chance at some roles because they do not have a personal connection to anyone in the company.
Learn more
Want to learn more? Be sure to attend the session at SAPPHIRE NOW, “Building the Future: How AI Can Create the Right Career for Everyone,” with Sachit Kamat, Chief Product Officer at Eightfold AI. He’ll share how the latest developments in AI technology are already transforming talent management — and will in the years to come. Or, check out the session “Make Your Intelligent Enterprise Vision a Reality With AI.”
