Tag: Skills

Skills Architecture is the key to SBO – and AI is the tech enabler

Posted on by Isabelle Bichler

Talent acquisition specialists are continuously challenged to match candidates with the right skills to positions that feed evolving business needs. Technology and data are the one-two punch that empowers HRs to do so effectively.

Skills Architecture: Building the SBO Foundation

A comprehensive skills architecture helps HR leaders start the process with a clear understanding of what skills are already within their talent pool and where the skills gaps lie so they can target the right candidates more quickly. 

As such, skills architecture acts as the blueprint that defines and structures the skills within an organization, unifying skills language and moving beyond traditional job descriptions to establish an agreed-upon nomenclature. It’s the foundation on which a centralized Skills-Based Organization is built, pulling together skills data across teams to form a larger, more strategically malleable view.

“We’ve always historically said that this system doesn’t talk to this system, and this system doesn’t talk to this system, and the spaghetti plate of systems is what disables us from getting data or from making informed decisions that are embedded and rooted in true data and analytics,” says Sadia Ayaz, VP of Talent Management for Veolia. “Here we are today, capable of doing that. AI can take all of that unstructured data and make sense of it.” 

AI: The SBO Tech Enabler

AI’s machine learning algorithms and expedited data analytics are the technological backbone of a sophisticated skills architecture. This is due to its ability to: 

  • Ingest vast datasets to identify both existing and emerging skills within an organization 
  • Detect patterns and trends, allowing HRs to stay ahead of critical skill gaps or areas that require upskilling
  • Reveal hidden talent within an existing workforce, uncovering internal job candidates for consideration

Beyond talent acquisition, AI-driven technologies also fortify talent management strategies in a Skills Based Organization. Through personalized learning paths and recommendations, AI enables employees to acquire new skills in alignment with organizational goals, while also benefiting from individualized professional development. 

By harnessing the power of AI to construct a detailed and dynamic skills architecture, and engaging AI as the tech enabler for a successful Skills-Based Organization, HRs can hire and retain the right talent to fuel an SBO workforce model. Synergy between skills architecture and AI is the cornerstone of shaping the future of talent acquisition and organizational success.

Learn more about the power of retrain.ai’s Talent Intelligence platform here.

Mastering Hiring Challenges: How AI Levels the Field for Companies of All Sizes

Posted on by Isabelle Bichler

Large enterprises and smaller organizations have similar challenges when it comes to hiring: Finding the right people for best-fit positions quickly, accurately and efficiently.

This at a time when 53% of in-house recruiting pros predict their recruiting budget will decrease or stay flat this year.

Fortunately, the emergence of AI-driven talent intelligence platforms has leveled the playing field, providing companies of every size with powerful tools to attract, hire, and retain top talent with the skills needed for success. 

The AI Advantage

A December 2023 report from Gartner names technology as the No. 1 investment area for HR leaders–for the third year in a row. The reason? HR increasingly relies on technology to meet a growing list of business demands, including fulfilling employee experience needs, enabling talent agility and continuing HR tech transformation.2

AI-driven talent intelligence platforms act as force multipliers, by automating time-consuming tasks, enabling the agility needed for companies to achieve more with fewer talent resources. 

Data insights generated by AI can also empower companies to target their efforts more precisely, ensuring that every investment in talent pays off in the quest for sustainable growth and competitiveness in the marketplace.

AI-driven platforms provide an advantage by: 

  • Analyzing vast amounts of data at lightning speed, providing actionable insights to help HRs make informed hiring decisions
  • Streamlining the sourcing and screening process, reducing time-to-hire and ensuring HRs can compete effectively for top talent
  • Personalizing internal mobility opportunities, using skills data to predict potential career pathing options for employees.

AI-driven automation frees up HR professionals to focus on larger strategic initiatives; and just as importantly, to spend more time on the face-to-face, human-centric aspects of the job. 

retrain.ai is a Talent Intelligence Platform designed to help enterprises hire, retain, and develop their workforce, intelligently. Leveraging Responsible AI and the industry’s largest skills taxonomy, enterprises unlock talent insights and optimize their workforce effectively to hire the right people, keep them longer and cultivate a successful skills-based organization. retrain.ai fuels Talent Acquisition, Talent Management and Skills Architecture all in one, data-driven solution. To see it in action, request a demo.

SBO moves from theory to practice; AI matures as the tech enabler

Posted on by Isabelle Bichler

As AI-driven HR technology advances, and as Skills-Based Organizations move from strategy to execution, the SBO workforce model is primed to mature in 2024. 

First, the technology.

Generative AI was the tech buzz of 2023, spotlighting its almost unlimited potential to automate tasks and streamline business processes. As such, AI has quickly become vital to the Skills-Based Organization workforce model; specifically in its ability to screen hundreds of resumes at lightning speed and to pull skills information from resumes, job descriptions, and any labor related content. retrain.ai’s Talent Intelligence Platform which was built on the next generation AI from the ground up, offers the Skills Architecture Module as the foundational element for managing the workforce and understanding the current organizational skills state, benchmarking it against the skills required in the industry and recommending which top skills to adopt and enhance, allowing significantly greater agility in acquiring, developing and deploying talent. 

Organizations enamored with the idea of AI for AI’s sake, however, can find themselves with more applications than are needed to address their specific needs, with the additional costs that come with them. In 2024, HR leaders will continue to evolve into more tech savvy professionals, collaborating with their counterparts to first identify problems to solve, and then carefully choose platforms that offer the right solutions to talent acquisition and talent management challenges.

Then, the data.

With the best technological solutions in place, HR leaders are on the right path to solving business problems. Ultimately, though, the goal is reached with data.

“We need to think less about platforms and more about data,” says Dr. Sandra Laughlin, Chief Learning Scientist and Global Head of Talent Enablement & Transformation for EPAM Systems. “As new tools are coming out, new and better data sources are revealed. Generative AI can offer feedback on things that are difficult to observe and coach.” 

To fuel efficient skill-based talent acquisition efforts, for example, AI-driven data insights enable precise candidate matching based on exact skills and attributes required for specific roles. Skills-focused data–and the lack of demographic and other potentially biased data–supports diverse talent pools and an inclusive pipeline.

“The big difference [between the types of AI companies] is that a great AI company is a data company. They get a lot of data, they know what the data means, they spend a lot of time making sense of the data,” says analyst Josh Bersin of The Josh Bersin Company. “They use the data in your company matched against (exterior) data so that the data in your company can be classified and used in a more and more intelligent way.” 

retrain.ai was honored to be recognized as one of the “built on AI” type of  companies, based on billions of labor market data points, with accurate and automated skills detection and assessment, enabling in-depth skills analysis and forecasts to inform and improve strategic workforce planning efforts, increasing quality of hire when used to match internal and external candidates to open positions, and empowering reskilling and upskilling initiatives to improve learning and career path recommendations.

Learn more about the power of retrain.ai’s Talent Intelligence Platform here.

Webinar Recording: Unlocking the Power of AI in HR

Posted on by Isabelle Bichler

A recent webinar sponsored by Crain’s New York Business and NYU School of Professional Studies explored the advancements in AI in HR, including a discussion on why it’s critical for organizations to venture into this technological realm responsibly.

Moderated by Dr. Anna Tavis, Clinical Professor & Chair of the Human Capital Management Department of NYU’s School of Professional Studies, the conversation featured retrain.ai Co-founder and COO Isabelle Bichler-Eliasaf along with with Sadia Ayaz, VP of Talent Management for Veolia, and Heidi Ramirez Perloff, SVP of Global HR Strategic Initiatives and Delivery Solutions for the Estée Lauder Companies. The full recording is below.

 

 

 

How Generative AI Transforms Talent Intelligence

Posted on by Isabelle Bichler

For businesses competing in today’s fast-paced landscape, leading the market means having the right people with the right skills in the right roles. Generative AI has risen to the top of this conversation as a way to more efficiently and accurately reach that goal. 

But what is Generative AI, and how can it revolutionize talent intelligence? If you’re a CHRO, technical innovation leader, or workforce strategist looking to harness the power of AI for HR, here’s what you need to know.

What is Generative AI?

Generative AI is a subset of artificial intelligence that focuses on creating new, original content, rather than simply analyzing or processing existing data. Using vast datasets to learn patterns, relationships, and styles, generative AI technology is able to generate human-like content, whether it’s text, images, or even music.

Generative AI in Hiring

Finding the right talent has always been a critical challenge for HR professionals. When it comes to sourcing, screening and securing the right candidates with the skills needed for business success, generative AI can assist in multiple ways:

  • Skills Extraction and Matching: By analyzing resumes and job descriptions with unprecedented speed and accuracy, Generative AI solutions can quickly identify candidates who best match the required skills and qualifications for an open role. This means talent acquisition specialists can cut time and cost to hire by zeroing in on the right people to move through the hiring process.
  • Candidate Engagement: Chatbots powered by Generative AI can interact with candidates, answer questions, and schedule interviews, ensuring a seamless and efficient recruitment process while freeing HR leaders up to focus on more interpersonal elements of the hiring process.
  • Diversity and Inclusion: Generative AI can support a fair and inclusive hiring process by focusing solely on qualifications and skills, eliminating demographic and other information that can introduce unintended bias.

Generative AI and Internal Mobility

Fostering internal mobility is essential for employee growth and retention. In fact, it’s been shown that employees with a clear view toward future opportunities are more likely to stay with an organization, making proactive upskilling channels a business imperative. Generative AI can assist by:

  • Skills Mapping: Generative AI can help identify employees’ skills, capabilities and interests in order to more accurately suggest potential career paths within the organization.
  • Learning Recommendations: When opportunities are identified in the form of open roles, gigs or projects, Generative AI can produce relevant upskilling pathways to help them acquire the new skills required to pursue them.
  • Succession Planning: By analyzing employee data around skills, capabilities and aspirations, Generative AI can aid in identifying high-potential employees and preparing them for leadership positions.

Generative AI and Skills-Based Organizations

The traditional job-centric approach to workforce planning is quickly becoming outdated, as more companies shift to a skills-focused model. Generative AI supports this transition through:

  • Skills Gap Analysis: By powering a data-driven skills architecture, Generative AI can analyze the skills already present in a workforce, those needed in the future, and how to bridge the gap between the two with employee upskilling or reskilling recommendations.
  • Skills Tagging: Generative AI can automatically tag skills to employees based on their experiences and achievements, creating a comprehensive, continuously updated skills inventory.
  • Adaptive Training: Personalized training plans can be fueled by Generative AI, ensuring employees are continually developing the skills necessary to excel in their current and future roles.

Considerations for CHROs

While Generative AI holds immense potential to elevate HR functions, there are some critical considerations for CHROs when evaluating AI platforms for their HR technology stack:

  • Data Privacy: Ensure that data privacy regulations are followed rigorously, including the safeguarding of sensitive employee and candidate information.
  • Ethical Use: Develop Responsible AI guidelines to comply with regulations and prevent bias, discrimination, or misuse of technology in hiring decisions.
  • Integration: Ensure the AI system can seamlessly integrate with your existing HR software to maximize its efficiency and avoid the delays of a rip-and-replace solution.
  • Training and Support: Invest in staff training to help HR teams understand and effectively use Generative AI tools as well as welcome user feedback.
  • Continuous Improvement: Keep in mind that AI is not a static, set-it-and-forget-it solution. Technology solutions require regular updates and fine-tuning to remain effective.

By automating processes, reducing biases, and focusing on skills, Generative AI enables HR professionals to make more informed decisions and create a workforce ready for the challenges of the future. As a CHRO or HR leader, embracing Generative AI can lead to a more agile, efficient, and innovative HR function, giving your organization a competitive edge in the talent market.

 

retrain.ai is a Talent Intelligence Platform designed to help enterprises hire, retain, and develop their workforce, intelligently. Leveraging Responsible AI and the industry’s largest skills taxonomy, enterprises unlock talent insights and optimize their workforce effectively to hire the right people, keep them longer and cultivate a successful skills-based organization. retrain.ai fuels Talent Acquisition, Talent Management and Skills Architecture all in one, data-driven solution. To see it in action, request a demo.

What are the steps to become a Skills-Based Organization?

Posted on by Isabelle Bichler

Our previous post discussed the key benefits of transformation into a skills-based organization, including agility, adaptability, talent optimization, employee engagement and DEI support. So how does an enterprise make the shift to an SBO model?

Here are five key steps:

  1. Skills Assessment. An enterprise’s first step is determining which skills are already in its workforce. A comprehensive skills inventory can be built using skills assessment tools, self-assessment questionnaires, and feedback mechanisms to capture the diverse skill sets present within the organization.
  2. Skills Mapping. Next, HR leaders need to identify the critical skills required for each role and project within the organization, mapping the existing employee skills against these requirements to identify skill gaps and potential opportunities for upskilling or reskilling.
  3. Skills Development. To engage employees in the process, enterprises need to create a culture of continuous learning and skill development, offering training programs, mentoring opportunities, and access to relevant resources. HR leaders can then encourage employees to take ownership of their skills development and provide avenues for them to showcase their skills within the organization.
  4. Skills-Based Hiring and Talent Mobility. Transitioning to an SBO model needs buy-in across the board, meaning hiring practices must focus on skills rather than traditional job titles, skills-based assessments and interviews are used to identify best-fit candidates, and employees are empowered to move across teams and projects based on their skill sets and interests.
  5. Technology Enablement. Leveraging Responsible AI-driven HR technologies can facilitate skills tracking, mapping, and matching at scale. Enterprises must invest in tools that allow employees to showcase their skills, create skill-based profiles, and connect with others via an internal talent marketplace.

retrain.ai is a Talent Intelligence Platform designed to help enterprises hire, retain, and develop their workforce, intelligently. Leveraging Responsible AI and the industry’s largest skills taxonomy, enterprises unlock talent insights and optimize their workforce effectively to lower attrition, win the war for talent and the great resignation. retrain.ai fuels Talent Acquisition, Talent Management and Skills Architecture, all in one, data-driven solution. To see it in action, request a demo.

What is a Skills-Based Organization?

Posted on by Isabelle Bichler

One of the most significant shifts taking place within the realm of HR and talent management is the transition to a skills-based organization. Rather than focusing solely on job titles and traditional hierarchies, organizations are recognizing the importance of assessing and leveraging employees’ skills and capabilities to better drive success and foster innovation. But what exactly does it mean to transform into a skills-based organization? Why is it seemingly crucial for HR professionals to lead this paradigm shift?

Understanding the Skills-Based Organization

A skills-based organization places skill sets and capabilities at the core of its talent management strategy. Instead of relying on job titles and formal qualifications, enterprises instead shift their focus to identifying, developing, and utilizing the skills their employees possess so as to effectively match individuals to best-fit projects, initiatives, and roles.

What are the benefits of becoming an SBO?

  • Agility and Adaptability. In today’s rapidly changing business environment, enterprises need to be nimble and adaptable. By focusing on skills, companies can quickly respond to market shifts and reconfigure their teams as required. Skills-based organizations have the advantage of assembling cross-functional teams with complementary skill sets, empowering them to tackle new challenges and seize opportunities efficiently.
  • Talent Optimization. Traditional hiring practices often rely on predefined roles, limiting the potential of employees who may possess valuable skills outside their designated functions. A skills-based approach allows organizations to tap into the full potential of their workforce by unlocking hidden talents and engaging individuals to contribute in areas where they excel.
  • Employee Engagement and Growth. Engaged employees are more likely to be motivated, productive, and loyal to their organizations. In a skills-based organization, workers have opportunities to develop and showcase their skills, leading to increased job satisfaction and a sense of fulfillment. By promoting skill development and growth, organizations can foster a culture of continuous learning, which modern professionals highly value.
  • Diversity and Inclusion. Traditional job descriptions can use terminology that inadvertently creates barriers to entry. A skills-based approach promotes inclusivity by focusing on what an individual can do rather than where they come from or what their previous job title might have been. By removing biases associated with traditional hiring practices, enterprises can build diverse and dynamic teams.

In our next post, we’ll go over the key steps involved in transitioning to a Skills-Based Organization.

 

retrain.ai is a Talent Intelligence Platform designed to help enterprises hire, retain, and develop their workforce, intelligently. Leveraging Responsible AI and the industry’s largest skills taxonomy, enterprises unlock talent insights and optimize their workforce effectively to lower attrition, win the war for talent and the great resignation. retrain.ai fuels Talent Acquisition, Talent Management and Skills Architecture, all in one, data-driven solution. To see it in action, request a demo. 

Event Recap: Responsible HR Forum 2023 presented by retrain.ai

Posted on by Isabelle Bichler

There’s something incredible that happens when thought leaders and knowledge seekers gather to explore a critical topic. Such was the vibe at the first-ever Responsible HR Forum presented by retrain.ai. Below, find a brief overview of the day’s sessions, which you can now access as podcast or vidcast recordings.


Keynote: EEOC Commissioner Keith Sonderling

Starting off the day, keynote speaker Commissioner Keith Sonderling of the EEOC shared insights on the expansion of Responsible AI governance across the U.S., emphasizing that current regulations put the onus on businesses using AI systems to ensure they generate fair end results–not on the makers of AI systems.

Watch the vidcast | Listen to the podcast

 

Ready or Not, Regulations Are Coming 

Talk of Responsible AI continued into the first panel discussion, where Commissioner Sonderling was joined by Scott Loughlin of Hogan Lovells, Rob Szyba of Seyfarth Shaw and Niloy Ray of Littler to discuss the new AI Audit Law in New York City, the far-reaching implications of seemingly local regulations, and how the European Union’s approach to AI governance differs from the U.S.

Watch the vidcast | Listen to the podcast


The Paradox of the HR Mission: Creating a Multidimensional View of Talent

In conversation with retrain.ai’s Amy DeCicco, Dr. Anna Tavis of the Human Capital Management Department at New York University and Dr. Yustina Saleh from The Burning Glass Institute posed provocative questions, encouraging attendees to think about questions like whether empathy is truly a skill or a trait, or how HR leaders can tell from a skills profile whether or not a candidate will be able to do the job needed.

Watch the vidcast | Listen to the podcast


Becoming a Skills-Based Organization: More Than a Trend?

With more enterprises talking about transforming to an SBO model, Dr. Sandra Loughlin of EPAM Systems shared lessons learned from her company’s transformation, while Heidi Ramirez-Perloff discussed The Estee Lauder Company’s exploration into SBO strategy. Urmi Majithia of Atlassian delved into executing technology to help overcome the challenges of becoming an SBO, and Ben Eubanks of Lighthouse Research & Advisory broke down the larger SBO concept to a tangible level regarding individual employees and hiring managers.

Watch the vidcast | Listen to the podcast


The Hidden Architecture of a Skills-Based Organization

Following the panel discussion, Dr. Loughlin sat down for a one-on-one with retrain.ai CEO Dr. Shay David to go more in depth into EPAM’s experience developing a thriving SBO strategy, sharing benefits, pitfalls and lessons learned along the way.

Watch the vidcast | Listen to the podcast

 

Can Innovation and Regulation Co-Exist? How ChatGPT Sparked the Conversation

No discussion around Responsible HR would be complete without an exploration of the huge impact ChatGPT and other generative AI solutions are having on the tech space.  Leading a fascinating discussion on the topic were Yuying Chen-Wynn of Wittingly Ventures and Art Kleiner of Kleiner Powell International, who examined the potential of generative AI to greatly improve business systems, as well as the ethical AI use questions that remain in the midst of growing regulation.

Watch the vidcast | Listen to the podcast


Continuing the Conversation: The Responsible HR Council

To conclude the Responsible HR Forum, retrain.ai announced the formation of our Responsible HR Council. Like the Forum, our Council will involve experts from academia, law, enterprise, government and nonprofit sectors. We’ll meet quarterly to get up to speed on new AI legislation, new AI technologies, and the melding of the two within Responsible HR practices. Check back for details soon! 

retrain.ai is a Talent Intelligence Platform designed to help enterprises hire, retain, and develop their workforce, intelligently. Leveraging Responsible AI and the industry’s largest skills taxonomy, enterprises unlock talent insights and optimize their workforce effectively to lower attrition, and win the war for talent and the great resignation. retrain.ai fuels Talent Acquisition, Talent Management and Skills Architecture, all in one, data-driven solution. To see it in action, request a demo. 

The Responsible HR Forum Presented by retrain.ai

Posted on by Isabelle Bichler

The conversation around responsible HR innovation and best practices has been growing steadily as enterprises look to ethically pursue equitable, diverse workforce growth. Its importance has further increased given the NYC AI Audit law taking effect in July 2023. 

Up to this point, much of the conversation has taken place disparately, with HR leaders, technologists and regulators operating in silos.

We are thrilled to announce that this May, we are hosting a first-of-its-kind event focused entirely on Responsible HR. We’re bringing together key stakeholders to form a community of HR leaders, technologists, educators, advocates and regulators to collaborate on our collective journey toward designing and adopting Responsible HR practices. 

The Responsible HR Forum

presented by retrain.ai

May 17, 2023

New York City

This full day of exploration and discussion will be kicked off by our esteemed keynote speaker, Commissioner Keith Sonderling of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

Keith Sonderling, Vice Chair and Commissioner, EEOC

Commissioner Sonderling will discuss increasing Responsible AI regulation as well as what’s on the legislative horizon for enterprises and HR leaders implementing AI-based tech solutions. 

You’re invited to join us as we bring together CHROs, regulators, legal experts, analysts, academics, nonprofits and more for a day of invigorating discussions, shared ideas and key strategies to prepare for this next wave in the future of work.

 

retrain.ai is a talent intelligence platform designed to help enterprises hire, retain, and develop their workforce, intelligently. Leveraging Responsible AI and the industry’s largest skills taxonomy, enterprises unlock talent insights and optimize their workforce effectively to lower attrition, win the war for talent and the great resignation in one, data-driven solution. To see it in action, request a demo. 

White Box vs. Black Box HR Solutions: What’s the Difference

Posted on by Isabelle Bichler

As AI becomes increasingly embedded in HR systems, enterprise leaders face growing accountability from regulators, their C-suite, applicants, and more to ensure their solutions use ethical, responsible systems to mitigate unintended bias. As a result, Responsible AI is becoming a business mandate, with increasing momentum around laws requiring audits to ensure all benchmarks of Responsible AI are in place.  

One key component of Responsible AI is explainability. Users of an AI-based system should understand how their AI gathers, organizes and interprets data, as well as how the platform produces outcomes.

White box = Explainability

The level of transparency needed to fully explain an AI solution can only be found in what is referred to as a white box solution. With this approach, a full end-to-end view of an AI system’s functionality enables system users to see the what of the system–its data output–while also being able to ask the why–the methodology behind the results.

Such interpretability also allows data scientists and analysts to test the design and internal structure of an AI system in order to authenticate the input and outflow, gauge for errors or inconsistencies, and optimize functionalities accordingly.

What White box Means for HR Leaders

A white box AI solution empowers users to question processes and challenge results, which is especially critical when using such technology within HR functions. Armed with a thorough understanding of their AI solution, an HR leader can be sure their system is performing critical functions, such as mitigating bias risk within its machine learning models. Assured of such mitigation, the organization can stand behind hiring practices that fully support their diversity and inclusion goals.

Black box = Blind Trust

Conversely, there are AI systems for which explanations are too difficult to understand–or aren’t available at all. These are often referred to as black box solutions. In certain settings, black box AI can be useful. The algorithmic complexities necessary in fraud prevention systems, for example, are not explainable in simple terms. 

But within HR functions, a black box system doesn’t allow users to understand how the AI arrives at its conclusions around hiring decision support. As such, there is no visibility to detect errors within the processes, including the presence of possible bias permeating the algorithms.

What Black box Means for HR Leaders

For these reasons, black box solutions represent a significant risk to HR innovators. In the larger sense, they demand a significant level of blind trust. More specifically, by masking information that can derail DEI hiring practices, they render an AI  solution non-compliant in the face of increasing Responsible AI regulation.

retrain.ai and Responsible AI

In providing end-to-end transparency for platform users, retrain.ai is a white box solution. In choosing this methodology, retrain.ai supports the rights of enterprises to know and understand how their HR platforms deliver critical information.

As part of our larger commitment to leading the forefront of Responsible AI innovation in the HR Tech space, retrain.ai works with the Responsible Artificial Intelligence Institute (RAII), a leading nonprofit organization building tangible governance tools for trustworthy, safe, and fair artificial intelligence. To see the retrain.ai difference book a demo. 

 

 

retrain.ai is a talent intelligence platform designed to help enterprises hire, retain, and develop their workforce, intelligently. Leveraging Responsible AI and the industry’s largest skills taxonomy, enterprises unlock talent insights and optimize their workforce effectively to lower attrition, win the war for talent and the great resignation in one, data-driven solution. To see it in action, request a demo.