The Future of Talent Management

How to unlock workforce agility with AI-based Talent Marketplaces

Digitalization, automation, augmentation, robotics, advanced analytics – we are all part of the fourth industrial revolution as it introduces new ways of working and challenges current business models. The pace of technological and digital advancement has accelerated significantly during the last couple of years and continues to change the nature of work considerably. Accordingly, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) reports that more than one billion jobs will be transformed by technology over the next 10 years.^[1] Already today, we observe that new jobs with shifting skill sets are emerging, particularly in the field of data analytics, cybersecurity, or cloud computing, while others are disappearing (e.g., in administration).

However, as specified by Capgemini’s Research Institute study The fluid workforce revolution, in many companies, the current workforce lacks the critical skills necessary to reach strategic goals. More precisely, in this research, 65% of executives agree that the gap between the skills their organization requires and the ones that people possess is widening. On top of that, with the labor market fully disrupted by demographic changes and talent shortage, companies struggle to recruit the right talents with the right skills.

Do you agree? If so, how do you ensure that your workforce is future-ready to meet business demands?

Internal mobility helps organizations to re- and upskill, redeploy, and retain talents

The tense situation on the competitive employment market drives organizations to rethink their talent strategy. Consequently, many companies are beginning to recognize the importance of internal mobility, since it offers more advantages than just filling existing gaps.

On the one hand, internal mobility enables organizations to become more agile and efficient in developing and redeploying the current workforce by means of re- and upskilling and lateral or vertical moves. On the other hand, employees get the chance to actively drive their professional development, leading to increased motivation and higher retention rates. As confirmed by our latest research The People Experience Advantage, for 65% of employees, learning and skill development is the most important aspect of their work. Correspondingly, companies need to create a culture where talents can grow skills and follow individual career aspirations.

As part of an agile response to business disruptions, talent mobility requires a mindset shift. Instead of only seeking college education degrees and former job experience, it expects organizations to focus on a candidate’s relevant skills. Thus, the basis for a successful talent mobility strategy constitutes transparency of available skills and future skill needs. But many companies encounter difficulties when they attempt to identify, assess, and manage skills in an agile and adaptable approach.

Do you have a strategy to efficiently manage and develop your internal resources?

Talent Marketplaces create visibility into available talents and possible development opportunities

This is where Talent Marketplaces come into play. In simple terms, a Talent Marketplace can be defined as a powerful platform that uses AI to dynamically align employees’ skills with new career and development opportunities. By analyzing the current and potential workforce, Talent Marketplaces improve data-driven decision-making and enable organizations to better understand themselves. In fact, these platforms deliver real-time insights on which skills are available and which are missing but needed to meet business priorities.   

As a first step, every employee creates a personal profile on this technology-supported platform, where they can both self-assess current skills and define career goals. Based on AI, a person’s existing skills or adjacent skills can automatically be collected from input data, such as CVs, LinkedIn profiles, and HCM data. Depending on the analysis of personal abilities and interests, the tool then matches employees to promising jobs within the company, builds customized career plans, and suggests required learning and development measures that will help them reach their defined goals. Here’s how Josh Bersin’s describes this recent development:

“In many ways, these are the “new talent management platforms” of the future, because they connect employees to learning, mentors, developmental assignments, and jobs. And unlike the old “pre-hire to retire” systems that tried to do this with competency models (Cornerstone, Saba, etc.), these are highly dynamic systems that can infer and import new skills, content, and assessments by design.”

Source: Bersin, J. (2023), HR Technology 2023: What’s hot? What’s not?

Put this way, it is not hard to see the benefit of these dynamic systems. Once successfully implemented, employees gain new experiences as they move internally while organizations get to retain valuable knowledge.

Select the best fitting Talent Marketplace provider that meets an organization’s individual requirements

Given the potential of these platforms, a series of vendors now offer amazing new solutions on the market.^[2] A Capgemini Invent internal study compares the leading providers on the market (e.g., Gloat, Eightfold.ai, HR Forecast, 365Talents and ODEM). The study evaluates the functional strength of different Talent Marketplaces and shows that features vary amongst providers. Therefore, organizations must choose a platform that meets their individual demands (e.g., in terms of needed functionalities, pricing, and cultural fit).

Sound interesting? We will present a concrete use case in our next article, Talent Marketplaces: Train vs. Hire – The Cybersecurity Reskilling Solution.

Until then, stay curious!

At Capgemini Invent, we believe that Talent Marketplaces can be the right AI-based solution for companies seeking to manage talents more effectively, create an augmented workforce in an ever-changing environment, and gain competitive advantages in the “war for talent.”

Let’s get in touch and discuss how we can help you to Reinvent Your Workforce by turning today’s talent and skill management challenges into great opportunities.

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[1] Zahidi, S. (2020). We need a global reskilling revolution – here’s why

[2] Bersin, J. (2023). HR Technology 2023: What’s hot? What’s not?