Using technology to solve for skills
Amid a tight labor market, how can employers develop an effective talent assessment strategy to attract and retain the talent they need?
The race to move from jobs to skills is shaping the future of work and when you throw technology into the mix, it gives companies the real power for change. With the right tools in place, employers have the data-backed insights to find the right people with the right skills at speed, move talent to where it’s needed and make critical talent decisions to keep the business running in these uncertain times.
Building a future-proof talent assessment strategy encompasses the following key elements:
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Deconstruct jobs into skills
Skills (not jobs or functions) keeps businesses competitive and employees energized, putting companies in a better position to deal with uncertainty while building a culture of learning and mobility. This is why skills should be the foundation for defining work, deploying talent, managing careers and valuing employees. Based on more than 200,000 assessments conducted between 2019 and 2021, our latest Mercer | Mettl Technical Skill Trends report offers you insights into the most sought-after skills in the market.
Employers have to be aware of current competencies they have and keep an eye on skills they need to succeed in the future. This can be done by building a “skills bank” and creating a skills adoption roadmap for your employees.
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Design training needs
Once you have the laid the groundwork for skills, the next step is in determining how key skills can be best built and delivered through learning and development pathways. It is also imperative to identify skills that employees can learn quickly by building upon their current skills sets.
Our suite of talent assessment solutions helps organizations compare skills required for different job families and identifies skills that an individual can learn with relative ease based on skills proximity.
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Assess talent at scale
Finally, it is important to close the loop by measuring the effectiveness of the learning and development pathways so you can continuously fine tune training programs. With the help of AI-powered tools, Mercer | Mettl’s online proctoring capabilities enables companies to objectively assess talent and contextualize the assessment to the needs of the role and the organization.
To get the best ROI on your learning budget, we have also devised a method for measuring an individual’s “learning agility” based on the ability and orientation to learn, to better identify the pool of individuals who can unlearn skills and perspectives that are no longer relevant and learn new ones.
A good mix of testing, learning and fine-tuning is critical to the success of any talent assessment strategy. Technology will also be a key enabler to help your organization put resources to the right use while maximizing the impact. By taking your employees on this journey from “what is” to “what should be”, it ensures that they hit the road running on the future of work.
Get in touch with us today if you’re ready to gain a skills edge through agile talent practices!