Tag: skills

How HiredScore Is Making Waves With Smarter, Sharper and ✨Iconic✨ Outcomes

Post author By Kyle Lagunas
Post date January 28, 2025

On this episode of Transformation Realness, I’m sitting down with Jason Scheckner, Senior Director of Business Strategy, and Ernest Ng, Senior Principal and Product Strategist, at HiredScore—now officially part of the Workday family. HiredScore is rewriting the rules of HR tech with their AI Talent Orchestration platform, moving beyond buzzwords to deliver tools that actually work.

HiredScore was doing some great work before being acquired, but now Jason and Ernest have the power of Workday’s ecosystem behind them to deliver even better value to clients.

“What’s been really fun for me at Workday is we’re not just a bolt-on piece that adds to the end of their skew list,” Jason says, “but rather, Workday is looking at HiredScore as something they can integrate throughout their product.”

We get into how HiredScore evolved from basic matching and scoring to becoming the orchestration powerhouse it is today, what it means to partner with Workday, and how they’re driving iconic outcomes for their customers. If you’re ready to hear what’s really possible when AI works for you instead of against you, this one’s for you.

Find the Harmonies in Your Current Tech

HiredScore didn’t show up with just another limited use platform — their vision is much bigger than that. They’ve spent the last decade redefining what it means to deliver outcomes in talent management. “The world doesn’t need another platform, doesn’t need another system,” Jason says. “Orchestration is the opportunity to make the systems, the tools that people have, more successful.”

At its core, orchestration is about connecting the dots—between systems, data and decisions—so recruiters and HR teams can focus on the work that matters most. “We have an opportunity to transform how business is done, and how HR is done, in a real material way,” Ernest says, “not just making things a little bit faster, a little bit easier to do, but really transforming it with AI.”

Take HiredScore’s Fetch feature, for example. It’s like having an AI-powered treasure hunter digging through your ATS to rediscover talent you already have but forgot about. Instead of starting every search from scratch, Fetch helps recruiters surface qualified candidates in seconds. That’s a game-changer for overwhelmed teams juggling too much at once.

And orchestration isn’t just for recruiters. It’s about creating workflows that make everyone’s life easier, from hiring managers who need real-time insights to employees looking for their next big opportunity.

Create Impact That’s Iconic

Let’s talk about HiredScore’s secret sauce: iconic outcomes. This isn’t just about automating tasks or adding some shiny AI bells and whistles. It’s about delivering outcomes that are so high-impact, so transformative, they feel iconic.

Jason is especially sensitive to meeting the needs of non-HR persona, such as hiring managers. They’re not HR pros, but they’re constantly in the thick of HR workflows. If you’re running a talent strategy and missing this key group, you’re leaving value on the table. “Your processes run through your managers,” Jason explains. “If you want to deliver great outcomes to your org and you have thousands of managers you’re interacting with, and you miss that persona, that’s a big miss.”

Iconic outcomes aren’t just about making recruiters more efficient or surfacing talent faster—though HiredScore crushes that, too. It’s about enabling managers to make better decisions without the frustration of clunky tools or outdated processes. The AI orchestration layer makes everything flow, connecting data, processes and people to drive results that aren’t just good—they’re game-changing.

Contribute to a Bigger Solution

Here’s a hot take: the best HR tools aren’t built in isolation—they’re co-created with the people who actually use them. That’s exactly how HiredScore approaches innovation, and it’s one of the reasons their partnership with Workday is making waves. “It really shows with that co-innovation where you’re actually digging into their processes, understanding their pain points, really trying to figure out what their outcomes that they’re trying to achieve,” Ernest says.

This isn’t about throwing generic solutions at customers and hoping they stick. It’s about sitting down with recruiters, hiring managers, and HR leaders to really get into the weeds of their workflows. What’s slowing them down? What’s keeping them up at night? From there, HiredScore and Workday design tools in collaboration with users, making sure every feature actually solves a real problem.

And the benefits go beyond the product. “It’s also leading to better relationships and trust that we can build with the customer as well,” Ernest says. By rolling up their sleeves and working alongside their users, HiredScore and Workday are creating more than just software—they’re building a community of trust and collaboration.

People in This Episode

Jason Scheckner: LinkedIn
Ernest Ng: LinkedIn

Transcript

Kyle Lagunas:

Hello, my little blueberries and welcome back to Transformation Realness, the only show all about people who are doing their best to make the world at work less shitty and have the guts to share their story: the good, the bad, and most of all, the real. This podcast is produced in partnership with Rep Cap and hosted by yours truly, the ever inquisitive and delightfully direct, Kyle Lagunas, Head of Strategy and Principal Analyst at Aptitude Research, the leading boutique research firm covering HR tech and transformation. You’re welcome.

Now hold onto your headphones because this isn’t just any season of Transformation Realness. Oh no, my friends. This is something extra special. I’m thrilled to kick off a brand new miniseries, “Built on Workday: The Birth of the New HR Tech Ecosystem.” Here’s the deal. For years, Workday has been known for its tightly controlled unified platform, but the winds of change are a-blowing and Workday is leaning all the way into collaboration, opening up their ecosystem and inviting innovation to the party.

And trust me, the HR tech world is abuzz. For those of us who live for those behind the scenes shifts that change how we work, this is the equivalent of a front row seat to a Beyonce concert. The idea for this series has been brewing for a while and yeah, I’ll just go ahead and say it. I’ve been nudging Workday to embrace this kind of ecosystem strategy since way back in 2016 — and receipts are available upon request, honey. So when they rolled out the red carpet for partners like Paradox, Lightcast, GoodTime and HiredScore, and doubled down on platforms like Extend to empower customers with innovation, I knew it was time to dig in.

Over the course of this miniseries, I’ll be talking to some of Workday’s most strategic partners: the game changers, the innovators, the why didn’t we think of that sooner problem solvers about what this bold new ecosystem strategy means.

We’ll unpack how collaboration is driving real innovation and talent acquisition, workforce planning and skills transformation and why it’s about more than just integrations. It’s about building a future where tech actually empowers HR and talent teams to drive business outcomes without getting buried in complexity. And the best part, all of this was recorded live from the back of Workday’s Forever Forward Bus, fully equipped for audio and video podcasting. That’s right, girlies. You’ll be able to catch all these incredible conversations in their fullest glory on the Transformation Realness YouTube page. So go ahead and like and subscribe if you haven’t already because this series is one you don’t want to miss.

All right, so what can you expect? First up, we’re diving into AI driven Talent Orchestration with HiredScore. We’ll talk about how they’re helping recruiters do more with less and enabling organizations to make smarter, faster workforce decisions.

Next, we’ll tackle interview chaos with GoodTime because let’s face it, interviews are often the wild west of hiring and they’re bringing some much needed structure and intelligence to the process.

Then we’re switching gears to chat big-picture with Dave Wachtel, GM of Talent Products at Workday. Dave will give us his inside scoop on Workday’s vision for this new ecosystem and what it means for customers and partners alike.

After that, we’ll hop back on the Workday Bus for a conversation with Lightcast about skills-based transformation, the buzzwords everyone’s talking about, but few are doing well. Spoiler alert, they’ve got some powerful insights about how skills can actually connect the dots between hiring, learning and workforce planning.

Finally, we’re closing out the series with Paradox, where we’ll dig into how conversational AI is transforming high-volume hiring, scheduling, and making candidate experiences a little more seamless. Trust me, this one’s a mic drop moment.

The bottom line, whether you’re an HR leader, a tech enthusiast, or just here for the tea, this series will give you an insider’s look at how Workday is changing the rules and why this matters for you. Expect bold insights, practical takeaways and a whole lot of sass because well, this is still Transformation Realness after all. So buckle up, grab your favorite beverage and get ready for some real talk about HR transformation. It’s Workday like you’ve never heard before. Let’s get into it.

What’s the tea, honeybee? For our first episode, we are exploring what happens when one of the most exciting AI Talent Orchestration platforms joins the Workday family. That’s right, HiredScore is now officially part of Workday and their combined vision for smarter, more agile talent management is nothing short of inspiring.

I’m sitting down with two brilliant minds from HiredScore, Jason Scheckner, Senior Director of Business Strategy and Ernest Ng, Senior Principal and Product Strategist. We talk about what happens when AI Talent Orchestration becomes more than a buzzword. We’re digging into how HiredScore’s helping organizations go beyond matching and scoring candidates to delivering what they call “iconic outcomes” which I absolutely love.

Think recruiter efficiency, workforce agility, and yes, total Talent Orchestration and with Workday’s platform and ecosystem in the mix, the potential to transform how work gets done has never been bigger. Grab your headphones or play this loudly and on public transportation. I don’t care. Your fellow passengers won’t mind at all, trust me. And anyway, let’s dive into a conversation that’s as inspiring as it is game changing.

Hello, besties. Welcome back to an extremely special episode of Transformation Realness, live coming to you from this sick bus. It’s actually a bus. We’re sitting in the back of it podcasting, thanks to our friends at Workday. They have a full ass studio set up for us and it’s kind of surreal. I’m sitting now with two of my absolute besties, my friends coming from HiredScore, a Workday company now. Jason and Ernest, welcome onto the show. You guys want to say hi?

Jason Scheckner:

Yeah, it’s great to be here. So excited to be with you always in Las Vegas, but especially here in the Workday bus and spending some time talking about what we’re up to.

Kyle Lagunas:

Yeah. Hi Ernest.

Ernest Ng:

Hi. Who the hell are you? I’m just grateful to be here and grateful to always have a conversation with you as well. So thank you for having us.

Kyle Lagunas:

Yeah, I love it too. Well, look, we’ve been working in this space for a long time, right? We know that a lot of these major HCM players, they are a bit of a walled garden. It’s really tough as best-in-breed providers to bring as much impact to your customers as you’d like without partnership. I thought it was really cool that Workday, which has also followed that historical same pattern of, we’re going to be really slow and really intentional with who we do let in. I wanted to talk for this miniseries about this major push into partnership. I just think it’s a different kind of market leadership and I know that customers are really excited about it. We saw it rising last week, just how many people were spending time in the partner booths and then of course, HiredScore is a shining example of that partnership because now, you are not just partners, you are workmates. You’re part of the team.

Jason Scheckner:

Yeah.

Kyle Lagunas:

How’s that been going?

Jason Scheckner:

It’s amazing. I mean, even if I just go back to when we looked at this and we said, “How do these companies come together?” I mean, first of all, nearly 60% of our customers were already using Workday.

Kyle Lagunas:

Yeah.

Jason Scheckner:

We’d been through that partnership process over several years. We had gone through certification and I think that felt good because again, to your point, Workday felt like they were taking that next step to allow key partners in that were impacting their customers. We felt like we were doing that. And I think what’s been exciting, probably maybe unexpected, is now on the inside, the unexpected integration like WoWs, the value alignment for instance, the leadership, the people, the direction of the company. I think those are the things, obviously, being acquired is exciting, but when you get on the other side and you’re actually going through it and you’re saying, “Actually this is a really good home for us.”

Kyle Lagunas:

Yeah.

Jason Scheckner:

And really exciting opportunity to continue our vision that we are building on for the last 11, 12 years.

Kyle Lagunas:

Yeah, I mean, I see it. I know you all really well and I know the Workday team really well. I do feel like there is really good cultural alignment. There really is just a strong entrepreneurial spirit here, a lot of really intelligent, very passionate collaborators. But you guys are having a lot of fun.

Jason Scheckner:

Yeah.

Ernest Ng:

Oh, yeah, for sure. One of the things that I think we all share, Workday and HiredScore, is really the focus on the customer, bringing great value to the customer. And I think that’s something that we’re seeing and we’re actually being able to create much more within Workday as well. And then as that partner community opens up and expands, I think the value as Workday and what we can bring to our customer expands as well. And so we’re able to and deliver that value for the customer.

Kyle Lagunas:

Ernest, were you a customer of HiredScore before you joined the team? I can’t remember.

Ernest Ng:

I was not a customer of HiredScore.

Kyle Lagunas:

Okay.

Ernest Ng:

I tried. Jason and I tried to-

Jason Scheckner:

Tried very hard.

Ernest Ng:

Very hard-

Kyle Lagunas:

It’s like moving mountains-

Ernest Ng:

… for a long, long time. It was like a seven-year journey of trying to get HiredScore into Salesforce, but eventually, we’ll do it.

Kyle Lagunas:

Yeah, I couldn’t remember. The reason I ask is, as you guys at HiredScore have had a long history of being willing and able to work with any partner in the space, even partners that might be a little bit competitive in nature, right? And so I can only imagine how, I mean, frustrating it would be to be like, “Look, we could do so many incredible things with you if you would only partner with us in more than just a standard partnership.” Which I think is really exciting about the program Workday’s building is those people that are consistently driving results for their shared customers, those that are consistently showing integrity and cultural alignment, that’s what’s driving that partnership. Getting them closer and closer because we have that. It’s built on trust, right? So it’s really cool. Well, let’s talk about what HiredScore actually does instead of just gushing over like, “We are really happy here.” I’m glad to hear it, but for those that don’t know, what is HiredScore? What do you guys do?

Jason Scheckner:

Yeah, I mean, so we’ve talked about it as AI Talent Orchestration, and that journey has been very interesting because you have this inflection point I think a few years ago with talent intelligence coming to market. And obviously, that can mean a lot of different things to people we’ve talked about.

Kyle Lagunas:

It’s a very ambiguous term. Yeah.

Jason Scheckner:

It can mean a lot of things, but I think if you asked the average person, they’d say, “Oh yeah, we know what talent intelligence [is].” And credit to Athena, who obviously isn’t with us today, but she really, when we made a decision-

Kyle Lagunas:

She’s just not here. She is still alive.

Jason Scheckner:

Oh, yeah. She’s alive.

Kyle Lagunas:

Oh, my God. [laughs]

Jason Scheckner:

I just meant not physically here. But when we looked at the market, there was this opportunity to become another platform and there were so many people going in that direction. And I think we said, and again, credit to the team, “The world doesn’t need another platform, doesn’t need another system. Orchestration is the opportunity to make the systems, the tools that people have, more successful. How do you make the people who use them smarter, faster, quicker? How do you make the data inside?” And that’s actually one of the great things about Workday is because it’s a platform, because of their data strategy, it’s actually a great home for us because we can build on top of the hard work they’ve done. And that is differentiated, in my opinion, so far from what I’ve seen. And so-

Kyle Lagunas:

I mean, as a product strategy for sure. I mean, I think a lot of people were leaning into “platform.” I’m doing air quotes over here to try and grow TAM, to try and grow, I don’t know, market cache. They thought if we call ourselves an AI powered enterprise level platform, it became meaningless.

But I do remember when Athena told me, “Hey, we are actually investing heavily. We’re building out a market leading integration layer. We want to be able to integrate with any application, with any vendor because that’s what our customers need.” And no one else was willing to do that. That’s platform, to me. You know what I mean? That’s what we really are talking about.

Jason Scheckner:

For sure. And so going back to what does that do then, right? I’m telling you what the name of it was, but what it meant for our customers is that we’re actually able to deliver these things. We talk about iconic outcomes. But okay, you’ve got Workday, you put HiredScore on top of it, maybe you have other vendors, maybe you’re betting heavy on Workday. It didn’t matter to us because again, our goal was to take whatever-

Kyle Lagunas:

Because you also had customers at Oracle, you have customers at SuccessFactors, you have customers…

Jason Scheckner:

And we’ll continue to do that-

Kyle Lagunas:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Jason Scheckner:

… which is exciting. But what was interesting is, it was about taking whatever your bets were and putting the AI on top of it, the orchestration layer, and then driving the outcomes. And so for us, we call that iconic outcomes, Kyle. We were focused on, how do you augment the recruiter? How do you change how a hiring manager works? It’s one of these personas that we call it a non-HR persona, but they have to do a lot of HR work and your processes run through your managers. If you want to deliver great outcomes to your org and you have thousands of managers you’re interacting and you miss that persona, that’s a big miss.

Kyle Lagunas:

Yeah.

Jason Scheckner:

And so those are the types of things we are bringing on top of these solutions to employees. Meeting people in the flow of work was a big bet for us in the last couple of years. And so orchestration was about, take the data, take the observable processes, take the policies, take the personas, run AI on top of it, and then focus on driving the actual outcomes. And they have been huge wins for our customers. So that’s really what we’ve been up to and it’s been great.

Kyle Lagunas:

Well, I mean I actually do want to dig into this because what you said at the end, you’re having a really great time with your customers. You actually, I haven’t seen vendors that do as much co-innovation with their customers as you do. Your customer’s like, “Oh, can we orchestrate this? Can we orchestrate that?” Da, da, da, da. I mean, I think we looked at the product roadmap at Forward last year and there’s a whole bunch of new stuff, and I just love that you all were able to say, “Oh, and by the way, we’re already doing it with this customer who’s right over there if you have any questions for him, how it’s going. We’re here.” A lot of providers in the space like to talk about innovating for their customers, but they’re really not getting down on the ground and rolling up their sleeves. They’re not invited to that level of collaboration. You guys have built a lot of trust with your customers.

Ernest Ng:

Yeah, I think it really shows with that co-innovation where you’re actually digging into their processes, understanding their pain points, really trying to figure out what their outcomes that they’re trying to achieve. And with that, designing the process in collaboration with them. And it’s not just leading to better product, but it’s also, like you said, leading to better relationships and trust that we can build with the customer as well.

Kyle Lagunas:

Can I ask? I thought you guys were matching and scoring AI. I thought that’s all HiredScore was. When they announced the acquisition, there was just a lot of “meh.” I think from some detractors in the space, some real cynics that they’re like, “No, this isn’t that big of a deal.” The story that you all just talked about for AI orchestration, a lot of people I don’t think realize that this was part of the current delivering-

Jason Scheckner:

Totally.

Kyle Lagunas:

… vision. It’s not just future. So you guys are actually doing these things. How has joining the Workday organization helped to accelerate that vision, to get more awareness, to make that more than just ideas we have. You were already delivering, but I imagine now the scale of opportunity in front of you is massive, right? You have a lot more people raising their hands. Can we talk a little bit about, because that journey did happen actually very quickly, right? You were still selling matching and scoring, you were still selling Fetch, right? And those were great features that had a lot of material value for your customers. The story evolved really quickly, right? I’m thinking like 2021, 2022.

Jason Scheckner:

Yeah, for sure. What’s interesting about it, and actually connects to the prior question too, about how do we partner. What’s interesting is, well, two things I’ll say. A) Surprisingly, recruiter efficiency is still a problem. So even the things that we built and took to market 10 years ago, are still really relevant. I don’t think it’s like, we’re just catching up with the late bloomers now. It’s really still an issue in companies. Hiring needs change and their volumes change and they are profitability problems-

Kyle Lagunas:

And the market and the world that we live in has completely changed.

Jason Scheckner:

Totally.

Kyle Lagunas:

Yeah.

Jason Scheckner:

Yeah, and the systems change, the data changes and the priorities change. So what’s interesting is the core thing that we start out with is still really relevant and it’s exciting to see Workday bringing that to market and how people are responding even to the things we’ve been doing forever and the scale that we can do that at. That’s been amazing. But to your point, I think a lot of people didn’t know the other things we were doing because the name sort of begets, “Hey, we’re doing recruiting work.”

Kyle Lagunas:

No one was even talking about orchestration two years ago.

Jason Scheckner:

Correct. So now, what’s interesting, and this goes back to the collaboration piece is, when you do a great job and you earn their trust and you make their recruiters more efficient, then they go, “Hey, could you help me with this problem?” And that’s where Fetch came… Fetch became, “Hey, we are scoring your candidates. Can you also help us find candidates?” So that’s easy. We turn the AI at your rediscovery… Yeah. Then people, “Well, you did that with our external candidates, can you do that with our employees?” Then all of a sudden, you’re solving internal mobility problems and “Hey, you’re helping our recruiters be way more efficient. Can you help our managers change their work?” And so we move from recruiter effectiveness-

Kyle Lagunas:

You’re working with our full-time workforce, could you help us with our contingent workforce?

Jason Scheckner:

Contingent labor. Exactly. And so you’re seeing it. And so now today we have an entire- what’s exciting is, we had an entire suite of solutions prior to the acquisition. And what’s been really fun for me at Workday is, we’re not just, in my view, we’re not just like a bolt-on piece that adds to the end of their skew list, but rather, Workday is looking at HiredScore as something they can integrate throughout their product. So think about Workday recruiting, think about candidate engagement, messaging, think about talent optimization, think about VNDLY and the contingent side, to your point. Think about workforce planning.

Kyle Lagunas:

Workforce planning maybe.

Jason Scheckner:

And then we’re not even talking about the Fin side yet, who knows? But then the HR side-

Kyle Lagunas:

Don’t go over there. It’s boring.

Jason Scheckner:

Yeah. But on the HR side, there’s so many endless possibilities and that’s what’s really exciting for us. But to your point, it’s about building on those use cases and all the things that we’ve been able to do, and those are the outcomes that our customers know and love us for and probably doesn’t get enough coverage actually.

Kyle Lagunas:

Well, Ernest, I know that you and Athena had been really deep thought partners and really collaborating a lot on what is this new vision, I mean, before this acquisition. How do you find that your work is evolving? Are you feeling like a proud papa that all of these concepts and talk tracks that you’ve been working on are taking flight across all of Workday? Or are you feeling like, “Oh, now I’ve got a whole lot more evangelizing than I have to do internally?” How’s your role evolved?

Ernest Ng:

I mean, personally, I feel like a kid in a candy store. I mean, the opportunities are endless, just in terms of with the power of the platform, with the customer base that we have, with all the ideas coming in, we can really have an opportunity to transform how business is done and how HR is done.

Kyle Lagunas:

Yeah, in a real material way.

Ernest Ng:

In a real material way, not just making things a little bit faster, a little bit easier to do, but really transforming it with AI. I think that is the opportunity in front of us. And with all of these AI technologies that are out there that are developing really quickly, now the possibilities become wide open, right?

Kyle Lagunas:

Sure.

Ernest Ng:

And so I think we’re getting so much interest in AI, and I think for us, we really need to-

Kyle Lagunas:

Focus.

Ernest Ng:

What are those core use cases that can really impact and drive value into the organization and for the end users? And that’s really what we want to focus on.

Kyle Lagunas:

Yeah. I’m glad to hear it. I mean, focus is going to be really important, but I really like this concept you guys keep throwing out of iconic outcomes, that is the North Star. Let’s drive impact. So one of the questions I’m having for everybody, this theme for this show is, what are we building on Workday?

Jason Scheckner:

Yep.

Kyle Lagunas:

And I want to know what are some exclusive capabilities that maybe the Workday customer base has access to with HiredScore?

Jason Scheckner:

Yeah, so first of all, obviously, we have our certified integration on top of Workday, it’s world class. Workday is allowing us to continue to leverage those other third-party integrations, so none of that’s going away. I just want to make sure everybody knows that.

Kyle Lagunas:

Yeah.

Jason Scheckner:

But for Workday specifically, I think what the future holds are a couple things. One: customers already know and love HiredScore, excited about HiredScore, can look forward to a lot of the elements starting to show up inside of Workday natively.

Kyle Lagunas:

Yeah, because currently you guys… I mean, because I was a customer of HiredScore in the past. I remember that in recruiting, in the Workday recruiting, I could see the match score for applicants in the rack. But that was an iframe, right? That was…

Jason Scheckner:

Yeah, good question. So for all of our customers, all of our systems, we always put the grade inside the ATS natively. And that’s partly-

Kyle Lagunas:

But I couldn’t get the explainable AI from it, right?

Jason Scheckner:

Exactly, right.

Kyle Lagunas:

I could just see that score.

Jason Scheckner:

And so that grade was typically not only for user experience but also for, we’re big on responsible AI, you know that.

Kyle Lagunas:

Mm-hmm.

Jason Scheckner:

So it was for auditability, record keeping, any kind of reporting the customer needed to do. But yeah, we always had our UI on top of it, which is always bi-directional and we’ll continue to maintain that. But we’re starting to move some of those elements actually into Workday. So coming in this spring, for instance, customers will have access to candidate rediscovery. We call that Fetch inside of Workday. So that’s again, Safe Harbor that’s coming, I think R1 for Workday.

Kyle Lagunas:

Did you just say Safe Harbor?

Jason Scheckner:

Yeah, I said Safe Harbor. It’s a new term.

Kyle Lagunas:

This is the press, baby. Yeah. No, that’s exciting. I mean, you guys are delivering right away.

Jason Scheckner:

Yeah, right away. Fetch was such an easy choice to focus on right away because at the moment-

Kyle Lagunas:

Just so much utility in it.

Jason Scheckner:

…of the point of rec, which you’re already doing in Workday, the very next thing you do is you have a lead list and it’s right there inside of Workday, and it’s all the people that are already inside of your Workday. It could be your Workday recruiting, it could be candidate engagement, your prospects, your pools. So we’re connecting to those parts as well and rediscovering across all those object types to bring those people.

We can also connect to the HM side on internals. So again, there’s some really exciting things that’ll be available to customers. And then we are starting to connect to other talent acquisition objects. So we talked about pools, prospects will be available. We’ll have some bi-directional things there. Some of the native messaging that already exists inside of Workday that we didn’t leverage before, that’ll be available to customers. If they want to SMS, outreach to a prospect, a Fetch lead, they can do that now through Workday, which is really exciting.

Kyle Lagunas:

Oh, yeah.

Jason Scheckner:

We’re going to have, on the talent mobility side-

Kyle Lagunas:

Are you guys doing any orchestration there? Because I do remember looking at one of the use cases you had was, we’ve already reached out to these candidates. Or you could click and say, “Yes, reach out to these ones,” like a rec is open, let’s go ahead and get this started. Are you guys doing that in Workday too or is that just a HiredScore feature?

Jason Scheckner:

You mean in terms of following up with a candidate?

Kyle Lagunas:

Yeah, you mentioned SMS. I’m thinking, can I go ahead and kick off an engagement campaign right at the point of rec?

Jason Scheckner:

Yeah. So what’s exciting is, with candidate engagement now, which is the solution Workday has for non-applicant candidates, that’s a really nice way of saying CRM-lite. CRM. Well, actually, surprisingly, and I want to say this because I wasn’t here to say this, but I’m actually really impressed with it. I think my expectation coming in was, hey, maybe it is that, and by the way, I think customers are going to be pleasantly surprised that it actually has a lot of functionality. I’ve had a few customers move over into it.

Kyle Lagunas:

Okay. I don’t know…

Jason Scheckner:

I’m telling you.

Kyle Lagunas:

I mean, hey, for those that don’t know, I come from CRM. I worked at Beamery for two years actually and partnered with the HiredScore team. And I think that is where I see immediate value of bringing in a solution like HiredScore. It’s going to accelerate the utilization of these other capabilities that they have because of the intelligent automation that you are able to use.

Jason Scheckner:

Totally.

Kyle Lagunas:

Yeah. It’s going to be really interesting next CRM cycle.

Jason Scheckner:

And by the way, so just on the thing about the CRM side, we’re going to do the same things on the mobility side. So one of the other things coming up soon is HiredScore will be offering our AI for talent mobility solutions. So that connects to the internal employees. So we’ll be able to rediscover those. We’ll be able to outreach to employees, contact their managers and let them know that their employees might be eligible for opportunities. And we’re going to actually connect that to Workday’s talent optimization. So things like Career Hub will actually have bi-directional connection with HiredScore and we’ll actually, I think in the near future, even be offering HiredScore based recommendations natively inside of the Workday Career Hub.

Kyle Lagunas:

See babe, this is why I said that this was the biggest deal since Oracle bought Taleo. Because I really do see the utilization of talent and workforce applications in Workday being rapidly accelerated with a solution, like a deeply embedded solution like HiredScore. It’s really exciting for you guys. I’m sure the Workday teams, product teams are really excited, but I bet you their customers, those HR and talent leaders that are working tirelessly to try and improve talent retention, try and improve internal mobility rates, trying to… They’re like, “Oh, thank God. I don’t have to do all of this heavy lifting.” Right? I mean, it’s really solving for-

Jason Scheckner:

And by the way, sneak peek.

Kyle Lagunas:

Yeah? Is this under embargo because we’re literally on a podcast.

Jason Scheckner:

Safe Harbor.

Kyle Lagunas:

Yeah. I don’t know what that means.

Jason Scheckner:

No, we’re even connecting, we’re already starting to work on connecting to VNDLY. So you talked about the contingent side?

Kyle Lagunas:

Yeah.

Jason Scheckner:

How long are people going to talk about total talent? But that’s the power of a platform like Workday, where you actually have a recruiting system, you have contingent talent. We’re going to actually be able to look at an employee, a contingent worker and external talent, and start to say, “Who’s the right talent for this role, regardless of the talent type, and how do we connect that across the different data sets?”

Kyle Lagunas:

Oh, imagine getting even further than that, where it’s like, “Oh, we opened a rec. This is a high priority role or skillset. I’m going to immediately put out somebody from contingent so we can close this gap right away. In the meantime, we have these candidates we can start moving with.” That is, that’s total talent.

Jason Scheckner:

It’s not science fiction.

Kyle Lagunas:

Oh, no. I mean, that’s a use case you could actually deliver, right?

Ernest Ng:

It’s actually not very far off.

Kyle Lagunas:

I know.

Ernest Ng:

You just think about-

Kyle Lagunas:

It’s exciting.

Ernest Ng:

… the power of adaptive planning. You can build these plans, you can actually put-

Kyle Lagunas:

And then activate it.

Ernest Ng:

Exactly. Yeah. You can actually activate these workforce plans and put them into the system. Let the agent run. Let the agent really work through that and actually deliver the outcomes that you’re looking for.

Kyle Lagunas:

Super cool. You guys are making it really hard for me to be industry agnostic, but whatever. Everybody knows I have a big crush on you. All right, cool. Well, before we wrap, anything that you guys want to make sure that we leave with?

Jason Scheckner:

No, I think hopefully as people are listening, they’re hearing the excitement. We have what it means to be, I think, Workday’s differentiated and I think we feel like it’s a great home for us to be able to add value to people and have a second look back at what’s actually happening. And by the way, I know you’re going to talk with Workday more, but that discounts, by the way, all the work they’re doing on their partnership ecosystem, their extensibility, their ability to build on Extend. I’ve been blown away by that. I mean, as a third party coming in, what customers are doing on Extend is so cool to see and the solutions they’re building. So it’s exciting times. We’re really optimistic about the potential.

Kyle Lagunas:

I am too. I mean, look, I track innovation for my job, but I also am a little bit different as an analyst because I feel like the ethos of companies is part of leadership too. That’s part of not just what are you building, but who are you? And all of the partners that we’ve talked to this week, there really is just this, I don’t know, deep sense of connection. We’re coming together to solve problems together.

Jason Scheckner:

Yep.

Kyle Lagunas:

There is co-opetition in the space and everyone’s acknowledged it. They’re really comfortable with this. And I, I don’t know, I just feel like that is super unique. I want to see more of this, which is why I’m kind of leaning into this conversation-

Jason Scheckner:

I love that.

Kyle Lagunas:

… this week. People are like, “Oh, you love Workday.” I’m like, “No, I want to put a spotlight on what’s happening here,” because any one of these other major vendors can be doing this same thing and should. The customer matters more than anything else. They have been through the wringer the last several years. Let’s put their needs before anything else. And guess what? You’re going to make a ton of money if you can do that. It’s not just like, “Oh, we’re going to be totally idealistic.” It’s like, no, this I do really think is the ethos of partnership as a customer to solution provider that we need to see more of. I’m really excited about it. Thank you guys for coming on the show.

Jason Scheckner:

Always a pleasure to be with you.

Ernest Ng:

Pleasure. Sounds good. Thank you.

Kyle Lagunas:

And that is a wrap. A huge thank you to Jason and Ernest for joining me and giving us an inside look at how they see AI Talent Orchestration rewriting the rules of HR and talent management.

Here’s what I’m walking away with. It’s not enough to just automate or optimize. The future is about delivery, outcomes that matter. Whether it’s helping recruiters to do more with less, empowering managers with better data, or enabling organizations to make smarter workforce decisions.

And thanks to HiredScore’s deep integration with Workday, customers, I think, are getting access to a whole new level of capability and insights. Big thanks to our friends at Workday for hosting this episode, and to you, my fearless listeners for tuning in. I’ll be back soon with more bold conversations and stories about the people, platforms and ideas driving transformation in the world of work.

Until next time, stay curious, stay focused, and keep pushing for those iconic outcomes. Catch you on the next one.

Tags AI, skills, Talent, talent acquisition technology

Blog Podcast

Don’t Leave People Out of the Skills Conversation, Y’all!

Post author By Kyle Lagunas
Post date December 3, 2024

In this episode of Transformation Realness, I’m sitting down with Toya Del Valle, chief customer officer at corporate learning platform Cornerstone OnDemand. As one of the leading players in the skills space, Cornerstone has been making major moves to help organizations build workforce agility, including through the acquisition of SkyHive.

Toya’s background is in the high-stakes world of airline transportation, where she supported organizations through 9/11 and the Hudson River landing. “Being an HR leader in that space, it brings the HR, the talent, operations, people learning — it brings it together,” she says. “Cornerstone has been a really great place for me to continue that learning and growth, bring in what I’ve learned through that experience, but then also just fly and do even more with the folks that are here now and the way the world is changing.”

Toya brought some serious realness to our conversation, reminding us that skills are fundamentally about people. It’s not just about finding the right talent or building fancy new tech — it’s about creating a culture where people can thrive and grow within their organization.

You’ll want to take notes for this one, folks. Toya dropped some serious truth bombs. Special thanks to the team over at Glider AI for making this episode possible as a sponsor!

Why Skills Are More Than Just a Buzzword

We all know that skills are having a major moment right now — but what does it actually mean to build a skills-based organization? “Everyone talks about skills and many folks are trying to figure out: what [are] skills? What [are] competencies? What do I do with it? Is it a buzzword? What really is it?” Toya says.

For her, it all boils down to agility.

In a world where disruption is the new normal, businesses need to be able to adapt quickly to changing market conditions. And the only way to do that is by having a workforce that’s equipped with the skills they need to pivot on a dime. “It’s the absolute glue that’s going to move us forward,” Toya says.

But here’s the thing — you can’t just recruit your way out of a skills gap. As Toya points out, there aren’t enough people in the world to fill every open role, and even if there were, simply hiring someone with the right skills doesn’t mean they’ll thrive in your organization. You’ve got to invest in developing your existing employees, too.

Practicing What You Preach: Building Skills at Cornerstone

I was super curious to hear how Cornerstone was approaching skills internally, given all the work they’re doing to enable skills-based strategies for their customers. And Toya didn’t disappoint. Turns out they’re “drinking their own champagne,” as they say in the biz.

Cornerstone is using their own tech and talent strategies to help their customer success team stay ahead of the curve. “As we continue to build capabilities for the organizations and what the customers expect from us, we have to be able to deliver,” Toya says. “Part of that is ensuring that our team members … know how to utilize AI not just as a tool, but as a transformation journey so they can meet those outcomes.” This includes using AI to personalize learning journeys, identify skills gaps and recommend career paths — all within the Cornerstone platform!

Toya also shared that Cornerstone is using the data they’ve gathered from their customers and their acquisitions, like SkyHive and Talespin, to inform their own talent strategies. It’s really cool to see them practicing what they preach — and using their unique insights to help their customers do the same.

Customer Success Is More Than Just Checking Boxes

One of the most refreshing things about my conversation with Toya was her focus on value. “We talk a lot in my team about value. How are we bringing value to organizations?” Instead of just checking boxes and delivering features, she’s challenging her team to think about how their work is actually driving business outcomes for their customers.

She shared a powerful example of a banking customer who was struggling with compliance reporting. Instead of just helping them build the right report, Cornerstone’s customer success team dug deeper and realized that the bank’s underlying goal was to open a new branch in an underserved community. By understanding the bigger picture, they were able to deliver a solution that not only helped the bank comply with regulations, but also made a real difference in the lives of people in that community.

I love Toya’s take on customer success as a force for good, and I think it’s something we can all learn from. Let’s move beyond just building features and start thinking about how our work can create real value for our customers and for the world.

People in This Episode

Toya Del Valle: LinkedIn

Transcript

Kyle Lagunas:

Hello, my little blueberries, and welcome back to Transformation Realness, the only show all about people who are doing their best to make the world of work less sh*tty and have the guts to share their story: the good, the bad, and most of all, the real. This podcast is produced in partnership with Rep Cap and hosted by yours truly, the unstoppable, unbelievably charismatic Kyle Lagunas, Head of strategy and Principal Analyst at Aptitude Research, the leading boutique research firm covering HR tech and transformation. Get into it.

Special thanks to the team over at Glider AI, whose sponsorship made our Transformation Ecosystem EP possible.

Today, I am sitting down with none other than Toya Del Valle, Chief Customer Officer at Cornerstone OnDemand. Over her 10 plus years at Cornerstone, she’s overseen their transformation into a powerhouse of skills-based talent strategies.

But wait — there’s more.

Before Cornerstone, Toya led teams in the airline industry through historic moments, including the Hudson River landing. Yeah, with Tom Cruise, he was there, I think. I saw the movie. We are also joined by Madeline, who, as you recall, is my illustrious, invincible, incredible business partner. Madeline Laurano, Founder and Principal Analyst here at Aptitude.

In this episode, we are talking with Toya about the future of workforce agility, why skills are more than just a buzzword, and how Cornerstone’s latest moves, including their acquisition of SkyHive, are reimagining what it means to be ready for what’s next. Let’s dive in.

Hey, everybody, it’s Kyle back for another episode of Transformation Realness live from HR tech with Madeline, my BFF, my OG, my boss. She’s in charge here. Speaking of boss, we also have a boss lady here. Hi, Toya Del Valle.

Toya Del Valle:

Hello. How are you? Great to see you both.

Kyle Lagunas:

We’re actually really excited to be sitting down with you. I mean, honestly, the five-letter word that nobody can stop talking about is skills in our space right now, and one of the leading players in the space, with probably some of the most product innovation, is Cornerstone OnDemand. Maybe you’ve heard of it.

Toya Del Valle:

I have. I’m proud member of the team.

Kyle Lagunas:

Yes. Actually, how long have you been at Cornerstone?

Toya Del Valle:

A bit over 10 years. I’ve heard it’s a real transformation journey of that Cornerstone to today’s Cornerstone to the future of Cornerstone, so pretty excited.

Kyle Lagunas:

She’s ready for it. Well, tell us a little bit about your background, because when we talked before, I was actually stunned and could see some of the best practices you were pulling through into the SaaS space. I think it’d be really helpful for people to know the leadership that you’re bringing to the table.

Toya Del Valle:

Absolutely. Prior to coming to Cornerstone, as I’d mentioned, I’ve been here just over 10 years, I spent 15 years in the airline transportation, so working for the largest carriers in the U.S. and internationally, leading operations teams and also HR and people teams. I was in the airline industry from the 9/11. I was with Northwest Airlines during that period of time, leading in customer care and customer operations. I say that my team and I were the first TSA, in the sense when the airlines operated, we mobilized and did that. I was with U.S. Airways whenever we had the landing on the Hudson and managed that critical incident, which was very successful to the lives of those individuals. When I think about operations-

Kyle Lagunas:

Yeah, Tom Hanks made it through.

Toya Del Valle:

Made it. When I think about the power of operations and what that must be for individuals that are being serviced with the solution, with the product, with the service, and I think about what’s important for success to look like towards an outcome, all of that has come together. Also, being an HR leader in that space, it brings the HR, the talent, operations, people learning, it brings it together. Cornerstone has been a really great place for me to continue that learning and growth, bring in what I’ve learned through that experience, but then also just fly and do even more with the folks that are here now and the way the world is changing.

Kyle Lagunas:

Now, do you see why I wanted to sit down with Toya?

Madeline Laurano:

Yes. I’m so impressed.

Kyle Lagunas:

Honestly, just such a baddie. Well, especially, all right, we started with skills. You guys made a major acquisition that I think really enhanced your go-to-market, your strategy capability around supporting skills-based strategies. Do you want to talk a little bit about SkyHive at all? Yeah. How’s that been going?

Toya Del Valle:

How that fits in? Sure, absolutely. We’ve always had skills embedded into our overall platform with the acquisition of Clustree and how we’ve just been building. But now, with SkyHive, is an absolute game changer to the now and the future of skills. Everyone talks about skills and many folks are trying to figure out what is skills? What is competencies? What do I do with it? Is it a buzzword? What really is it?

Kyle Lagunas:

Why does this matter?

Madeline Laurano:

How do I get started?

Kyle Lagunas:

Yeah.

Toya Del Valle:

How do I get started is number one in that. What SkyHive is doing with us is that it has brought on this magnificent platform of data intelligence that really puts together, not— its skills, but not more than skills in the sense of what is happening in the world, what is needed, what is sitting out there that folks don’t know how to do it, what it is, and how do they embed it into their organizations so they can meet those future needs.

Instead of skills being a skill, it is a transformation into the workforce agility or the gap that we see within the world of how we move from what we need individuals to do from an organization standpoint and how do we actually get there. It’s the absolute glue that’s going to move us forward.

Kyle Lagunas:

I mean, I think so too. I didn’t see the acquisition coming at all, and I was just like, great work. Really good.

Madeline Laurano:

Yeah. I mean, there are large providers that are tackling skills as you are at Cornerstone, and then there’s providers that are really specific on supporting a skills-based approach to talent. SkyHive was one of those providers, so to see that as being the first company get acquired was very cool.

Kyle Lagunas:

Yeah, I think what I really love about the way you guys are thinking about this skills-based— Any talent strategy, any HR strategy that is designed in a vacuum without context, without connection, without relevance, how’s it going to be impactful? It’s just going to be another HR pet project. We got to make sure that this stuff is actually moving the business in the direction it needs to, getting us more resilient to disruption and helping us to be a little bit more future-proof, and, dare I say, agile. I think that might be a magic word of the day.

Toya Del Valle:

Oh, yes. Skills is about people. It is about people, just like we talk a lot about AI. AI is about people, should be about people.

Kyle Lagunas:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it has to.

Toya Del Valle:

I think you’ve talked about the human first. That’s what it has to be about. All of these are tools and ways of moving from one place to another, but the foundation of that being… Agility, because we have to be agile, because look, we really don’t know exactly what the future holds. We have forecasting, and designs and a hypothesis. This is allowing that agility, that flexibility, to say, “I know that I’m a learner. How do I even be a learner so that I can be prepared for what’s next? How do I pivot?” Those are skills, dare I say, to know how to get into that next phase. All of that is critically important. I’ll also add that as important as recruiting is, and it is very important, companies cannot recruit themselves out of this.

Kyle Lagunas:

No, I totally agree.

Madeline Laurano:

No, they can’t.

Kyle Lagunas:

They’re trying to.

Toya Del Valle:

Some are. It’s not going to work.

Kyle Lagunas:

Actually, I think they’re doing the same thing with skills they did with diversity. They’re trying to recruit their way through diversity and leaving off EIB. They’re missing the whole point.

Madeline Laurano:

Yeah.

Toya Del Valle:

I mean, diversity, you make that a recruitment thing, but you don’t create the right environment for those individuals to join and be a part, not an add, but a part of the organization. Same with anything else. It will not be successful. It’ll not be successful.

Kyle Lagunas:

But so is skills, I think, is actually… I hadn’t really thought about it. We’re trying to just buy skills.

Especially, are these people going to fit into our organization? What do we do with the people that don’t have the skills that we are actually looking for right now?

Madeline Laurano:

It needs to be dynamic. It changes all the time, so how do we evaluate?

Kyle Lagunas:

Yeah, got to be on top of it.

Toya Del Valle:

And that is that gap. You have to bring people forward. You have to bring people together, because even if you thought you could recruit yourself out of this, there’s not even enough people. It’s like everyone’s going to do it. No, keep that culture within your organization and start showing successful pathways for this is where I started in the organization, this is how I grew into the organization. You begin to create the culture that must be necessary for growth.

Kyle Lagunas:

Yeah. It’s like this is the path to the future for me in this organization. We’re not just talking about workforce agility as an enterprise capability, although it is. It’s like, I want to be future-proof. I want to be recession-proof myself. So interesting. Well, one of the other things that I really like about the work that you’re doing is I feel like you’re practicing what you preach as somebody that is leading the customer organization for… I mean, Cornerstone offers a lot of transformative capabilities. HR struggles with change management, they struggle with long-term program management. I really think you have built out, for your customer success organization, a lot of different capability, a lot of different expertise. It’s like you are leveraging skills-based talent strategies yourself, right?

Toya Del Valle:

Yes. I say that Cornerstone benefits from Cornerstone.

Kyle Lagunas:

Yeah, it has to. In this space, you have to practice what you preach.

Toya Del Valle:

I can’t think of any organization that would say honestly that they’re immune from skills. They’re immune from this gap. They’re not. What we have done at Cornerstone is that we have identified, okay, great. Here’s where we are, here’s what our customers expect of us. This is how the world is changing. How are we going to be ready as we continue to acquire new organizations? As we continue to build capabilities for the organizations and what the customers expect from us, we have to be able to deliver.

Part of that is ensuring that our team members know how to deliver. They know how to utilize AI not just as a tool, but as a transformation journey so they can meet those outcomes that’s expected of us because we have the data that we have. No one has data like we have related to the customers that are within our own portfolio. The acquisitions, the talent intelligence that SkyHive brings, the data that Talespin brings forward with VR. I mean, all of that is just pretty magical. But if we don’t practice, and enable, and transform our own team-

Kyle Lagunas:

Your team doesn’t know what to do with it, how is your customer?

Toya Del Valle:

They’re just going to be tools, and there’s a lot of tools. The difference between the tools and activation and growth are the humans that will continue to empower them, and including AI that is powered by humans.

Kyle Lagunas:

Yeah. Well, I think it’s really cool to see, at this point, a lot of people are investing a lot in tech innovation. I’m not saying Cornerstone’s not, but at this moment, it’s really important that you all are making significant investments in the customer organization. You have to be there for them. You have to help them-

Madeline Laurano:

Understand what they want.

Kyle Lagunas:

Exactly. You’ve got to be that partner, and you can’t do that by just building more features.

Toya Del Valle:

No, and we talk a lot in my team about value. How are we bringing value to organizations? An example that I would give, say, one of our banking customers, and if someone said… I say, “How are you bringing value to this customer?” In the past, someone may have said, “Well, I helped them with reporting, and they really needed this reporting. It was awesome. It was very necessary for their business.” I said, “Okay, but let’s rethink that. Was it the reporting that was necessary or did you help them ensure they have the right reporting so that they can ensure that they were compliant to the regulators so that they could open up a new branch in a neighborhood that maybe was unbanked?”

Now there’s individuals in this neighborhood that can bank, and they can build, and have a new school or a new home that they have. That’s the power. That’s how we think about value differently, that yes, we are creating or solving an issue, but what does that issue do for the organization? That’s the value.

Madeline Laurano:

The customer, right. I mean, you have a lot of customers. I think one thing that’s interesting about Cornerstone compared to a lot of other companies right now is you’ve made 15 acquisitions in the past five years, and that’s a hard job for you because you’re dealing with customers that have different products that are now part of Cornerstone. How do you manage, as a chief customer officer, all of these different acquisitions and different customer expectations under this new agile skills-based approach?

Toya Del Valle:

Sure. We definitely have had several acquisitions, and we’ve done it a couple of ways. One of the things [is] that we bring in these acquisitions for a purpose. We’ve been very careful to not disrupt that very specific talent that we brought into the organization. We found a way to really cultivate that talent, and it’s not just taking those individuals and those products and bringing them into Cornerstone. In some cases, we brought Cornerstone into that acquisition as well because we’ve learned from them, so it’s been kind of a two-way learning process so that we don’t lose that magic, lose the reason why we purchased that product. It’s been two-way.

Saying that at the same time, part of our Galaxy that we just released is about bringing it all together. How does learning management align with learning experience? How does our recruiting come together and our performance connect with the learning component? How does talent marketplace align to skills and bring…? That’s exactly what we’ve done. We’ve taken each part of these acquisitions, which have been very strategic, in the sense that they have been add-ons to existing products that we have or the existing products have been able to carry those additional acquisitions through. They’ve all been very purposeful back to the customer to ensure that the customers have what they need to continue their learning journey, to continue their talent journey, again, to hit the future, future-ready, future-proof, future needs, future ongoing.

Madeline Laurano:

Amazing.

Kyle Lagunas:

Toya, I know you’re a very busy woman and this is a busy week, but thank you for spending some time with us. Really appreciate you.

Toya Del Valle:

No, thank you. I really appreciate you all as well. I mean, you have a very powerful platform and you also share a lot of information. It’s very necessary to really demystify some of these different areas of HR tech and talent, and so thank you all as well for the work that you do.

Kyle Lagunas:

Thanks for recognizing it. It’s mission work, isn’t it?

Madeline Laurano:

It is. It’s hard work.

Toya Del Valle:

I don’t know. It’s hard to clarify something that’s super confusing too.

Kyle Lagunas:

My family still thinks I’m a recruiter.

Madeline Laurano:

Mine thinks I fixed cell phones.

Toya Del Valle:

Mine’s like, “Wait, where are you? Where are you today?” I was like, “Yeah.” Yeah, yeah.

Kyle Lagunas:

No. All right. Well, we’ll let you go, get back to the next one. Thank you, Toya.

Toya Del Valle:

All right, thank you.

Kyle Lagunas:

And that’s a wrap. One more episode of Transformation Realness in the books. Big thank you to Toya for joining us today. What an absolute powerhouse. Honestly, she had me rethinking everything. From building resilient teams to redefining value beyond just ticking boxes on functionality — who knew customer success could get so deep? Well, actually, I think all of us did, and I’m glad we went there.

Big takeaways for me: you can’t just build features or hire your way out of complex challenges. Real transformation in the world of talent and HR starts from within. And, as Toya said, it’s literally all about the people. Whether we’re talking AI, skills or customer success, humans are the ones that are driving the magic.

Thank you all for listening. Whether you’re here for the laughs, whether you’re here for the insights, or maybe just to prove to your family you don’t fix cell phones for a living, I see you. That’s all the time we’ve got for today though. Be sure to like and subscribe, leave a review, tell everybody you know about how wonderful this conversation was. And hey, we’ve got more exciting conversations coming your way, so stay tuned.

Until next time, keep it real, stay agile, and remember, transformation waits for no one. Catch you on the next episode of Transformation Realness. This is Kyle, signing off. Goodbye. I miss you already.

Tags Recruitment, skills, talent acquisition

Blog

New Research: The New Era of Internal Mobility

Post author By Madeline Laurano
Post date July 21, 2023

The past three years accelerated the demand for internal mobility solutions. The movement of talent into new positions is not a new trend. Companies have been hyper-focused on internal mobility and career progression at various times periods of uncertainty. For many companies, internal mobility offers the perfect panacea to challenges facing both recruitment and retention by bridging the candidate and employee experiences and reducing turnover.

We launched a new study on internal mobility this year. And, despite this increased focus on internal mobility over the past few years, only one in four companies are confident with their strategies moving forward and 77% have lost talent due to a lack of career development opportunities. Many organizations have adopted a superficial approach to internal mobility by promoting jobs through internal career sites without offering individuals opportunities and development. For other companies, lack of ownership creates barriers for implementing programs and technology.

Fortunately, some companies are turning to skills-based internal mobility and prioritizing how they reskill and upskill their workforce to adapt to the future of work. They are empowering employees, leveraging technology, and encouraging collaboration across multiple stakeholders. A skills-based approach to internal mobility can help connect talent to the right opportunities, personalize the experience, and continuously update with every interaction. It transforms internal mobility from an employer-led initiative to a talent-first strategy.

As companies look to 2023, internal mobility needs to be more than a rally cry. It needs to be a clearly defined strategic investment that is less about moving an individual from job A to job B and more about driving value for the employee.

Here are some of the key findings from our latest study in partnership with Workday.

Metrics that matter: Companies need to consider a new set of metrics for measuring the success of internal mobility. Metrics should incentivize managers and recruiters to provide growth and opportunities for employees while supporting broader DEI and company objectives.

Internal mobility needs to be talent first: Current internal mobility strategies require employees to do most of the work to find their next opportunities for development. Companies promote jobs and employees are left on their own to find what might be next. The next era of internal mobility must make it simple for employees to understand their opportunities and develop the skills they need to be successful.

Internal mobility must empower hiring teams: One in two recruiters are feeling burned out this year and hiring teams are feeling additional pressure to find quality talent quickly. Internal mobility must be talent first, but it also must empower hiring teams by lifting the administrative burden and making it easier to find talent.

Internal mobility must provide personalization: Most companies are not personalizing internal mobility. Fifty-eight percent (58%) of internal candidates go through the same process as external candidates. Internal candidates are treated like strangers to their employer and often do not receive a response.

Internal mobility is most successful when it involves multiple stakeholders: Nearly 50% of companies stated that leadership and CHROs are either owning or directly responsible for internal mobility efforts. They are driving these initiatives and looking to work closely with key stakeholders and creating opportunities for employees.

Skills are a priority: According to this study, 82% of companies identified skills as a priority. Companies are increasing their investment in skills this year and the number one driver is to provide more career development opportunities for talent.

Tags HR Technology, internal mobility, skills, talent acquisition

Blog

Key Takeaways from Eightfold’s Cultivate Event

Post author By Madeline Laurano
Post date May 16, 2023

Last week I attended Eightfold’s Cultivate event in San Francisco. It was an impressive two days focused on the trends impacting HR Technology and the future of work, including skills, AI, and talent intelligence. One theme that stood out was the need to embrace change. With the shifts in the labor market and economic uncertainty, companies need to innovate and rethink traditional processes and technology. Companies at this event were asking the tough questions, finding a better way, and creating agile workforce strategies that harness skills and the power of AI.

Eightfold has set the pace for change and transformation in HR Tech. Its skills-based approach gives companies a complete view of talent while empowering individuals to control their career paths. Its platform includes solutions across talent acquisition, talent management, and contingent workforce management (Flex). These pillars are built on a talent intelligence platform which includes a skills matrix, explainable AI, and talent insights. And last week, Eightfold launched its Skills-Based Talent Planning- allowing companies to stay prepared and agile in determining short and long-term talent needs.

With over 1B profiles, 1M skills, and 1M titles, Eightfold has access to more data and intelligence than most of its competitors. Here are my top takeaways from Cultivate.

A Skills-Based Approach to Talent is Not Optional: Every company attending this conference was focused on a skills-based approach to talent. Skills are not a passing trend. It is the number one conversation happening in HR Technology today, and organizations that adopt a skills-first approach will be included. CEO Ashutosh Garg kicked off the event by discussing how skills and the power of AI are changing the nature of work. A skills-based approach can help connect talent to the right opportunities, personalize the experience, and provide more visibility into the workforce’s capabilities. Employers benefit from improved efficiency and stronger talent pools, while individuals benefit from greater opportunities to control their career paths. Skills provide a roadmap for the future and a bridge between talent acquisition and talent management. Aptitude Research found that companies that invest in skills development are:

● Twice as likely to improve retention

● Twenty-eight percent (28%) more likely to improve DEI initiatives

Skill-Based Talent Planning: One of the most exciting takeaways from the event was the announcement of Eightfold’s Skills-Based Talent Planning. This product was heavily influenced by customer input and direction and aimed to give companies the data and action they needed to plan. Many companies do not have visibility into talent, and workforce planning uses Excel spreadsheets once a year. As a result, decisions are made rapidly without any data or insights, often resulting in losing quality talent, layoffs, and missed opportunities. A skills-based approach to strategic workforce planning allows business leaders to understand how macro trends impact the needs of their organization. Eightfold feeds this insight into its Talent Acquisition, Talent Management, and Talent Flex solutions, allowing organizations to execute skills-based talent strategies at scale. Our latest study on strategic workforce planning found that although 85% of companies are investing the same or increasing their investment, only 14% take a strategic, long-term approach to their workforce planning initiatives. A skills-based approach is a game changer. It goes beyond providing insights and gives companies an action plan. Some of the benefits and differentiators include:

Scenario planning for the time required for skills and proficiency to develop in existing and emerging areas;
Redesign roles for the future and plan for how organizations should evolve over time;
Capture progress and fully execute on a coordinated talent plan by integrating with Eightfold Talent Acquisition, Career Hub, and the entire Talent Intelligence Platform.

Companies Need to Consider Providers with a Strong Commitment to Responsible AI: Companies invest in AI in talent acquisition and management, but not all AI providers are the same. Companies must consider ethical AI as they evaluate providers and understand if products operate transparently, are backed by explanations, describe the methodology, and frequently publish data. In addition, responsible AI builds confidence with employers and candidates who want to understand how their data is used. Scott Sumner with the Defense Innovation Unit under the Department of Defense (DoD) shared how responsible AI was an important consideration when evaluating Eightfold as the provider for its GigEagle program. GigEagle using Eightfold’s AI matching will increase DoD’s ability to effectively leverage its abundance of talent currently locked into supporting singular units. In addition, GigEagle will focus on staffing short-term “gig” project needs, ranging from four hours to several months, many of which can be staffed remotely.

Partnerships are Helping to Drive Change: Eightfold and its clients are not operating in a vacuum. They are part of a larger ecosystem that drives change and transformation in how companies recruit and retain talent. Partners that include Deloitte, EY, and Magnit are partnering with Eightfold to provide a skills strategy for clients to ensure they are changing their mindset and optimizing their technology investments.

It is an exciting time to be in HR Tech!

Tags AI, HR Technology, skills, talent acquisition, workforce planning

Blog

Countdown to the HR Technology Conference: Skills-Based Hiring

Post author By Madeline Laurano
Post date July 21, 2022

It is hard to believe that the HR Technology Conference is only 8 weeks away. I love this conference and the opportunity to reconnect with friends and learn about new (and old) technology providers. I am thrilled to be presenting new research at the event and I will be posting a series of blogs leading up to September on TA tech trends.

This first post will focus on a topic that is gaining momentum in talent acquisition… skills-based hiring. Every provider seems to be using skills in their marketing messaging, but few providers have invested in a robust skills ontology and capabilities to improve both the employer and candidate experiences.

Skills are quickly becoming the currency for the future of work. A skills-based approach can help connect talent to the right opportunities, personalize the experience, and provide more visibility into the capabilities of the workforce. Employers benefit from improved efficiency and stronger talent pools, while individuals benefit from greater opportunities to control their career paths. Skills provide a roadmap for the future and a bridge between talent acquisition and talent management.

We published a study (in partnership with Beamery) and found that companies that invest in skills development are:

Twice as likely to improve retention
Thirty-four percent (34%) more likely to improve quality of hire
Twenty-eight percent (28%) more likely to improve DEI initiatives

Skills level the playing field for both internal and external talent. Evaluating skills means looking beyond what is found on a resume or employee profile to get deeper insights about the individual. But, many companies are not always clear where to start with skills development. Lack of ownership and confusion around how technology fits in have added to this uncertainty. Talent marketplaces are gaining momentum as the vehicle to deliver a skills-based approach, yet not every company understands the impact of these solutions. For companies to compete for talent and provide fair and equitable experiences, skills must be part of the equation.

Here are some of the key findings from our research…

The Demand for Skills Is Being Driven From the Top: The focus on skills development is being driven by executives and CHROs. According to this study, 65% of CHROs say that upskilling and reskilling is the most important priority for 2022. CHROs are two times more likely to be involved in technology decisions that focus on skills than other areas of TA technology and 75% are interested in talent marketplaces to deliver on a skills strategy. CHROs are setting the course but oftentimes, talent acquisition and talent management must execute the strategy. Realistic expectations and clear communication will help these leaders achieve results and provide a more successful approach to skills.

Skills Unify a Talent Strategy: With equal pressure to recruit and retain, talent acquisition and talent management often still operate in silos with competing interests. A skills-based approach helps unify talent acquisition and talent management initiatives – providing consistency in data and experiences. Companies must empower their talent teams with a focus on skills. According to this study, companies with a skills-based approach see greater collaboration between talent acquisition and talent management.

Not All Providers Are Approaching Skills the Same Way: Technology allows companies to scale their approach to skills, provide opportunities and personalization to every individual, and leverage artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to draw deeper insights. Most importantly, it provides context to skills by inferring insights about the individual and employer. Although several technology solutions are aiming to address skills today, not every solution provides value. A successful skills-based approach requires a commitment from a solution provider to build a skills ontology, invest in talent intelligence, and apply AI inference so that skills are dynamic and personalized. With companies increasing their investment in skills, they must carefully consider providers that demonstrate expertise.

A Skills-Based Approach Benefits Employers and Individuals: Skills are not just a benefit to an organization. They give employees the resources they need to manage their careers and provide more opportunities for personalization and inclusivity. To truly understand an individual, however, companies should not stop with skills. They should consider the qualities that will make someone successful and happy in the work they are doing.

Skills Can Greatly Impact Internal Mobility Efforts: The most obvious use case for a skills-based approach is internal mobility. Companies are looking for better ways to promote and develop their workforce while supporting talent acquisition initiatives. With 70% of companies increasing their investment in internal mobility efforts, many are just promoting jobs or leveraging internal career sites. Skills offer a more substantial approach to internal mobility by providing employers with a deeper understanding of their workforce and empowering individuals with the tools they need to be successful.

Providers to watch (in alphabetical order): Beamery, Boostrs, Eightfold, HiredScore, Oracle, TaTio, TechWolf, Workday

Tags HR Technology, skills, talent acquisition