The “COVID-effect” has become a common term to describe things that are different now due to COVID. Some things are comical, like the “Quarantine-15”, but others are uplifting, like how we genuinely celebrate when anyone is able to find a job.
To find a job is difficult in the best of times and has been even more daunting during this pandemic and high unemployment. But companies are still hiring! Eightfold.ai launched the Talent Exchange because we recognized that society needs a robust, easy, and scalable way for people who are searching for work to match with jobs at companies that are still hiring, even if it’s in a different industry. This previous article explains how artificial intelligence platforms help people expand their expectation of what’s possible by showing them that their skills are transferable.
The pandemic has also taught us all that we need to be nimble, adaptable, and proactive. These are three traits that describe Joshua, an individual who was furloughed and joined the Talent Exchange after hearing about it from his former employer. He shared his story with us and explained what he did to leverage the platform’s suggestion capabilities, and ultimately find a job!
Joshua’s approach can be broken down into five steps:
Create a rich profile with experiences, skills, and education
If you have a resume, then you can upload it to streamline your profile creation. If you don’t have one, then you can still easily create your profile. Either approach should take less than five minutes. The important thing to keep in mind is that the platform needs to learn from you first so it can understand what types of suggestions to make for you. In Joshua’s case, he did use a resume and then reviewed the information to confirm that his job titles, skills, and descriptions were filled in as he expected.
Understand how you’re representing yourself to recruiters
When Joshua reviewed his matches on the job search part of the platform, he noticed that they were more junior than what he was looking for. Rather than feeling flustered, Joshua sought to understand why that was the case. He looked at the matching insights and job insights across many different positions, including those that he was interested in but not a match for, and realized that his profile didn’t adequately emphasize his most recent skills, accomplishments, and titles. That means the profile he originally created needed to be updated so he could more accurately represent himself to recruiters.
Leverage the matching and job insights to make real-time changes to your profile
The Talent Exchange’s job insights gave Joshua the ability to understand why he was not seeing matches for positions he wanted, and equipped him with the tools to know what to change in real-time. This takes the guessing game out of the process for candidates and recruiters because it is easier for both sides to have transparency into expectations and alignment. That is why Joshua returned to his profile on the Talent Exchange and made changes to it so that the skills and experiences he represented more closely aligned with the manager-level expertise he has.
Receive more insightful and relevant job recommendations
After updating his profile, Joshua returned to the job search page on the Talent Exchange. The matches he now saw were more aligned with the seniority he was hoping for and represented a range of positions that he was happy to select from. An important point to remember when viewing matches is that, if your profile fully represents your skills and experiences, don’t be surprised if you see matches that you never would have searched for because that is the power of the AI.
Apply to open roles, receive responses, and accept offers
Since Joshua was more pleased with the seniority of his matches, he viewed them more closely and applied to four positions. Within a few days he heard back from a large retailer about the manager-level position he applied to. After navigating the interview process, we received an offer and accepted it! Two weeks later, he began his training program and is successfully continuing his career.
In Joshua’s own words, “once I made some adjustments to my profile, the matches were much more relevant, and it was a very good experience. If faced with having to find a role again, I would use the Talent Exchange.”
Congratulations to Joshua, and to everyone who has managed to find a job through the Talent Exchange, other platforms, organizations, or their network! We are all cheering each other on, thanks to the “COVID effect”.
To update your profile or register for the Talent Exchange, click here.