PwC launched its own internal talent platform—here’s how it works

From LinkedIn to Indeed to ZipRecruiter, recruiters have many resources at their fingertips to find external candidates. But what about internal candidates?

Tax and accounting firm PwC launched an AI-powered talent marketplace in December to help recruit internal talent for open roles and projects. Called My Marketplace, the firm’s chief people officer, Yolanda Seals-Coffield, hopes the tool will offer employees more transparency into PwC’s talent strategy and agency over their career trajectories.

“It is providing a fuller transparency to all the different opportunities that exist in the firm,” she told HR Brew. “It’s going to give our people greater agency…if they are able to see the opportunities that exist for themselves and express an interest in exploring those opportunities.”

How it works. The platform pulls data from internal records and résumés, as well as publicly available sources like LinkedIn, to create employee profiles. It then uses generative AI to match employee profiles with prospective jobs and projects, Seals-Coffield explained.

Employees can edit their profiles, she added, and are also encouraged to include their interests and passions, as they could be interested in an opportunity that doesn’t necessarily match their current role or previous experience.

To that end, she said employees can also use the platform to express interest in roles they’ve not been matched with, and someone on the talent team will gauge their compatibility.

Recruiters, hiring managers, and project leads (who PwC refers to as “opportunity owners”) can use the platform to identify internal talent before expanding their search externally.

They create listings that include required skills, estimated length of job, and details like the name of the client or team members, if relevant, as well as a job description “that is engaging that would make people want to join their team and go to work on those projects,” she said.

Of the firm’s roughly 75,000 US employees, Seals-Coffield said more than 20,000 employees have engaged with the platform so far.

“We have not gone out, and said, ‘You must be in the marketplace by X date.’ We really want our people to get in there on their own…and to see what it has to offer and to be inspired to go back in as new opportunities are released,” Seals-Coffield said.

Helping talent strategy. Seals-Coffield hopes My Marketplace will elevate both her recruitment and retention strategies.

“[The platform] is a great opportunity for people to have a broad understanding of what the firm has to offer…[and] creates this really great people experience for our folks,” she said.

“And, it’s a great way for us to make sure that we have a full understanding of the talent that exists across our firm and get that right talent with the right skills to the right clients,” Seals-Coffield said. “We expect our people to move around and find engagement opportunities both within their area and outside, so I think it’s going to be an incredible retention tool.”