Authored by Rick Devine - Follow Rick on Talentsky

For decades, people connected to a potential employer by searching for a job, sending in a resumé, and waiting. And waiting. And waiting. In fact, most job applicants never get an interview. So, all these resumés fill up the inboxes of recruiters and never get read if they don’t perfectly match the title of the job description. Also, job postings are static – not something you can follow for updates like a personal feed on Facebook or Twitter. Much of the time, job postings aren’t even written by the department hiring for the position.

What does this mean for the average person who works in our country? For most, it’s not good. Nearly one third of the American workforce earns minimum wage, working in restaurants, warehouses, retail, or service jobs, which don’t provide enough income to support a family. So, people need to move from jobs to careers with greater earning potential. As an example, the low end of a professional career is $50k year, or $25/hour -- 50% more than the top hourly jobs. These careers also provide  upward mobility to over $100k+ a year, providing income to sustain a family, and live a good life.

To support the transition from jobs to careers, we need a new, dynamic “signaling system,” so people can understand where they stand, and what they need to do to move upward in the labor market. This system needs to be based upon verified labor knowledge -- or skills. In the current system, we never standardized skills, or created a way for people to communicate their skills easily.

As Steve Jobs once said, “Making things easy to use is hard.” I knew this when creating Talentsky. We had to make it easy and seamless to post labor knowledge as achievements and skills.

By posting achievements and skills on Talentsky, people gain insights, they can compare and follow others to discover new careers, see their gaps in learning, and develop the skills needed to stay on top of industry trends and changes. Talentsky leverages the familiar paradigm of social media to provide career development inspiration. It goes beyond the out-of-date system of job descriptions and resumés. Most importantly, it’s free for everyone.

Why is this so important now? It’s simple.  The rate of change in careers due to the digital revolution is now greater than the rate of career development for most Americans. The impact of this is enormous, and it means that many in our country are drifting away from employability without knowing it.  That means employers will have to outsource labor from other countries while we try to get caught up, and are left behind. And that’s not good.

I am not alone in my concern. Many have advocated for a skill standard, including The McKinsey Global Institute, Aspen Institute, World Economic Forum, and the Obama Administration led by then Vice-President Joe Biden.

We know job ads and resumés are holding people back. We also know companies are slow in adapting to change quickly – but many leaders recognize skill-based employment visibility will drive a more diverse and committed culture. Leaders like Marc Benioff, Jamie Dimon, and Tim Cook are examples of high-profile leaders who advocate for skill-based access.

I founded Talentsky with the long-term commitment to build a next generation professional network, based upon skills, free for everyone to better connect, and see what’s possible. Talentsky is a network that will allow people to go as far as their ambition will carry them

Go Talentsky!