Talent Cloud Results Report

In talking with Talent Cloud users, we learned that many of them have never applied to Government of Canada jobs before. One of the reasons was because they didn’t see themselves being qualified based on the conventional job advertisements, despite being an expert in their fields or having experience and knowledge that were much in demand in the public service. In particular, the “years of experience” or education requirements, or what we called biography based staffing (read more about why we found it problematic here - link to “Skills Instead of Experience”), often didn’t consider the various paths these individuals might have traversed in acquiring their skills. If they didn’t follow the prescribed path as was often implied in the job advertisements, they wouldn’t even have the opportunity to demonstrate how they could be a fit for the job.

Listening to these stories was disheartening. But when we witnessed the positive difference made by the skill-based approach that we experimented with, it was impactful. We got to hear such a story when we interviewed an employee hired through Talent Cloud.

When asked why he applied on the platform, he answered,

“I used the platform because the job posting at that time didn’t require a degree. It was based on merit and skill set. That’s what I really appreciate about the platform and application. Being able to detect talent is what we need here.”

He went on to share how in the past he was overlooked for similar positions because of the education requirement. Not having a degree didn’t stop him from doing his job or succeeding in his performance, and yet he couldn’t even be considered for most positions. So when he saw the Talent Cloud job advertisement, he decided to apply. (While some job classifications require a specific education credential, many will also accept a combination of education and experience. To learn more about our work on this, check out Changing the Default Settings on Essential Education in this section of the report.)

And he was hired.

Being in the position helped him get recognized by senior management, and he has since moved on to perform functions that are central and critical to the organization. It was hard not to notice the passion in his voice when he described how he could now fulfil his duties and use his talent to deliver impacts to Canadians.

His story is a living example that when organizations change how they screen talent, they end up with different results.