Imagine this: Instead of relying solely on outdated résumés or self-reported skills, your organization has access to live, evolving talent profiles that reflect each employee’s true capabilities.
With Betterworks’ newly released AI-assisted Talent Profiles, you can stop imagining.
Every day, employees across your organization are learning, honing, and displaying critical skills, whether on the job or by taking company training, third-party courses, or obtaining a new degree or certificate. They’re setting ambitious goals, receiving feedback from peers, and tackling new challenges. But how often are those hidden gems—the skills that make a real difference—captured and put to good use, or developed to benefit your team or company goals?
For years, we’ve heard from managers and HR leaders, ‘We know our employees are talented, but tracking those skills? That’s a challenge.’ This disconnect between performance data and skill recognition is exactly what we set out to solve with Betterworks Talent Profiles with skills inferencing using AI.
The spark behind our refreshed Talent Profiles and AI skills inferencing
This journey started with a simple observation: Performance management data is the key to discovering untapped potential. Our product and design teams realized that performance reviews, peer feedback, goal tracking, and recognition all offer invaluable insights into an employee’s skills—insights that are often left on the table. What if we could capture and extract those insights and turn them into actionable data for managers and employees? With that inspiration, we built our AI skills inferencing tool, Skills Assist, which is designed to detect and validate skills based on real-world performance.
How Betterworks skills-assisted Talent Profiles works
A key feature in Betterworks’ enhanced Talent Profiles is the ability to surface skills by using AI. Analyzing real performance data from everyday activities — like your latest peer feedback or that ambitious goal you just crushed — we surface new skills for validation by the employee and their manager. But we don’t just suggest a skill, and that’s the critical difference. Proof of a skill is backed up with evidence like the actual quote from your co-worker saying you have mastered SEO optimization, handled a QA feedback process, or skillfully managed a recent project, and they are verified by the employee’s manager. Once verified skills are added to an employee’s profile, they offer a transparent, evidence-based view of each employee’s potential, providing managers and HR teams with the insights needed to make informed decisions about development, promotions, and internal mobility.
As Betterworks Chief Operating Officer Andrea Lagan explained, “With this release, we’re bridging the gap between performance management and skills development. It’s about giving employees credit for what they do best and providing managers with the tools to help them grow.”
Benefits of truly dynamic talent profiles
Why does this matter? Talent profiles shouldn’t be static documentation based on outdated résumés or skills that haven’t been proven by independent observation. They should be living, breathing reflections of who your employees are, what they’re capable of, and where they can go next.
With Betterworks Talent Profiles, you can:
- Enhance coaching and development: Managers can use real-time skills data to tailor coaching conversations and work with their direct reports to set personalized development plans.
- Boost employee engagement and retention: When employees see their skills acknowledged and valued, they’re more motivated to grow within the company.
- Fuel workforce planning: HR teams gain up-to-date insights into the skills gaps and strengths across the organization, making it easier to place the right people in the right roles.
How AI-assisted talent profiles differ from talent marketplaces
The effectiveness of talent marketplaces hinges on the quality and accuracy of the data. Many rely on outdated resumes or self-reported skills that can lack specificity or validation. For example, listing “cybersecurity” on a resume could mean anything from threat intelligence to network security to incident response. Are these skills current or rusty and in need of updating? Without adequate detail and proper verification, the data populating these platforms may be incomplete or even misleading.
With AI-driven talent profiles, qualitative and quantitative data is continuously pulled from performance management tools that are capturing real-time employee interactions. Managers can confirm skill development through data extracted from ongoing manager-employee check-ins, peer feedback, and goal progress. This process ensures that the skills database is always up-to-date, accurately reflecting both current expertise and emerging capabilities.
Already winning awards—and we’re just getting started
Betterworks Talent Profiles has already been named one of the Top HR Products of 2024 by Human Resources Executive and the HR Tech conference. We’re honored to receive this recognition, especially as it comes on the heels of unveiling Skills Assist. This award confirms our belief that talent management can be transformed for the better when organizations can capture real-world skills data.
“We knew we were onto something big with this release,” said Doug Dennerline, CEO of Betterworks. “To see it recognized as a top HR product of the year is an incredible validation of the impact AI can have on workforce development.”
What’s next for you?
Our team is thrilled to see how organizations use these new capabilities to shape their workforce. Whether you’re a manager looking to optimize your team’s strengths or an HR leader planning for the future, Betterworks Talent Profiles with skills inferencing will be your guide.
Ready to dive in? Schedule a demo.
Cheryl Johnson is the chief product and technology officer at Betterworks and is a visionary leader and change agent with a track record of driving growth in disruptive software companies.
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