AI-based platform matches furloughed, laid off workers to retailers in need
FMI - The Food Industry Association and Eightfold.ai, inventor of the Talent Intelligence Platform, have launched the Eightfold Talent Exchange, a nationwide marketplace connecting human resources and business leaders to immediately employ associates who have been furloughed or laid off amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The platform will serve as a bridge between organizations that need to quickly hire and their counterparts with out-of-work employees, enabling businesses to work across corporate and industry boundaries to fulfill current labor needs.
“We are in a situation where businesses need to quickly fill roles to keep operations moving at this critical time,” noted Ashutosh Garg, CEO of Mountain View, Calif.-based Eightfold.ai. “Talent Exchange, with its matching technology, is exactly what we need to hire quickly based on talent and potential. If you’re hiring, it’s an incredible way to help the community. And if your company is going through tough times, you can place your workers into roles at other companies that need their help. Doing so will fill critical shortages and create goodwill with your workers, in hopes that they will rejoin you when business conditions improve.”
Eightfold Talent Exchange uses AI algorithms that match candidates with available roles, based on each person's skills and previous experience.
Current employers can invite employees to take part in the program, adding lists of affected employees and sending them a link to register for the exchange. The employers can view their entire affected workforce in a single dashboard that can be filtered by role, department or location for details regarding the talent needs from hiring companies and how the affected employees will be placed in new roles.
Affected employees can create or update profiles and answer questions about their job preferences, information that’s readily available for hiring companies to view.
Hiring companies view candidate matches generated by the exchange and are able to contact these prospects or immediately offer them new jobs. Eightfold.ai can automate and personalize this contact as well, expediting the process even more. Further, hiring companies can add onboarding instructions to permit new hires to start as soon as they’re ready.
“The food industry plays a vital role in maintaining the nation’s critical infrastructure during this national emergency, and we are witness to the unprecedented demand challenges – from products to labor,” said Leslie Sarasin, president and CEO of Arlington, Va.-based FMI. “Our communities rely on vital front-line businesses in food, manufacturing and delivery services, and this new Talent Exchange will help many unemployed and furloughed workers in their time of need.”
“The geographic collaboration is critical to match people who need jobs to the open roles in the same or adjacent community,” added Eightfold.ai President Kamal Ahluwalia. “Talent Exchange is built to meet the needs of all stakeholders and accelerate this phenomenal collaboration unfolding in front of our eyes.”
Meanwhile, The American Staffing Association (ASA) and the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) have teamed up on an online, searchable directory to link RILA member retailers to ASA member staffing agencies that can fill such in-demand grocery and pharmacy jobs as warehouse workers; store clerks for unloading, stocking, cleaning and sanitizing; cashiers and greeters; forklift selectors and pickers; and delivery drivers.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor statistics, jobless claims increased by another 6.6 million last week, bringing the two-week total to almost 10 million.
This article first appeared in sister publication Progressive Grocer.