Recommendations

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”—Albert Einstein

As we evaluate the Air Force’s challenges in the Air Force Officer Assignment System (AFOAS) Talent Marketplace, a “gone forward to the past” approach is no longer effective in managing talent in today’s informational age. The Air Force must modernize and follow through on development efforts that align with industry best practices to create an agile and adaptive human capital management (HCM) system that leverages our personnel as a strategic asset.

The Air Force must create a better Airmen value proposition to retain talent and has taken a first step by following industry trends and implementing an internal talent marketplace (ITM). However, as illustrated previously, there are several key problems and challenges in realizing the full potential of the Talent Marketplace.

The Talent Marketplace has been scaled as a Total Force solution but is not aligned with a clear strategy or adequate resources. The lack of a clear strategy has also resulted in a misalignment in policy and functionality of matching mechanisms within the system. This direct misalignment is further exasperated by the lack of information to properly align talent with opportunities.

While ITMs aim to increase transparency and collaboration, the Talent Marketplace lacks feedback loops and monitoring to ensure the efficiency of the system’s performance. The culmination of these challenges has resulted in a growing backlog and a missed opportunity to leverage the benefits other organizations have achieved through the deployment of an optimized ITM solution. To improve the Air Force’s Talent Marketplace, the following three recommendations are proposed:

1. Define the Talent Marketplace strategy;
2. Increase transparency and communication; and
3. Enhance data connectivity and optimize matching algorithms.

The Air Force should initiate a talent deployment strategy to align Airmen’s skills, attributes, and interests with available assignment opportunities. This strategy aligns with the broader AFOAS goal of assigning the right officer to the right job at the right time. It is important to note that this strategy will serve as a starting point to set the foundation for future iterations of the Talent Marketplace. The following key activities should be conducted to inform the strategy implementation.

• Appoint a senior leader within the A1 to champion the development and follow-through of Talent Marketplace updates.
• Establish change management programs to communicate Talent Marketplace changes.
• Identify key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics to measure Talent Marketplace success.
• Review 4Ps (Purpose, Plan, Program, and Platform) to assess the actions required to activate the talent deployment strategy. Review and update policies and processes that govern the Talent Marketplace to enable talent movements and incentivize desired behaviors within the market.
• Establish a strategy review cadence to continuously assess the Talent Marketplace based on the established KPIs and measurable outcomes across the 4Ps.
• Use human-centered design methods to map the user journey and identify user personas to align capabilities within the system.

The Talent Marketplace must be transparent and enable communication to properly execute a talent deployment strategy that aligns Airmen’s skills, attributes, and interests with available assignment opportunities. The following key activities should be conducted to increase transparency and communication.

• Establish rules of engagement for the Talent Marketplace and outline the process for making assignment decisions to promote transparency and fairness.
• Co-locate all published Talent Marketplace policies, procedures, and process documentation on the Talent Marketplace landing page. Provide specific details such as how many preferences members should list. Create an explainer video that clarifies how the matching algorithm works.
• Publish Air Force Personnel Center (AFPC) public post-assignment cycle reports that offer macro data on Talent Marketplace matching outcomes.
• Publish an internal AFPC post-assignment cycle report that identifies constraints in matching officers to desired assignments and annotates final matching outcomes that deviate from expressed preferences.
• Implement feedback mechanisms to solicit input from the users about their experiences within the Talent Marketplace during and after assignment matches. This feedback will serve as a feedback loop to inform future developments and adjustments.
• Develop a communications tracking feature on Talent Marketplace to monitor and analyze engagement between billet owners and officers throughout the assignment cycle. This functionality enables the collection of data about communication dynamics and engagement levels.
• Incentivize and enforce billet owners to provide detailed position descriptions before being allowed to post their jobs in the market.

Enhanced data connectivity and optimized matching algorithms will enable the Talent Marketplace to drive organizational outcomes and Airmen satisfaction. The following key activities should be conducted to improve data integration and refine the matching process.

• Connect MyVector profile, resume, and endorsement data with Talent Marketplace. This integration allows officers to share additional interests, skills, and competencies not captured in standard personnel data with billet owners.
• Implement machine learning recommendations to enhance and personalize the officer and billet owner’s search within Talent Marketplace. The users should still be able to view all available officers and positions during the assignment cycle.
• Use insights from AFPC reports and user feedback to refine and improve the recommendation engines to increase the accuracy and effectiveness of matches.
• Use data captured from AFPC reports to identify deferred acceptance algorithm deficiencies to improve the usefulness of its application.
• Standardize competencies and skills captured in job descriptions and officer profile data to maximize matching algorithms.

Implementing these recommendations will transform the Talent Marketplace into an ITM that is mission-responsive, innovative yet disciplined, accurately informed and informative, understood and trusted, collaborative, and agile. Creating a connected and data-driven platform will open additional opportunities for Talent Marketplace to integrate with other HCM systems, such as learning and development courses and mentoring connections. Such integration represents a comprehensive systems approach, enhancing the overall functionality of Talent Marketplace and improving talent management within the Air Force.