congratulations you are the probe you
are the manager of a manufacturing
company that is doing very very well
your product is up it’s selling
exceptionally you’re breaking sales
records the money is pouring in things
are going well enough that you’ve
decided to start a new product line so
you’ve secured your space you’ve secured
your funding your machines are here and
installed and ready to go and now it’s
time to get that most important of
resources people so like any good hiring
manager you post your job on line
probably on multiple websites and here’s
the result a large pool of job
applicants now some of these are going
to be casual applicants just people who
throw the resume at any old job that’s
within 5 miles of their home they’re not
very serious about the job they probably
didn’t even read the Job Description
these are not the people you’re looking
for and some of these are going to be
very real players folks with the skills
the capacity to make a difference in
your manufacturing company the question
becomes how do we separate the wheat
from the chaff how do we find those who
are severely qualified incredibly
qualified who will make the difference
versus those who wouldn’t and so you sit
down with your team and you establish a
list of criteria for the job candidates
that you would like to review this is
the traditional way of going about
things because you do not have the job
ready score and so you come up with this
list of criteria you enter it into a
computer somewhere and now you have with
an applicant tracking system narrowed
down these resumes to just two you’ve
identified these two people based on
keywords that are on their resume that
are going to show that yes they have
what it takes to work at your company
the problem is the objective data that
comes on a resume has nothing to do with
what you
I talked about as an HR team we want an
employee who shows up on time who is
drug-free an employee who knows how to
work and work hard good work ethic a
communicator those kind of things none
of that is evaluated on a resume none of
it is apparent and yet you’re evaluating
these folks based just on a resume it’s
an antiquated system but having no
alternative you push ahead and so we
review the objective data that’s
available to us meet your two candidates
Moe and Joe now Moe as he has a two-year
degree his GPA not so strong his
experience though is is exactly what
you’re looking for he has ten years of
experience in a manufacturing
environment very similar to your plant
his references are okay and he took your
pre-employment examination and he did
pass it but he just passed it then we
have Joe now Joe has a four year degree
a little more attractive yes and his GPA
was stellar throughout college his
experience though is lacking
he had an externship during one of his
semesters at college and he’s been on
his current job at a competitor for
about six to nine months his references
were pretty strong and when you gave him
your pre-employment examination he did
absolutely fabulous knocked it out of
the park very good job so the question
becomes who do we hire Moe or Joe but
the data that we have available shows us
nothing again about that criteria that
we called a good worker and so I’ll put
the question to you raise your hand if
you would hire moe
raise your hand if you would hire Joe
almost evenly divided interesting so
this is the traditional recruiting model
what we want to change is a measurement
of what actually matters for job
preparation for a candidate and so
here’s a glance of what we’re talking
about with the job ready score now
looking at these same two candidates Moe
and Joe we find that Moe is an
exceptional critical thinker he is a
leader he has personal accountability
he’s going to show up to work on time
drug-free and ready to get the
job done his technical skills and
certifications are about equal with Jose
his practical experience we already knew
was higher we didn’t know that he was
such a good communicator it turns out
that Moe is the candidate candidate of
choice but it has nothing to do with
what was on his resume these are six
categories out of 14 that we have
identified as being attractive to
employers as indicators or predictors of
a person’s preparedness for work and so
we want to measure folks by these 14
categories and so if you’re an employer
here you’re saying great that sounds
wonderful
you may know that turnover costs United
States businesses billions and billions
of dollars we are not doing this well so
if you can do it Mike that’s fantastic I
will buy that test but here’s the
difference the job ready score is not a
test my idea is a measurement tool
similar to a credit score a system that
evaluates people based on years of
experiencing different activities
different experiences different
accomplishments as a predictor using
deep dive data a predictor of a person’s
job preparedness these 14 categories
were identified through a body of
existing research as well as input from
industry leaders employers human
resource professionals and educators now
looking at these 14 categories I asked
the question how can a person experience
or gain mastery in each of these 14 over
a lifetime and that question is what led
us to the heart of the job ready score
which is an algorithm so by asking what
activities experiences accomplishments
will move a person closer to mastery of
each of these 14 we came up with a list
and the list is hundreds and hundreds
and hundreds of activities long now we
take that list and we weigh each
activity one against another using input
from these human resource professionals
these industry leaders these employers
and educators and by weighing those we
have a dynamic algorithm that is updated
over time but the list of activities is
something that will then publish on the
Internet and make it absolutely
transparent so imagine this you’re a
high school student you sit down with
your adviser and you look at the
job-ready score list of activities
accomplishments and experiences and you
map out your own education to maximize
your score and to prepare you best to
enter the work environment you become
the master of your own destiny because
you are planning out your own education
that continues on into college as well
you are then given a profile online so
you have a digital key to this profile
you’re able to hand this out to an
employer a potential employer and so
this employer is able to look at your
job ready score and not only see your
overall score like a credit score but
rather is able to customize what
categories and what subcategories are
most important in that employers
environment then we’re able to take
objective data attained over years of a
person’s life based on their experiences
their activities and their
accomplishments and best predict if they
will be prepared for work so this is how
the job ready score works and it becomes
something of equality because by
publishing this transparently the kid in
the college I’m sorry the kid in the
high school that’s underperforming not
graduating a huge percentage of their
student populace and struggling to get
through has the same opportunity to
control his or her own destiny as the
person in the private expensive school
this becomes very personal to me because
of my own experience of having a
non-traditional resume I was a pastor
for nine years when it came time for me
to leave ministry
I took my religious studies degree in my
nine years of experience in a church and
I went to find a job
and we’d do a new community and I
started applying online had no luck at
all
finally frustrated I moved ahead of my
family and said I’m going to get a job
and I began a marathon I put on my shirt
and tie and I hit the streets I applied
at 64 different businesses in seven
different cities including three jewelry
stores to eyewear stores and a Taco Bell
and couldn’t get a job after 63 knows
number 64 was the lucky one and I it was
a car dealership and I think I got the
job because while sitting waiting for
but the yes was for a 100% Commission
job selling Chevrolet’s new and used 7
weeks later I left training pay early
and my first and only full month at that
dealership I was the number 2 salesman
for new Chevy’s now why if I had what it
took why oh why did 63 companies say no
not going to take a risk on you it’s
because they did not have the empirical
data that backed up my position that I
am a leader that I have experienced
answering to a board and budgeting and
leading volunteers which is not the
easiest job in the world growing a
church I could not empirically show that
I have what it takes to make a
difference in a company until I
succeeded in sales which led to a new
opportunity to a new opportunity to a
new opportunity where I am now I wish I
would have had this and so I decided to
build it we looked at that original list
of job applicants you had identified to
through your computer system that would
fit the bill using the job ready score
we actually find that there are six
additional candidates who are ready to
start a job right now
in another eight that with a little bit
of training could be there someday soon
let me introduce you to two of them
here’s Mary and Jerry now mary went to
college four-year degree her senior year
of college she was married and decided
to start a family and she made the
decision that she wanted to stay at home
and raise her kids now it’s 20 years
later she’s an empty nester and she is
ready to go into a career job but she
hasn’t had one for 20 years so your
recruiters threw out her resume but what
do we know about Mary by looking at the
job rate score we she we see that she is
a critical thinker with high personal
accountability that she is a leader in
her community and strong communicator
now she also has spent time as the head
of the PTA she served for four years on
the board of a nonprofit organization
making a difference in young people’s
lives and she managed a fundraising
event annually for three years a major
endeavor but none of that mattered on
the resume because it didn’t match the
criteria that you had in your computer
and so you never saw her resume Jerry is
another story that hits close to my
heart
now Jerry went to a high school with a
62 percent pass rate or graduation rate
of its student populous urban high
school he didn’t have a lot of money his
family grew up without and college was
not an option financially for him so
upon graduation from high school he went
and worked in retail for seven years
while taking care of his brother and
sister his little brother and sister
Jerry has picked up skills that will be
very very valuable to your company but
because of his non-traditional resume
you will never consider him the
difference that this makes not only for
employers
but for breaking the cycle of poverty by
bringing equality and opportunity to
people everywhere from all walks of life
is powerful
people have been asking employers have
been asking for years where has the
talent gone maybe it’s right here thank
you [Applause]