Work Different:
365Talents Introduction

by Shenoj Kuruvilla

With the 4 pillars of 'Learn,' 'Play,' 'Work,' and 'Impact,' BAC Education Group puts a lot of focus on holistic learning. The Group invests not only in its students, but in its staff as well.

The idea of continued learning throughout working life, and the enhancing of one's skills has always been emphasised by Mr. Raja Singham, Founder and Managing Director of BAC Education. The Group recently implemented 365Talents, a new talent management system for staff to utilise. This portal uses artificial intelligence (AI) to revolutionize Talent Management, with powerful algorithms that may help staff to find the right internal upskilling, reskilling, and job opportunities to grow their careers.
With 365Talents, staff are also a to share their skills, interests and expertise, and to be able to grow and help others grow as well.

On 8th April 2022, BAC Education Group organised a tutorial for 365Talents under the weekly staff webinar. This tutorial aimed to do three things: introduce the objective of 365Talents to the staff, allow the staff to be able to understand more about the site and its functions as well as to learn the most effective way to use it and grow.

The tutorial began with an opening statement from Mr. Raja Singham himself. He spoke on how BAC values adaptability in its staff, and how we have to adapt to current trends to be able to stay relevant. The idea behind introducing 365Talents into the workplace was so that the BAC family will learn to become more competent; via LinkedIn Learning, Coursera, and also through Skillshare. Mr. Raja Singham shared his hopes that all staff will learn and develop skills that are work, and non-work related. He then introduced the speaker, Ms. Léa Riaudel.

Ms. Riaudel is the Senior Customer Success Manager of 365Talents and has been working with BAC to implement it seamlessly. It has been fully deployed for BAC staff, and Ms. Riaudel is currently working with the Group towards deploying it for students.

Ms. Riaudel first shared the aim of 365Talents, which is to help staff (and in future, students) reach a higher potential, and encourage every individual to progress, to facilitate national and possibly international work mobility.

Ms. Riaudel then went straight into the tutorial, taking us step-by-step on how to set up a 365Talents account. She showed us how the platform itself acts as a guide in creating a profile, where it allows you to input your information in three different ways: by uploading your LinkedIn profile, by uploading your CV or by inputting it manually. According to Ms. Riaudel, our profiles can either be public (accessible by the entire organisation) or private (only accessible by our managers and the HR department).

She further explained that whatever information that is automatically input into the system can be manually edited by the user and that we are encouraged to input detailed descriptions of our work into the working experience field. We are also able to add things like professional training, extra-professional experiences as well as any conferences and events attended in the past. Ms. Riaudel explained that all of this information is meant to make our profiles as relevant and complete as possible.

This brought her to the next point, which was one of the most important in the entire tutorial; the skills declaration. When our profile is complete, the system's A.I. can identify specific skills from everything that has already been uploaded. Besides skills provided by the A.I., you are able to declare your own skills, and as many as you want. Every skill keyed-in into the system is beneficial in some way. She also showed us how to assign a specific level to each skill. There are four different levels: 'I am interested in it,' 'I am comfortable with it,' 'I master it,' and 'I am an expert.'

With this, you is able to highlight certain skills by declaring your interests. These are specific skills you are good at, or skills you wish to develop.

Ms. Riaudel reminded us about the rating feature to indicate the level of these skills. With the integration of LinkedIn Learning, keying in info will allow LinkedIn Learning to suggest courses for you based on skills you wish to develop.

Next, Ms. Riaudel showed us our 'professional project.' This section is indicative of our career objectives and whether we're currently looking to grow. The professional project has three options:
- I want to develop my career (which shows that you are actively looking for a new opportunity)
- I am open to new challenges (which means you are satisfied with your position and looking for additional projects)
- Not at the moment (which means you are happy and satisfied where you are)

The professional project section is extremely important, as 365Talents can function as an internal job market. There is a section in the system called 'Opportunities.' In this panel, employees can find projects, internal job opportunities and even courses to improve on certain skills. The system's A.I. will match you with specific opportunities, and it will explain why, based on the skills you have included in your profile. It will also suggest related skills that you may not have included, which could be relevant to the job. Lastly, you are able to find experts in specific skills and ask them specific things to be able to improve.

At the end of the session, Ms. Riaudel opened the floor for questions. One of the questions raised was regarding the previous usage of 365Talents. Ms. Riaudel confirmed that the program is being used by several clients with successful results. This session was very informative, as staff was able to gain a better understanding and appreciation, and begin using the Talents365 system.

With the introduction of this system, the Group hopes that both staff, and eventually, students, will grow and develop their skills to become well-rounded individuals.