TalentSpace: Connecting the dots

TalentSpace is an online hiring platform that champions unbiased hiring and focuses on applicants' skillsets, allowing women to stand a fair chance in their job applications.

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Problem Statement

Original: How can we get employers to be open and hire women who have less social mobility and may not have access to livelihood opportunities?

Scoped: Given the competitive environment and emphasis on resumes for hiring processes that may lead to overlooked potential talents, how can we provide a fair opportunity for beneficiaries to showcase their skills and land jobs?

Inspiration

When the representative from Daughters Of Tomorrow (DOT) discussed the problem statement during the briefing, she mentioned that no companies in Singapore practised blind hiring. This led us to explore and research the practice of blind hiring and other unbiased hiring practices. A tech startup called Toggl has pioneered this in their platform Toggl Hire (https://toggl.com/hire/). They seemed to have very similar motivations to DOT such as unbiased and faster hiring that leads to the identification of qualified candidates, based mainly on skillsets. Hence, we set out to create a solution that is more tailored to DOT and the skillsets that their beneficiaries wanted to showcase to potential employers.

What it does

TalentSpace is an online hiring platform that champions unbiased hiring and focuses on applicants' skillsets, allowing women from low-income families to stand a fair chance in their job applications.

Applicants can browse available assignments posted by companies, complete relevant ones that match their skillsets and submit them to companies to be considered for the job.

Companies then review applicants' submissions and contact them if they could potentially be a good fit for the role.

How we built it

This prototype was built using React, Firestore database, and Firebase hosting.

Challenges faced

Innovating a solution that addresses the needs of DOT and their beneficiaries, while remaining appealing to companies to implement as part of their hiring process, required careful thought. After many draft ideas and refinements, we settled with TalentSpace as it was the most ideal solution for all stakeholders.

We also spent a lot of time finalising the product details of TalentSpace before starting to code.

What we learned

  • Design thinking to come up with a solution that could solve the given problem statement while addressing the needs and wants of all stakeholders.
  • Working together and communicating our thoughts and ideas during the brainstorming process.
  • Learn how to navigate through documentation and APIs to extract relevant information.

What's next for TalentSpace: Connecting the dots

  • Simple portfolio page for applicants, focused on skillset and not educational background
  • Store applicants’ skills as part of their profile; Use this information to recommend relevant jobs looking for matching skills
  • Better search and filtering for assignments on the platform e.g. filter by skills
  • Larger coverage of companies and skill sets of job postings
  • Different types of assignment formats beyond MCQ and open-ended questions to showcase a greater range of skills e.g. file submission, video submission
  • Include other groups of beneficiaries who face job hunting difficulties
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