ElevateUS with TalentSensus

Unconscious bias in hiring & promotion is an issue. The best outcomes for employers, industry, education, & workforce development is diversity. You cannot create solutions for entire communities disregarding the very nature of those within it.  

Uplifting workers & subsequently improving the economic opportunities within communities; ElevateUs through TalentSensus hopes to empower all to showcase their true talents without bias through our Digital Skills Passport enabling supported access to upskilling, career pathways; employment & personal development.

Levelling the playing field based on skills & opportunities allows for improvement of socio-economic mobility.  In turn if scaled the community at large has been positively impacted.  The generational after-effects of removal or mitigation of unconscious bias can be exponential.

Unconscious bias & discrimination affect members of the community directly & all of us indirectly as diversity brings better ideas, productivity, & engagement.

TalentSensus using a skills based matching algorithm connects employers to the best suited candidates; in turn you can meet industry needs and through aggregated data inform education providers & workforce development agencies.   Utilizing a persons skills as the primary matching criteria diverse job seekers are channelled into jobs & opportunities. 

Removal/mitigation of unconscious bias in the hiring and promotion process  leads to an improved process for employers to use skills as the foundation for decisions. Generational poverty is in part due to lack of awareness, exposure & support to advance & succeed; this disproportionately affects education, employment and earning potential of Black, Indigenous, LatinX and other historically marginalized communities, continuing the cycle of poverty & the plight of the working poor. ElevateUs looks to serve as a connector in the community to bring resources and data driven solutions with a people based focus to all.

TalentSensus can be utilized as a central point in an ecosystem geared towards employment, opportunities, training/education, upskilling/reskilling and overall economic and workforce development system.

The predicament we find ourselves in with unconscious bias it that it is pervasive & embedded throughout society; we are all impacted with solutions that are not inclusive.

TalentSensus is a digital ecosystem helping users to build a connected skills passport to obtain gainful employment based on their skills & interests or to upskill with integrated training resources. TalentSensus also allows for incumbent workers to create career pathways for advancement both independently & within the internal training & development. We have unique hubs for employers, workers (incumbents and job seekers), & workforce agencies supporting the community connection ecosystem creation.  All establishing an important link with users as well as the business community. Fostering sustainability in workforce by using data analytics as well as the customizable surveys which gather anonymous data, allowing workers & apprentices to have a voice without fear.  The aggregated data from TalentSensus closes an existing gap in vital workforce data with a roadmap for adoption with the Skills Strategy and Skills Passport.

TalentSensus has been built with scalability in mind. The backend of the system has been built using a mySQL and .net combo. The front-end has been built with the priority on user experience using vueJS. The system is hosted on AWS which allows us to easily integrate with various APIs and has the capacity to grow organically with our anticipated user growth.

Workers( incumbent & job seekers), especially those often marginalized and most affected by unconscious bias. When skills become the focus you offer all people a more equitable opportunity.  Conversely within our platform there is access to curated free training, once you have completed your skills audit & you determine where strengthening of your skills can be made you can take ownership of your development.  Employability & opportunity will lead to improvements in economic stability for the individual and their family.

Built within the system is the ability to provide anonymous customized surveys; one of our goals is to better comprehend the current issues that affect worker satisfaction, engagement, barriers to retention an advancement.  The system is also built for maximum user friendliness and the ability for the worker to complete on a mobile device to increase accessibility.

The ability to aggregate the data from these surveys provides an anonymous of providing feedback to employers on the issue that plague their staff as well as job seekers who are applying.  Workforce agencies and community stakeholders will be able to utilize this data to provide real time solutions that best assist people both entering employment & retain employment.

TalentSensus at the very basic level provides a means of connecting workers and employers for employment & advancement opportunities while mitigating the risk of unconscious bias.  This allows for the focus to be on a person's skills, increasing the chances for equal access for diverse job seekers/incumbents seeking sustainable wages and livelihoods.

In the enhancement of an area's ecosystem TalentSensus brings together big data for employers, industry, education & workforce development. Data in turn feeds the workforce, education & economic development agencies information that keeps the needs & trends of industry at the forefront in real time.

2 fulltime employees (co-leading project)

     Stephen Rice, CEO & Founder

     Anne Lopez, Vice President  of Strategic Programs

4 Fulltime contractors

     Emmanuel Angeles, CTO

     3 additional developers

2 Graduate Placement students from Southeastern Regional College (Community College)

We foster an inclusive environment where diversity is sought, developed & retained. Starting with a thoughtful approach to all aspects of the business to begin with recruitment process.Inclusive of reaching out to universities, colleges & including student placements to bring in new perspectives.  

Our current team spans across 3 continents with team members in the United States, the Philippines and Northern Ireland. All with different religious, cultural, ethnic, race and gender backgrounds.  Our town hall team meetings allow each member of the team, regardless of position to have a voice, highlighting their accomplishments, requesting any assistance or feedback and giving their thoughts on projects and company goals.  This brings in both inherent diversity and acquired diversity.

Technology and using skills as the primary focus on new talent, developing our current talent are all part of building a diverse team that we believe leads us to greater success!

We keep the talent acquisition process anonymous to minimize any unconscious bias.  You will not see a photo, age, name, race/ethnicity etc..  all in an effort to keep the focus on finding the best skills match for the position.

We help users to identify & share the skills related to "hidden talents" that are identified through our analysis.  We all have additional skills we use & have gained outside of the work environment.  Employers may not realize all you have to offer until you add this in to create a complete & meaningful skills profile.

One of the complaints & concerns from employers was the lack of validation of the skills listed.  We have also have a means for an employee to request review of validation.

Using TalentSensus as the central point for an economic ecosystem is an approach that hasn't been undertaken & inclusive of all the partners we seek to have in our projects.  We bring together employers, give opportunities and resource information access to both job seekers and incumbents, non-profits and workforce development, education partners,economic development and government entities.  Each benefits in different ways but all can speak the same language using TalentSensus. Not only bringing diversity among organizations but fostering diversity and inclusiveness in hiring and promoting for the equality in opportunities for a diverse population.  One of our core beliefs is that the community at large will benefit from equality, diversity & inclusiveness & action to move this belief forward is paramount to change.

Our solution employs both technology and a new business model aimed at creating an economic ecosystem that connects job seekers, incumbents, employers, workforce development, and local stakeholders.

TalentSensus is the platform at the core of this ecosystem.  We begin by using it for the Talentpool in the area to complete a skills audit and create their skills passport (a means of charting their career pathway), employers use it to acquire & promote talent reducing unconscious bias & focusing on skills, the proprietary algorithm also determines hidden talents (great for people transitioning into new industries or roles), identifies upskilling needed and ultimately provides data on productivity, retention, job satisfaction, etc...

Workforce agencies can utilize the data shared by employers as well as using it for their job seekers to enhance their current systems; we can integrate within existing systems through API. It can specifically be used to match to employment for those ready or for OJT, apprenticeships, & subsidized employment opportunities as well as volunteer placement to gain skills.

Non-profits & stakeholders can use TalentSensus for their own staff, data or acquire volunteers and match them by skills. 

TalentSensus combines tried and tested common technological components. We have rigorously researched the components and have selected low risk technology which has the ability to grow and adapt with the solution. TalentSensus is hosted on an AWS Server allowing us to ensure the best security and monitoring of any potential down time. Using this server, we are able to integrate various APIs into TalentSensus improving the user experience. With privacy by design at the forefront of the build, we have opted for MySQL for data management and storage. 

As we are gathering vast amounts of data, MySQL allows us to organize and categorize data in a safe and secure way. The back end of the system is built on .net principles and our team includes senior .net specialists. As for the front end, we have used vueJS to ensure the best user experience. As we are working with people who have various IT literacy levels, it is important that our User Experience and Interface is smart, sleek and easy to use. 

In providing a means to acquire talent based on skills & minimize unconscious bias we provide an affordable means of employers engaging with their accessible talentpool. 

The talentpool receives the opportunity to be hired based on skills, in doing so there is an increased level of engagement & opportunity for advancement, upskilling & ultimately self-sufficiency.In turn communities benefit from a stronger tax base, residents employed, upskilled & retained in the area.  

Education providers can use the data obtained to provide relevant training/upskilling/reskilling to the talentpool & employers.  Plan for courses in need in real time, validate skills (within TalentSensus) received, & provide employers with what they need to get people to work, back to work and ultimately advance in their career pathway (in conjunction with the Skills Passport in TalentSensus).

Employers will be able to mitigate the risks of unconscious bias through hiring & promoting within the system.  In addition the helpful hints & videos paired with in-platform surveys assist employers (and new management) with employee engagement and satisfaction.  The anticipated business benefit is increased productivity, retention, reduction in absenteeism & actionable commitment to the community to work on hiring and elevating diversity, inclusion and removal of bias & discrimination in their process. Ultimately all residents are engaged as equal opportunity exists for employment & advancement.  

Workforce Development when engaged within the platform has the additional advantages of being able to manage the job seekers applications through the system without additional validation steps saving staff time & efforts for facetime with clients.  The advantage of additional, real-time data on both employers & job seekers will enhance existing systems already in place at minimal cost.

This will take all stakeholders to actively foster an environment where equality, inclusion and diversity are not just tolerated but sought out, committed to, & elevated.

TalentPool  example

Activities                              

• Complete Skills Audit   
• Build Skills Passport
• Identify recommended upskilling

Outputs

• Upskill/reskill
• Attain employment/advancement without bias

Short-term Outcomes

• Build confidence in skills
• Build a talent success strategy to go forward
• Ownership of development

Long-term Outcomes

• Employment/advancement opportunities
• Self-sufficient
• Increased opportunities for self & family
• Contributing to society

Within the next year we are seeking to onboard over 5 workforce boards areas across various states.  By creating an economic ecosystem with community stakeholders we will have a model that initially starts with funding through agencies, foundations or government but is ultimately picked up by local employers once appropriate proof points & data are available. 

Utilizing the pilot data created through this opportunity we will outreach local workforce boards, city and state government entities and additional stakeholders to replicate the ecosystem through the use of TalentSensus across the USA and ultimately as we advance & incorporate additional languages we plan to expand our reach beyond the US and Northern Ireland.

We seek to impact the community through the utilization of technology to provide a means of acquiring talent by minimizing the impact of unconscious bias providing an equitable solution that is both diverse & inclusive to all populations with a focus on the most disenfranchised.  

Covid-19 has presented a challenge to provide the solution directly to employers as employers, especially small to medium sized businesses are struggling to keep their doors open.  That barrier presented an opportunity to redirect development and how TalentSensus could have the greatest impact & increase the potential to scale internationally.  The new challenge facing us is to be able to deploy within a workforce area with job seekers & employers as well as community engagement.  In the next year the ability to reach the right market & network with innovators in the space is a challenge as is the financial depth that we need to accomplish both short & long term goals. We do have a small team at this point and are able to function with a low burn rate of direct staffing costs.  In order to maximize potential additional staffing would be beneficial.  Our focus has been on optimizing the development and ability to scale within the platform; we are now prepared to deliver the product within multiple regions.

Over the next 5 years the financial investment and ability to scale will be directly impact by the ability to demonstrate proof points with both qualitative & quantitative data.  Market barriers exist and can be resolved within a reasonable time period with appropriate revenue/funding.  One area is making TalentSensus available in multiple languages such as but not limited to Spanish, Portuguese, etc based on the demographics & need within a region.

Barriers are merely opportunities to implement new and creative means of addressing issues. Below you will find a quick layout of the barriers we have identified and the steps we will take to overcome.

• Investment/revenue
  • Apply for grants and innovation funds to develop proof points for mass adoption
  • Seek investment funds that are a match for the work that we do
  • Provide services to workforce boards, economic development, non-profits & business

• Deployment
  • In multiple regions/countries
  • Employers
  • Workforce boards
  • Non-profits
  • Economic development projects
  • Subsidized Housing employment programs
  • Education providers to provide skills audit/resume development for students/family members

• Networking
  • We continue to reach out to a variety of potential partners to determine synergies
  • We align ourselves within groups that will have like minded organizations working to have social impact

• Increased staffing
  • We have sponsored positions with a local college in an effort to assist students in gaining valuable skills & working towards the goals of the organization
  • Seeking investment funds to allow us to add appropriate staffing in areas needed such as business development to increase our bandwidth of reaching potential partners/customers

• Translation
  • Add additional languages as part of grant funding/revenue to enhance TalentSensus
  • Outreach & seek specific partners that will have this expertise in order to expand our ability to serve previously disenfranchised individuals/populations

As we have not launched with our new Smart Recruit section, we have been unable to collect data on the skills audits of job seekers in the universal population.  To improve upskilling/reskilling efforts, increase opportunities for employment, retention, satisfaction & engagement we hope to assess barriers & motivators sought out by various demographic sets. We also seek to provide employers with quantifiable data as it relates to the topics above in conjunction with the retention and productivity levels of their staff as well as reduced absenteeism that is anticipated.

Job seeker/Incumbent data:

Barriers to employment

Barriers to advancement

Barriers to upskilling/reskilling

Extrinsic motivators- breakdown by demographics

Increased engagement across industries & regions would provide data that would work within the predictive analysis structure, increasing the benefit of that analysis for smaller businesses to be able to see trends and have a proactive plan to minimize potential negative impacts.

N/A

All our team members come from diverse backgrounds each bringing a different perspective based on skills, experience, culture, religion, socioeconomic, education, personalities, & age. 

CEO-Stephen has worked in Northern Ireland with former combatants & in Kenya with inter-tribal relations.  Heavily involved in skill reforms globally, he has worked both with youth & adults in hard hitting environments on topics such as social justice, restorative justice, substance abuse, sectarianism, anti-terrorism, peace keeping &  peace building.

Vice President-Anne has worked with gang members,job seekers & incumbents within workforce programs through block grants such as TANF, SNAP, RIO (reintegration of offenders), NCP & WIC.  Working both directly/indirectly with employers & community stakeholders. quality assurance, performance and training divisions included.

CTO-Our CTO is heavily involved in volunteerism in Manilla, Philippines.  Supporting local communities who are impoverished due to the socio-economic climate.  He has supported charitable efforts in communities affected by natural disasters. 

The vast & diverse experience of our team brings not only the technical skills necessary to accomplish the work but the skills to work with diverse populations to highlight the skills they have and bring them to the forefront with the use of our platform.  TalentSensus was not only envisioned for this purpose but as a direct result of the diversity of this team exemplifies the benefit of inclusivity on the workplace.  We span three continents and we come together with one distinct purpose to improve the world around us with a step in the right direction.

Kinexus

Our client in Michigan is working with us to offer TalentSensus as part of a grant that will focus on manufacturing in the area.  We are working to begin onboarding job seekers to build their skills profile as an enhancement to the current workforce system

NAWB

We have partnered to submit grants that involve workforce boards and bringing service to disenfranchised populations.  We expect to continue to partner as appropriate opportunities arise.

US Chamber of Commerce Foundation

We have received a letter of support of our product to be utilized in grant submission and work with the foundation to seek out new potential opportunities where our visions align.  Their toolkits for employers allow us to be able to work together in a complimentary fashion.

Manufacturing NI & Work+ (Sponsored by the Northern Ireland Government)

We have partnered with Manufacturing NI & Work+ (a Northern Ireland apprenticeship brokerage company) to redesign the Northern Ireland apprenticeship system for the whole Country.

Key customers and beneficiaries:

The key customers for the TalentSensus platform are workforce development, employers (both for and non-profit entities), government and educational providers (to include community colleges, universities and private providers).

The key beneficiaries of the work are the job seeker, incumbent, students and the community.

Value to pop served:

    Impact

• Mitigating unconscious bias in hiring & advancement 
• Increase numbers within an employers staff of diverse individuals
• Reduction in costs to acquire & retain staff
• Improved productivity (aided by employee engagement & satisfaction)
• People matched with jobs based on skills
• Skills gaps identified & data for upskilling/reskilling to be based on real time data
• Enhanced data for workforce/government agencies
• Working with partners to create an economic ecosystem by bringing a region's resources online using the same platform in relation employment and barrier removal for employment acquisition and retention.
• Improved data for educational providers to meet business and job seeker's needs

Revenue:

• Cost savings on recruitment, retention, absenteeism, training
• Licensing is built for it to be sustainable and pays for itself with reduction in the costs of acquisition of just one staff.
• Services, add-on features and strategically integrated solutions

Service provided:

Why do they want or need them:

Employers are struggling to address the issues of social injustice, discrimination and unconscious bias in a real and meaningful way.  The need to change the way the system of talent acquisition, advancement, promotion & retention is necessary and only a small piece of a system in disrepair.  

We believe that the catalyst for deployment comes from an investment of funding in areas we wish to engage.  With all new technology, it takes time to move from early adoption to mainstream- it is vital to ensure we get the appropriate proof points for our clients.  Once we have appropriate staffing levels, & the necessary proof points, then we will be selling licenses to use TalentSensus platform in order to continue growing the business and increasing impact.

Our primary means of funding TalentSensus will be through a recurring revenue model.  Licensing to TalentSensus is purchased either individually by an entity or a bulk purchase (project based to be discussed later).  The access to the platform then allows a customization of add-on features, tools, & services for additional cost, maintenance and further integration with partners.  Once well integrated in an area to be central to efforts to build an economic ecosystem we are embedded long term with better opportunities for sustainability, growth and development.  TalentSensus will ultimately have non-labor intensive upkeep, support and development.

In addition we will also pursue and be open to project revenue as appropriate and meaningful to fulfill our mission.  Allowing Upskill Enterprise the flexibility to have multiple sources of revenue to increase impact.

We are still in the process of raising investment capital in order to be able to expand our reach and efforts.

Grant $150,000 – (European Commission) the development of a competency framework for UN Peacekeepers on soft skills

Grant $15,000 - (Northern Ireland Government) - Validation of Migrant Skills

Grants $80,000 - (Multiple contracts) - Skills consultancy work within Social Justice

TalentSensus Revenue - $15,000 (Workforce Board)

Equity Investment - $250,000 (various investors)

We are seeking $200,000 in equity. We have already received a commitment of $200,000 from an angel investor and we are seeking match funding to complete the $400,000 round. Preferably we hope to see this in Q1 of 2021.

We are also exploring avenues in regards to grant funding to scale and increase our reach, in efforts to expand into additional communities.  The anticipated goal is a minimum of $500,000 for 2021 however we a small and agile team we are able to make headway with less.

Staff Costs - $377,316 

Includes the additional staff necessary to scale and maintain platform as well as business development

Subscriptions $3,000 

Overheads (equipment, heat, light, rent, telephone) - $78,536 

Marketing Expenses - $87,400 

Across regions and with partners to maximize efforts

We believe that every person, in every community no matter of background have talents that can and should be recognized and celebrated. As such, we want to ensure employment and personal advancement opportunities are available and easy accessed by all. We have developed the foundations of a self-sustaining ecosystem which we know can survive without funding.

Covid-19 has presented challenges and opportunities which have seen us dramatically pivot the business model of the company - however the core principles of TalentSensus have remained the same - to recognize and celebrate skill. Challenges serve as opportunities for us and we have the ability to unite partners and stakeholders with a clear and value driven mission.

We are proud of our agile team and are able to function with a low burn rate of direct staffing costs. This allows us to respond quickly to the needs of our clients and produce quicker and more meaningful outputs.

We don't believe the challenge we are solving has geographic boundaries. We have ambitions to replicate the model worldwide with one eye already on various global markets. With our live pilot projects in USA and Europe, we are well positioned to change lives globally.

The product service and distribution assistance we would like is connecting with innovative workforce boards, non-profit agencies and similar community stakeholders.  In efforts to onboard job seekers, employers and workforce customers, and other appropriate entities.

Funding and revenue - As we grow we will need support in securing further Series A and B investments - inclusive of this is connecting with appropriate grant funding opportunities.  The ability to scale is essential to be able to expand our impact.

Marketing, media and exposure - partnership with innovative workforce boards and partners can significantly increase the impact of marketing with co-branded marketing materials. In addition knowing regional marketing outlets that provide the best means of onboarding employers and job seekers would be helpful.

Workforce Boards

Dallas Workforce Development Board

MichiganWorks boards (we are working with Kinexus currently)

Indiana

Illinois (specifically Chicago) but open to others

Boards that are innovative and either would like to work on an economic ecosystem bringing in education providers, employers, nonprofits and community stakeholders as well as job seekers and incumbents seeking employment and advancement. 

Non profits

Goodwill, United Way and local stakeholders to AARP

Nonprofits that are willing to be onboarded on the system for the benefit of their own staff, to match skills sets of volunteers to appropriate local volunteer opportunities to include but not limited to older workers and/or retired persons wishing to share their skill sets.

Non-profit that are interested in providing this as part of their assistance provided to help customers with either placements or barrier removal.  

We currently have GCF's LearnFree Symphony platform integrated and accessible within our platform to provide internally motivated job seekers, incumbents and even employers to build training from the aggregated system that 

Other technology providers of services that can be incorporated on the platform but are complementary not competitive

Government departments

State entities that work with employers or workforce development