How AI-Driven Tools Will Transform Internal Mobility

Artificial intelligence is powering internal mobility and career pathing through smarter, more precise matching of skills and roles, as well as boosting HR’s ability to gain more visibility into where employee skills gaps lie.

One of the newer products in the space is Dayforce Career Explorer, named one of the 2024 Top HR Products of the Year by Human Resource Executive and the HR Technology Conference.

The tool extracts skills data from each employee’s profile and recommends opportunities based on the person’s work history and skills match. Each employee receives personalized job recommendations, AI-integrated career coaching, and actionable plans to close skills gaps and move up their chosen career path.

Somen Mondal, Dayforce’s general manager of Talent Intelligence, spoke with SHRM at the recent HR Tech Conference in Las Vegas. 

SHRM: Why has it been so difficult to connect the skills that employers need and the skills that employees have or want to learn?

Mondal: Companies in every industry and corner of the world are experiencing historic change, whether that’s due to the rapid adoption of AI, employees demanding more flexibility, an increasingly global workforce, or other factors. Managing people has never been more complex. Leaders are stuck in a perpetual balancing act, and traditional L&D [learning and development] programs can’t keep up with the rapid pace of change.

At the same time, this explosion of new titles, new technology, and new types of workers opens new doors to recalibrate skills, learning, and development.

Moreover, it’s very difficult for employees to know what skills employees want or have because typical employers don’t have a skills engine. Understanding the career aspirations of employees is also a blind spot for employers. Combining an understanding of skills and aspirations allows employers to connect skills that employees have and want to learn. The issue is most employers don’t have the required technology to accomplish this.

SHRM: What are the latest tech developments in learning and development?

Mondal: Artificial intelligence has become a critical resource for managers and HR professionals looking to create and nurture talent development programs at scale. In fact, according to Dayforce’s annual Pulse of Talent survey, 80% of respondents were at least slightly interested in their employer using AI to recommend new internal career and skills development opportunities.

By integrating AI capabilities into the L&D practice, companies can tailor learning paths and programs with smart, personalized course design that adapts to unique organizational and employee needs. Automating the employee learning experience helps bridge the gap and connect workers to development opportunities as soon as they become available.

For example, by leveraging AI, Dayforce Learning pairs learners with recommended content to help address specific skills gaps, improve engagement, and achieve career aspirations, all within their flow of work.

SHRM: How is AI helping workers better navigate their career paths at an organization? 

Mondal: Over a third of respondents in the Pulse of Talent survey said there is a different role within their company that better matches their skill set. This shows the discrepancy between employees’ existing skills and the jobs that they are currently tasked with.

AI-enhanced matching and recommendations can boost internal mobility and more quickly connect employees to internal roles that match their skills, experience, and interests. Using internal data, AI can bridge this gap by recommending specific skills employees need to succeed in their current role and in their desired career path. AI can also be used to guide employees through development goals and set reminders to keep them on track.

On an organizational level, administrators can quickly and easily understand the skills their workers have and identify the gaps. Using AI-enhanced skills analysis, organizations can make it easy to identify and categorize key skills and tailor career development plans to best support the company’s future needs in alignment with each individual employee’s career tracks, making it a win-win.