Ready to Work: Job-Driven Training and American Opportunity

Excerpted from the full-length report:

Evolv

San Francisco-based Evolv is helping several of the largest companies who have signed Obama’s pledge to systematically remove bias from their hiring and workforce management practices, and in turn put a measurable dent in the job placement challenge faced by so many of the nation’s long-term unemployed. By utilizing big data and predictive analytics to analyze millions of employees every day, Evolv helps companies hire and manage workforces more fairly, effectively and productively. Evolv’s insights have surprised and challenged some of the most widely held (and often biased) beliefs around hiring and workplace management.

For example, Evolv’s data has proven that the long-term unemployed perform no worse than those without extended jobless spells, that prior work experience and even education are not predictive of job performance in some roles, and that applicants with a history of “job hopping” are not bad hires.

Some of the 300 companies that signed Obama’s pledge – including AT&T, Xerox, and Kelly Services– have implemented Evolv’s technology to improve their hiring practices, combat discrimination and deliver better performance. In the case of Xerox, Evolv data found that hiring based on prior work experience in a similar role was not predictive of success. In changing their hiring criteria, Xerox opened up new doors for candidates who would never have gotten to interview based upon their resume. This, along with other data insights, helped Xerox hire more people who are better suited to their jobs, perform better and stay longer - reducing attrition rates by 20 percent.

Big data and predictive analytics when applied to the workforce have the potential to do enormous good for the private sector. While algorithms will never replace humans, using science and evidence-based data to make better hiring and management decisions will only improve the lives and future opportunities for the American workforce."

To access the full-length report, click here.