Michael Li / Sun Senior Photographer

Members of the Employee Assembly discuss the new "Talent Marketplace," which will try and match employees with supervisors looking for additional help.

November 7, 2019

New Online System Will Match Cornell Staff to Additional Work Opportunities on Campus

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At Cornell, there are endless opportunities for staff members to build side skills and experience — members can serve on administrative committees, give tours at the botanical garden, and help students improve their English skills.

And with nearly 8,500 staff members, there is no shortage of people who want to branch outside of their regular job. It can be difficult for supervisors to match people to the activities and for staff members to sort through the options available, according to Assistant Director of Human Resources Information Systems Amy Parmley, who was at the meeting speaking as a guest.

At a Nov. 6 Employee Assembly meeting, Parmely introduced Talent Marketplace, an online system that addresses exactly this problem.

Talent Marketplace is a “match.com” for supervisors and staff members looking to get involved, Parmley said.

The program is a platform on which supervisors looking for personnel can upload the description of the work they need, as well as other information about themselves and their job, such as how many hours the work would entail, and the skills necessary for the job.

Cornell staff members, in turn, upload their own information –– their position at Cornell, their interests, their skills, and the skills they hope to work on. The Talent Marketplace algorithm then matches staff members with supervisors looking for help.

The opportunities offered through Talent Marketplace are in addition to a staff member’s typical Cornell job. For their work at these jobs, they will be compensated according to the salary or hourly wage of their permanent position.

“Employees want to be engaged,” Parmley said. “They also want to build their skills. But employees are always overwhelmed, and we don’t always have the resources to do what we want.”

Talent Marketplace is run through Workday, a financial management and human capital management system, according to their website. Because many Cornell staff use Workday on a regular basis, Talent Marketplace is starting out with a “captive audience to leverage,” Parmsley said.

“We don’t need to make up a new layer of things,” Parmsley said. “we’re just trying to tap into things at Cornell that already exist.”

Laura Taylor, the EA’s international representative at-large, asked how employees who are in the United States on work visas would be able to use Talent Marketplace without giving the appearance that they were working an extra job.

In response, Parmsley said clarified that the program’s use at Cornell is still in its pilot stage, and so they are still working out some ambiguities. Talent Marketplace will be up and running by the beginning of next year, according to Parmsley.

“There is so much always happening at Cornell,” Parmsley said. “Talent Marketplace will be a hub for community involvement.”