Lightcast

One of the biggest barriers to skills transformation is inconsistency.

Different teams define skills differently.
Different systems categorize skills differently.
Different leaders prioritize skills differently.

That's why creating a [skills taxonomy] matters.

A well-defined taxonomy creates a shared language for recruiting, learning, workforce planning, and career development. It makes it easier to assess, develop, and deploy talent effectively.

Without a common framework, skills data becomes difficult to trust and even harder to act on.

Want to see how a skills taxonomy fits into a larger transformation strategy?

Our ebook breaks down all 10 steps. https://lightcast.pub/10steps-skills

40% of current skillsets are misaligned with labor market needs.

Which means that millions of people are being trained for jobs that are disappearing, while employers struggle to find talent for the jobs that are emerging.

UNESCO sits at the heart of efforts to tackle this challenge, strengthening Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) through evidence-based policymaking and curriculum development.

But for education systems to teach the skills needed for today's and tomorrow's jobs, UNESCO needed a way to track changing skills demand in real time.

As Borhene Chakroun, UNESCO’s Director of the Division for Policies and Lifelong Learning Systems, explains:
“Having real-time data at one's fingertips is critical to enabling joint, evidence-based responses to this huge challenge."

Enter UNESCO's partnership with Lightcast to build the Global Skills Tracker: an online platform that draws on millions of job adverts and advanced skills intelligence to give countries a live view of how skills demand is changing across occupations, industries, and regions.

The result is a better understanding of what employers need today, and a clearer picture of what workers will need tomorrow.

Read the full story: https://lightcast.io/unesco-case-study

One of the most interesting findings from our analysis:
The solution isn't necessarily finding more data center workers.
It's identifying workers *adjacent* to this field to fill needs.

Systems support specialists. Network administrators. Telecommunications technicians. Power distribution engineers.

Many already have substantial skill overlap with data center roles.
That's how you find the workforce you need.
https://lightcast.io/resources/research/data-centers-and-the-local-workforce

Elizabeth Crofoot talks about developing a skills strategy to help solve your workforce challenges. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPgu7N-DatM

From concept to conduct, this 5Cs framework helps organizations move beyond theory & create a scalable, practical approach to skills-based transformation.