NASA’s Future of Work highlights insights, challenges and tangible opportunities for NASA. Among the identified opportunities are incentivizing employees’ lifelong learning through internal career mobility opportunities, and supporting managers in matching talent to task when the need arises. To address these identified opportunities, NASA developed and recently launched an agencywide internal job listing and candidate selection platform called the Talent Marketplace.
Through NASA’s Talent Marketplace employees now have access to a wider range of internal career development opportunities at their center and across NASA. Research shows that access to opportunities and internal mobility motivates employees, provides for a better experience and builds engagement throughout an organization. Leading companies leverage an internal talent marketplace to motivate, develop and retain a strong workforce.
The Talent Marketplace also supports managers in matching talent to task. Managers can identify and create flexible, targeted opportunities based on skills, grade, onsite or remote location and more. Opportunities in NASA’s Talent Marketplace are currently identified as noncompetitive, internal details, short-term/part-time assignments, lateral reassignments and leadership development programs. All competitive opportunities are posted through the federal government’s USAJobs website.
NASA’s Talent Marketplace aligns with The Future of Work, particularly with Theme 3 and Theme 4.
Theme 3: Learning and Developing for a Lifetime
NASA’s Talent Marketplace improves the transparency and accessibility for opportunities across the agency. This means that employees now have access to a wider range of lifetime development opportunities at their center and across NASA. By partaking in such opportunities employees can increase their skills, expand their network, work across agency projects, and apply their expertise to advance the NASA mission.
Managers can also play a pivotal role in their employees’ lifetime development by leveraging the platform. When a manager identifies an available frequency in the employee’s time, or recognizes a skill gap in the employee’s profile, they can use the Talent Marketplace as a resource when discussing development opportunities.
Theme 4: Deploying Talent; Mobilizing Careers
The Talent Marketplace supports breaking down center barriers and stovepipe operations, and enhances the culture of employee mobility, engagement and innovation required to achieve the NASA mission. Managers can identify and create flexible, targeted opportunities based on skills, grade, onsite or remote location and more. They can select from internal candidates from across the agency and can also use the Talent Marketplace as a resource when discussing development opportunities with employees.
As of this writing, support from across the agency is strong and opportunities are being posted by all centers in the Talent Marketplace. We will continue to engage the agency and enhance the platform to meet users’ needs. Stay tuned! We’ll report back progress and findings.
About the Authors
Wilson M. Claure | Wilson finds novel ways to deliver human-centered outcomes. As a management consultant for LMI he has the privilege of supporting federal clients in delivering their innovation projects.
Kathleen McBride |Kathleen has provided program support to NASA for several years, including human capital project management, change management and strategic communications.
Nick Skytland | Nick has pioneered new ways of doing business in both government and industry for nearly two decades. He leads the Future of Work initiative at NASA and is the Agency Talent and Technology Strategist in the Talent Strategy and Engagement Division within the Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer (OCHCO).
