Companies invest a lot in attracting external hires and still struggle to get positions filled.

But what about your internal talents?

Do you offer enough employee learning and development opportunities and help close skill gaps?

Do you publish project opportunities or internships internally and try to staff it with internal skilled and interested colleagues? Do you encourage internal talent mobility?

The new SAP SuccessFactors Opportunity Marketplace offers an easy and intelligent technical platform for that!

Employees can search for projects, collaboration opportunities, mentoring & coaching programs, learnings or future career options matched to their skills and interests.

Opportunities listed can come from Career Development Planning and Learning (integration with those modules). Further, additional custom opportunities – Assignments – can be created and published, like specific project opportunities, internships, vocational training etc.

Opportunity Marketplace is closely connected to Center of Capabilities, the centralized framework for skills, competencies, strengths, styles, and capabilities (see also: Second Half 2021 SAP SuccessFactors Release Highlights Are Here! by Janne Wise)

This blog showcases some use cases in the new Opportunity Marketplace. All screenshots are taken from a Demo System. Names and pictures have no relation to real people.

Opportunity Marketplace as the central hub for learning, development, project opportunities and assignments

In Opportunity Marketplace you can select your areas of interest and view Assignments, Learning and Career Development Recommendations matched to your interests and skills.

Use the default Quick Action Card or a Custom Card to display the Opportunity Marketplace very prominently for your employees on the Latest Home Page.

Since Release 1H 2022 Opportunity Marketplace can be very specifically controlly via RBPs (viewing and creating of opportunity types)

Opportunity Marketplace gives employees the possibility to define their interests and get recommendations based on them. The available interests come from competencies and skills managed in the Center of Capabilities. Available opportunities are created by users / managers.

The other sections will consequently show Opportunities based on interests and skills.

• Broaden your Experience shows custom assignments, created by users.
• Learning New Skills will show recommended Learnings from Learning Management System
• Connect with People and Explore Career Options will show content from Career Development Planning and Mentoring

Use Case: Create an assignment to search for internal talents

Permissioned users can create assignments. This is the perfect way to offer your employees interesting new challenges and ways to improve and develop.

E.g., a project manager is searching for internal Key Users for an upcoming implementation.

Interested colleagues can find it, match themselves based on own skills and competencies and apply for it.

Application can be assessed based on provided attachments and on matched skills, offers can be sent and assignments can be easily filled with internal talents.

With Release 1H 2022 the mobile features for Opportunity Marketplace improved a lot.

You can now view and apply for opportunities fully mobile and screen applications and send offers as an opportunity owner.

Conclusion

Opportunity Marketplace is a great tool to promote employee development, establish a modern and agile project-based work culture in the company and encourage internal talent mobility.

It can help transform work in your organization into a state-of-the-art talent model where you think of projects, not of jobs and roles. By that, work will become more efficient by being divided into projects, employees can unlock their potential and value, develop themselves and explore their interests and silos will be broken down and cross-organizational participation will be fostered.