Posted by Gloat is not a learning system; it is more of job opportunities and projects (jobs) within the company. It ties into skills for a better part, some mentoring and “learning,” which I’ll get to shortly. I wouldn’t place this solution as talent management because it relies heavily on the opportunities/projects angle.
Gloat is quite popular, and I can see why that is, from a modern form of recruitment tapped into skills perspective.
Due to its popularity, I had to do a deep dive myself; here is my analysis.
The system bills itself as a “talent marketplace,” which to me, says here are a bunch of people who are “talent” in one place, and you can select them for specific job opportunities/projects (think a project like working on a new ad campaign or developing a workflow process). So that is what I think of first.
The system is around your employees – specifically full-time (this was mentioned multiple times). Still, the keys to their success come in skills management, mentors, and especially career paths and tracks.
When you purchase Gloat, you receive the base system.
After that, you can purchase any additional modules (one, a couple, or all).
- Talent Agility – “Two-sided (their term)” marketplace with the abiilty to add projects, job opportunities (internal) and mentors
- Career Agility – I liked this one the best, especially the career pathways (I’ll cover shortly), and career tracks
- Organizational Agillity – I will see more of this, in the next few days, especially the analytics part, but it is the skills console including skill comptency framework, A.I. (their term, in reality though for all sytems it is machine learning) job architecture, workforce insights and expanded reporting) – I will provide an update after seeing the whole module
- And coming in the second half of this year, Hiring Agility – which opens up the opportunity for having external candidates, enter into the system – as part of the entire process. This made sense to me, because it was clear once I saw the approach and manner of the system, that it seemed a natural next move – which was confirmed by Gloat to be the case.
I wanted to provide some screenshots, especially around the career pathways, because it is very cool, but Gloat did not respond to my request. This leaves me to describe it based on my notes.
Starting off
Underwhelming in the base platform. The “Content” cards that you see with so many systems, in a grid design, seemed dated. Learning is a tag.
End-User Profile
There were some nice pieces in an end-user profile, including
- Ability to upload your resume
- Update your “Availability”
- Testimonial from a manager – not just text, but also a short video – I loved that
- Featured Skills
- Profile Strength – Which identifies what items may be missing. This is more around your Profile and less around how strong you are as a candidate. Reminded me of LinkedIn’s profile, which uses a “strength” thing when saying you can add this or that to improve it.
After all that (which the system shows steps via a pathway – I liked that too), the end-user is now ready to do a bit of job matching based on their role of interest.
The ability to add your Linkedin profile was a huge WOW for me. I also liked that the system could output the number of opportunities tied to the job roles they are interested in (but found it a bit redundant since they can select a part initially). The bonus factor is that the end-user can see “Suggestions” of other job roles that they may not be aware of, but their skills align to it.
UI/UX
The system goes from modern and easy to use to easy to use but dated. The whole “My Development” screen is a perfect example. I hope a redo in UI is in the works, especially with the icons they use – I swear one looked like some cartoon character with a crown on its head in the box marked Skills.
When the end-user searches for job opportunities, skills, and other items – on another screen, the output is noted as “Suggestions,”
This is another screen that needs a major UI/UX overhaul.
The tags (which the admin can change but default as “Learning,” “Mentor,” and “Projects” ) are dated too. Learning is in Red, Project in Blue, and Mentor in green. There is a thumbs up or down option – and I’m glad to see a system offer the “thumbs down” piece.
Under the “Opportunities” header – option listed on the top of the screen
Learning
The way Gloat works is that the system does not house any content – not your content, not a third-party, zip, nada. So the Learning courses/content has to sit elsewhere and then API – which assumes that you are buying Gloat and have an existing learning system already – regardless of type.
Duration is noted on the card, but honestly, how would they know? They are relying on a 3rd party publisher – I saw this with Linkedin Learning, Udemy, Coursera – three visible publishers in the platform, all are additional costs.
If you lack a learning system and lack any 3rd party publishers that can be API into Gloat, then the tag “Learning” will be meaningless in the “content” blocks that appear on the home screen for the end-user.
This tells me that Gloat is focused on the Mid Enterprise (10,000 end-users) and Large to Very Large Enterprise. I say this because of the presumption that everyone has a learning system, which is inaccurate.
The Cards
Every card will have the following, regardless of they are a project, mentor, or learning.
- Title
- Screen shot or video or whatever they – the client choose to use – exception being Learning where it f it comes form a 3rd party publisher it pulls a screen from the course main screen
- More details
- Thumbs up or down icons.
- Save and/or share
Not sure why Learning is the only one where the icons are thumbs down or “Interested” with the thumbs up icon. That made zero sense to me.
Projects
- Location of the project, which can be a job opportunity or a “project” which are used interchangebly throughout the system – and yet messaged that they are diffreent – which I agree they are – yet in the cards, well, they are seen as the same. It can say remote or provide a specifc location.
- Skill Match
- Match experiences you want to gain
Mentor
- Mentor location
- Why the mentor can be a great fit for you
There are some additional items on the top of the opportunities screen.
You didn’t get the gig
Yes, the brutal rejection we all love to get. So personal. Actually, in this case, it can be because you can customize what it will say. Although, to be honest, it looked like it was some sort of template where you can change the verbiage, and it shows why they didn’t get it – which could be due to skills or experiences. The end-user can click to learn more. I did like that even though you get rejected; you can still view other opportunities. I found the “update your profile” a bit harsh as though this could be the crux of your problem.
Career Agility (add-on – fee-based)
If you buy any module, this is it. Whenever I look at a system, I always look for the hidden gems that a vendor can often miss as a wonderful bonus.
This is the one area, where the screens would be essential. As noted earlier, I requested, Gloat never responded.
I will say this – if you are looking at Gloat – Tell them you want to see Career Agility (which if you purchase it) will appear in your header as Career Planning). If you do not purchase it, it won’t appear in the header.
Career Journeys
I loved that it offered for types of pathways, however, only one “promoted pathway” gave the end-user the option to see what this meant. The others did not, which they really need. Especially the “Desired path” and “popular path”.
You can also save paths – I liked that too.
UI/UX is fantastic.
Career Tracks
A lot of information here, too much IMO – it can easily overwhelm the end-user.
UI/UX is not great. Actually, it’s below par.
Bottom Line
As an analyst, you always have to remain objective when providing insight to others. Even if the system has a lot of fanfare behind it, it isn’t necessarily perfect, or ideal for all.
Gloat will need to add more content, and at some point, be able to store it in their system. This is content from the client – for learning. Every vendor that I’ve seen who does the” we do not store any content when it comes to learning”, ends up down the road, doing so.
It isn’t necessarily because they want to.
It’s because they have to.
Final Verdict
Gloat – 4.8 out of 5 (Five being Elite)
For an internal recruiting platform – dubbed a talent marketplace (which will change when it allows external candidates, thus being a recruiting option – talent marketplace ) tapping into skills, experiences, and strengths in a new way, that many folks will love.
Gloat for Learning – 1 out of 5. (One being poor)
If you are using Gloat to empower learning as a core component to the whole marketplace, then there are better options.
In Memory
Finally, this post is in memory of my brother-in-law, Jon who passed away due to brain cancer. He was 59. And an incredible talent that will be sorely missed.
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