HireMee only Asian team to make it to top-10 in XPRIZE Rapid Reskilling Competition

The pandemic has thrown up the desperate need for reskilling given that the nature of jobs has changed dramatically. But the challenge is how to get workers to re-skill in a short time. This is where XPrize comes in. The world’s leader in designing and operating incentive competitions to solve humanity’s most pressing challenges, set up a contest in June 2020 inviting teams to develop and demonstrate a quick training and reskilling solution for individuals most vulnerable to job loss in the United States. There were 118 entries from 20 countries. Bengaluru-headquartered social enterprise HireMee is the only Asian entry that has made it to the top 10 shortlisted participants vying for the prestigious $5 million XPRIZE Rapid Reskilling challenge.

The way the contest has been structured is that after the end of Phase one, 10 teams make it to the shortlist. These ten Qualified Teams move to Phase two, where they would have to rapidly train 350 individuals in 90 days or less at no entry cost and ensure job retention of at least 60 days. Besides, it should demonstrate exponential adoption by deploying the training solution for 2500 individuals in three industries in Phase 3.

In the first phase of the competition, India’s HireMee rose to the challenge admirably. The skills assessment developer put together a dynamic team of 23 global CEOs and technology leaders, jointly led by Mr Tom Dretler and Mr Shirish Pareek in the US and Mr Chocko Valliappa in India to come up with novel solutions. Between them, the team has extensive experience in technology, education, advanced manufacturing and job placement in the US, India and the rest of the world.

In Phase 1, Team HireMee chose the healthcare sector to demonstrate how medical assistants could be reskilled by deploying its two-decade-long experience working in the healthcare industry. HireMee is a social enterprise of Vee Technologies, which offers tech-enabled business services to healthcare outfits in the US. In the contest, it demonstrated how medical assistants through training would gain administrative, clinical and non-technical skill sets, making them a versatile member of any organization they join, ensuring long-term employment.

From the leaders

XPRIZE CEO, Anousheh Ansari said, “The top 10 qualified teams in the global competition were chosen following evaluation of 118 entries by a high-profile jury. The 10 teams from 4 countries will now move to the Qualified Teams round of the $5M XPRIZE Rapid Reskilling competition.”

According to Chocko Valliappa founder of HireMee, “Post the COVID pandemic we realised that a lot of jobs will be automated and we pivoted HireMee into skilling. We assembled a powerful team of impact champions. This is in line with HireMee’s vision as a job platform, to enable 3 million jobs.”

Buoyed by the selection, Team HireMee is raring to go in the next round of the competition. “Team HireMee is excited to bring its strengths in the execution of effective skill-building programs and unmatched scale using digital technology to enable the future of work,” says Shirish Pareek, CEO of AMG Partners, a permanent capital investment fund focused on the advanced manufacturing sector.

“Through its proprietary technology and comprehensive approach, Team HireMee will empower displaced workers to be qualified for new-age jobs thereby, helping them advance in their careers and continue to take care of their families,” adds Tom Dretler, CEO of Shorelight, a global education technology company.

About HireMee

HireMee’s digital platform has enabled talent assessment of a million young men and women from 800 towns spread across India and connected them to startups through a verified assessment process that evaluates their knowledge, skills and personality and communication. To date, HireMee has helped recruiters, select candidates, for over 1,20,000 job opportunities without any cost and no carbon footprint, since this is a cloud-based solution. Team HireMee will also draw upon the experience of its affiliate SonaYukti, a pan India player for skilling and re-skilling rural youth for a range of trades as part of India's ongoing mega skilling initiative.