Talent Framework Architecture Overview

TalentGuard Talent Frameworks provides a robust foundation for defining, managing, and developing skills, competencies, and career paths across your organization. Designed with AI-driven insights, our Talent Frameworks solution brings clarity to role expectations, helping employees understand the skills needed for growth while enabling leaders to align talent strategies with business goals. With comprehensive, up-to-date content covering a range of industries and job roles, Talent Frameworks empowers organizations to create consistent and scalable career pathways, enhancing workforce agility and supporting ongoing talent development.

TalentGuard’s Talent Framework is an extensive job and skill architecture that spans many industries.

Our Framework has several interrelated data components.  All of the data can be understood from the job model’s perspective. Each job model provides a concise description of a given job, which includes the key responsibilities of the job. The model also provides a list of the specific competencies that are relevant to the job. The model further identifies the level of proficiency in each competency required to perform the job successfully and the relative importance of that competency to the others in the list.

Each competency definition includes the following:

• A concise description of the competency
• A list of 21 typical behaviors that an incumbent would demonstrate in performing the competency at 4 different levels of proficiency
• Umbrella competencies identify broad categories of technical competencies. They describe generic knowledge and understanding of the given technical discipline. We identify umbrella competencies by writing the full competency name in UPPER-CASE letters. They generally apply to managers who do not need to know the rigorous technical details of a topic.
• Subordinate competencies are organized under Umbrella Competencies. They are more granular and describe unique technical/functional competencies. They apply most directly to the professional practitioners performing the given competency at different levels.
• Supplementing this information are several additional competency data components:

1. 1. A list of 5-15 suggested learning references that identify resources that can be used to develop additional proficiency in the competency. Learning links can be added to the Talent Framework.
   2. A list of 3-5 suggested development statements that propose various activities that the incumbent could perform to help them develop proficiency in the competency in a “learn by doing” fashion.
   3. A list of 3-5 suggested coaching tips that a manager could offer to an employee to help the person perform the competency more effectively.
   4. A list of 3-5 suggested interview questions that a manager could use to help evaluate a candidate’s current proficiency in a given competency.

In addition to the competency structure above, TalentGuard’s Framework allows additional data to be mapped to specific jobs. These include:

• Experience Statements define the experience that a person gains while working in a specific field or occupation. Experiences are typically acquired over months or years of actual practice, presumably resulting in superior understanding or mastery.
• Umbrella Qualifications include must-haves to be eligible to obtain a job, such as a specific degree or the ability to speak a particular language.
• Subordinate Qualifications are organized under Umbrella Qualifications. They are more granular and describe unique particular items.
• Umbrella Certifications include specific training or a designation earned by a person to assure qualification to perform a job or task. Certifications are earned from a professional society, university, or a certification body or from a private certifier for some specific certifications (e.g., Microsoft, Cisco, etc.). Some certifications must be renewed periodically or may be valid for a specific period (e.g., the product’s lifetime upon which the individual is certified).
• Subordinate Certifications are organized under Umbrella Certifications. They are more granular and describe particular certifications.
• Work/Style Preferences describe work patterns that help employees identify the kind of work most suits them. For example, there is a need to travel 70 percent of the time for a job.

Related jobs are grouped into job families. The data structure that maps specific competencies to specific jobs is the job profile.