Bengaluru-headquartered skills assessment developer, ‘Team HireMee’ has made it to the shortlist of ten qualified teams in the prestigious $5 million XPRIZE Rapid Reskilling challenge. There were 118 entries from 20 countries, said a press release.
Launched in June 2020, XPRIZE Rapid Reskilling incentivises teams to develop and demonstrate the effectiveness of a quick training and re-skilling solution for individuals most vulnerable to employment loss in the US. The objective set for contesting participants was to develop solutions that would reduce training time by half for occupations with a living wage. Once selected, these solutions would be provided at no cost to the individual.
As part of XPRIZE, training solutions will be offered to 3,500 displaced workers early in the competition by the ten qualified teams, expanded to help at least 25,000 displaced workers in the last round.
The best solutions, if adopted on a nation-wide scale, have the potential of transforming the way workers train for more than 12 million jobs.
Long-term solutions
Announcing this, XPRIZE CEO, Anousheh Ansari said, “As we saw unemployment reach new heights and some jobs completely eliminated as automation accelerated during the pandemic, the XPRIZE Rapid Reskilling competition became critical in providing pathways to gainful long-term employment.”
The ten chosen qualified teams will be evenly splitting a milestone prize purse of $1,000,000. HireMee, jointly led by Tom Dretler and Shirish Pareek in the US, as well as Chocko Valliappa in India. The team has extensive experience in technology, education, advanced manufacturing and job placement in the US, India and the rest of the world.
According to Chocko Valliappa, Founder of HireMee, “Team HireMee sought to tap the best CEO and technology talent in the world in solving the critical challenge of Rapid Reskilling. We are pleased to say we’ve done that with the organisation of this core team.”
Relevant issues
“Team HireMee is excited to bring its strengths in execution of effective skill-building programmes 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.
In phase 1, Team HireMee has chosen the healthcare sector to demonstrate how medical assistants can be re-skilled by deploying its two-decade long experience working in the healthcare industry. Medical assistants through training would gain administrative, clinical and non-technical skill sets, making them to be a versatile member of any organization they join, ensuring long-term employment.