How Talentguide uses AI to future-proof vulnerable workforces

We often talk about how AI can drive job displacement, but a Ghent startup is using AI to strengthen job security in a rapidly aging labour market.

Talentguide is a HRtech company that provides AI-driven skills insights through a turnkey SaaS platform for talent development and strategic workforce planning. 

The metal and technology sector has 130,000 employees who play a crucial role in the Flemish economy. But as companies struggle to fill bottleneck jobs, workers without the right skills risk losing their jobs. 

A new platform for sector-wide upskilling

Talentguide recently launched mtech+ Talentspace, a platform designed to help employees map out their skills and advance within their sector. Developed in partnership with Mtech+—the career development fund for Belgium’s metal and technology sector—Talentspace aims to serve over 130,000 employees across more than 4,000 companies with targeted training, upskilling opportunities, and personalized career guidance.

I spoke to Filip Tack, CEO, and Julia Beatrice Toussaint, CPO of Talentguide, to learn more. 

According to Tack, the idea for the company really started during his student years as an engineer. Toussaint is an industrial and organisational psychologist who, after graduation, began researching unconscious bias in HR. 

The challenge of skills recognition

Toussaint shared that this interest stemmed from personal experience:

“My family is from Mauritius, and when we moved to Belgium, we struggled to get recognition for our skills and education. 

Many of our certificates weren’t acknowledged, which was incredibly frustrating. Despite having the necessary skills, employers focused solely on credentials, and we weren’t given a fair shot.”

So the co-founders began looking into how technology could help reduce bias in hiring. 

“We thought: what if we built a tool that could help companies identify, manage, and grow the skills they already have internally? That’s how Talentguide was born."

Connecting talent and opportunity for all

Understanding skills is crucial for sustainable employability and career development.  However, many employees do not have a clear picture of their skills, and the same goes for many employers. Talentguide technology offers a solution to this.  With AI and Natural Language Processing, skills are accurately analysed and mapped, even with minimal input.

The company built a common skills language — to connect talent and opportunity, no matter a person’s background. 

“Whether someone’s been working 25 years on a factory floor or just starting out, they deserve the same visibility and career support. That’s the shift we’re trying to drive,” shared Tack.

Elevating a largely invisible workforce

Initially, Talentguide focused on blue-collar workers who often don’t have LinkedIn profiles or digital portfolios and therefore have no way to showcase their skills. 

By analysing their job history and roles, Talentguide can generate a skills profile that they can validate. This gives managers a clearer view of internal talent and enables more effective workforce planning, especially in industries like manufacturing.

“We use AI to power a skills intelligence model that can extract a person’s capabilities — from just a job title or diploma, for example — and then build from there.

Once we map the skills, we can create use cases like evaluation frameworks and development plans. The name speaks for itself: we guide talent by bringing their skills to life.”

This approach resonates because there is a growing fear that technical manual workers might lose their jobs as their skills become outdated. 

Yet as Tack shared, white-collar workers often already have skills visibility through resumes, platforms, and self-promotion. 

“We wanted to level the playing field and provide everyone, regardless of their background, with equal access to upskilling opportunities.”

"Mapping current and future competences and matching training accordingly is a lot of work. Thanks to AI, this does become feasible for every HR and L&D manager," says David Daenekint, Manager mtech+ Brabant & Flemish Brabant.

As part of the partnership, the platform provides targeted training advice and career guidance, enabling them to actively work on their professional future. 

Conversely, employers gain a clear overview of their organisation's skills and can better respond to hard-to-fill positions.

 "By gaining insight into the skills needed within a company, we strengthen the bridge between employees and employers," says Stijn Merkx, provincial secretary ABVV Metaal Vlaams-Brabant.

"This not only increases job security, but also makes companies more future-proof."

Talentguide has also partnered with Travaat, an outplacement service that helps older workers who are at risk of long-term unemployment. 

According to Tack, their clients typically have years of experience but often can’t articulate their skills or navigate the job market. Talentguide helps surface their competencies and match them with vacancies in companies that are desperate for technical labour. 

An AI revamp for 22 call centre roles

The company also worked with a call center, which initially had a broad taxonomy of seven general skills applied across 22 job roles. 

But Tack explained, “That’s not effective — different jobs require different competencies.

"We helped them create role-specific skill profiles and used those to evaluate individual employees.

For instance, we found that contact center agents lack case management skills, which are deemed essential for the future. 

But instead of just labeling it as a gap, we broke it down into specific tasks — like closing cases, managing escalations, or documenting issues clearly. This gave managers clarity on where improvement was needed.”

They then used generative AI to create a personalized development plan, tailored to the individual and the role. 

“And we applied the 70-20-10 model: 70 per cent of learning on the job, 20 per cent via coaching, and only 10 per cent through formal training.” 

In this case, most of the gaps could be addressed through peer coaching and practical learning, without taking the employee off the job or incurring training costs – a huge boost to both the employer and employee. 

According to Tack, the reaction we often get is: “Wow, is this really possible?” Many HR managers have read about AI and skills intelligence, but it all sounds theoretical or limited to Fortune 500s. We’re bringing it within reach for the rest of the market.

Helping companies plan for what’s next

Talentguide is also expanding its services into strategic workforce planning, giving organisations the tools to map where their workforce stands today in terms of skills, and where it needs to be in the future.

Tack asserts that it’s a deeper, more proactive approach to talent strategy. 

“We want to give companies real-time insight into their capabilities, not just headcounts or vague competency lists.

And once you understand your people’s potential, you can chart a far more precise path forward — whether it’s adapting to new technology, opening new lines of business, or navigating demographic shifts.”

Lead image: Talentguide. Photo: uncredited.