U.S. Department of Labor Announces Eightfold.ai Selected As Grand Prize Recipient of Veteran Employment Challenge

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Veterans’ Employment and Training Service (VETS) has selected Eightfold.ai, a Mountain View, California-based software solution provider, as the grand prize recipient of its competition to build an application to better match transitioning military service members’ skills with employers’ needs.

VETS established the Veterans Employment Challenge in December 2019, an open competition that welcomed more than 50 organizations to develop a better job-matching platform for transitioning service members. In June 2020, VETS, with support from the U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, invited three finalists, Eightfold.ai, Square Peg Hires and LinkedIn, to present their software solutions to transitioning service members from various military installations through virtual Transition Assistance Program (TAP) courses. In July, based on user-experience evaluations, Eightfold.ai was selected as the finalist and further testing and evaluations conducted in August confirmed the product’s effectiveness with transitioning service members, transition assistance instructors, and employers.

VETS will continue to support the development of Eightfold.ai’s software with a goal of deploying a finished platform to all transitioning service members, military spouses and veterans.

“During the demonstration phase of the competition, we were thrilled to see the enthusiasm with which service members and employers embraced the Eightfold.ai platform and the career planning insights that it could provide,” said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Veterans Employment and Training John Lowry. “Rather than a one-time transactional tool for transitioning service members, this platform has the potential to be a resource throughout the working lives of all veterans.”

“Service members transitioning out of the military have unique skills that can bring value to an employer, but it’s often a challenge on both sides – for Veterans and employers – to understand the potential career trajectories that map back to these particular skillsets,” said Eightfold.ai CEO and Co-Founder Ashutosh Garg. “With our technology, we’re aiming to close that gap, look beyond the words on a resume, and truly paint a full picture of the skills that transitioning military personnel can bring to the civilian workforce.”

VETS prepares America’s veterans, service members, and their spouses for meaningful careers, provides them with employment resources and expertise, protects their employment rights, and promotes their employment opportunities. Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, VETS remains at work serving its transitioning service members, veterans and military spouses along with state workforce agencies and our other partners.

The mission of the Department of Labor is to foster, promote and develop the welfare of the wage earners, job seekers and retirees of the United States; improve working conditions; advance opportunities for profitable employment; and assure work-related benefits and rights.