Podcasts about opportunity work

Blair Corcoran de Castillo, vice president of public sector and policy at Opportunity@Work, and Tony Gherardini, executive director at the Colorado Department of Personnel & Administration, talk about how state governments and public agencies are rethinking hiring, training, and credential requirements to open up opportunity for STARs—workers Skilled Through Alternative Routes.Support of WNYC's coverage of economic mobility and opportunity is provided in part by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. For more information about how the Gates Foundation supports economic mobility and opportunity, visit usprogram.gatesfoundation.org.

Layla O'Kane, a senior director at Opportunity@Work, and Cole Napper, vice president of People Analytics at Lightcast, a labor market analytics company, talk about the latest data on career and career advancement opportunities for skilled workers without a college degree.→ State of the Paper Ceiling | Opportunity@Work

Over the next few weeks, The Brian Lehrer Show will offer a series of conversations with and about people who've earned "skills through alternative routes"—including community college, micro-credentialing programs and on-the-job training—and successful livings without a four-year college degree. Today, Audrey Mickahail, senior vice president at Opportunity@Work, a nonprofit working to expand access to career opportunities, and Aaliyah Siddiqi, marketing operations specialist for a Philadelphia pharmaceutical company, talk about alternative routes to professional careers.

In episode 190, Coffey talks with Audrey Mickahail about using skills-based hiring to access untapped talent pools. They discuss the "paper ceiling" that excludes qualified candidates without degrees; how degree requirements became default screening tools; the value of skills and experience gained through alternative routes; strategies for employers to identify and assess core competencies; the importance of gateway jobs in career development; tools and resources available through Opportunity at Work to support skills-based hiring.Good Morning, HR is brought to you by Imperative—Bulletproof Background Checks. For more information about our commitment to quality and excellent customer service, visit us at https://imperativeinfo.com. If you are an HRCI or SHRM-certified professional, this episode of Good Morning, HR has been pre-approved for half a recertification credit. To obtain the recertification information for this episode, visit https://goodmorninghr.com. About our Guest:Audrey Mickahail is Senior Vice President, Private Sector & Membership Experience, at Opportunity@Work. In this role, she is responsible for the organization's Private Sector business as well as the team that ensures a high quality and consistent customer experience with Opportunity@Work through its service offerings to help employers, philanthropies, regional consortia, and the public sector enable economic mobility for workers who are Skilled through Alternative Routes (STARs).Audrey Mickahail can be reached at https://www.linkedin.com/in/mickahail/About Mike Coffey:Mike Coffey is an entrepreneur, licensed private investigator, business strategist, HR consultant, and registered yoga teacher.In 1999, he founded Imperative, a background investigations and due diligence firm helping risk-averse clients make well-informed decisions about the people they involve in their business.Imperative delivers in-depth employment background investigations, know-your-customer and anti-money laundering compliance, and due diligence investigations to more than 300 risk-averse corporate clients across the US, and, through its PFC Caregiver & Household Screening brand, many more private estates, family offices, and personal service agencies.Imperative has been named a Best Places to Work, the Texas Association of Business' small business of the year, and is accredited by the Professional Background Screening Association. Mike shares his insight from 25+ years of HR-entrepreneurship on the Good Morning, HR podcast, where each week he talks to business leaders about bringing people together to create value for customers, shareholders, and community.Mike has been recognized as an Entrepreneur of Excellence by FW, Inc. and has twice been recognized as the North Texas HR Professional of the Year. Mike serves as a board member of a number of organizations, including the Texas State Council, where he serves Texas' 31 SHRM chapters as State Director-Elect; Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County; the Texas Association of Business; and the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, where he is chair of the Talent Committee.Mike is a certified Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) through the HR Certification Institute and a SHRM Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP). He is also a Yoga Alliance registered yoga teacher (RYT-200) and teaches multiple times each week.Mike and his very patient wife of 28 years are empty nesters in Fort Worth. Learning Objectives:Develop hiring processes that focus on essential job competencies rather than credentialsIdentify gateway roles that can serve as entry points for skilled workers without degreesImplement skills assessment methods that effectively evaluate candidates' abilities regardless of educational background

In this episode of Work in Progress, we're talking about skills-first hiring, the policy of hiring based on talent and skills as opposed to a degree or job title. Opportunity@Work has been a long-time advocate for skills-first hiring as a pathway to good careers and economic mobility through its Tear the Paper Ceiling awareness campaign. Skills-first proponents are calling on employers to remove four-year degree requirements for thousands of high-wage jobs to open up opportunity to more people. The nonprofit's chief impact office Papia Debroy and its vice president of STARs policy Blair Corcoran de Castillo join me on the podcast to discuss a new study of the impact of prioritizing skills over degrees in hiring in state government. Skills-First Hiring = More Opportunity for STARs "There are about 60 million workers who have a bachelor's degree or a higher level of educational attainment. Obviously, these workers have traversed a critical pathway in our U.S. labor force," explains Debroy. "But, in addition to them, there are 70 million who have a high school diploma, do not have a bachelor's degree, but have been bringing extraordinary skills to work. These are workers who are skilled through alternative routes, or STARs." Those alternative routes could include community college, military service, or on-the-job experience. "A lot of skills-first hiring is really about how do we surface this population of talent to really understand skills instead of pedigree when we consider who is qualified for different jobs in the United States," Debroy adds. So far, according to Opportunity@Work, 26 states have signed on to the idea of hiring or promoting state employees based on their skills, knowledge, and abilities, regardless of how they attained those skills. "What's really exciting is the civil service, who many people thought were going to be the biggest barrier to public sector hiring change, are actually real advocates of this," says de Castillo. To determine if skills-based hiring is making progress in terms of expanding opportunities for job seekers and workers without four-year degrees, de Castillo and Debroy and others authored a study of its effectiveness in state government. "States are actually thinking more critically about what it means to access all of the talent in their communities, and they're thinking about what it means for representation in government, trusting government, and improved citizen services and just government efficiency," says de Castillo. "We've seen real action. We've seen bachelor's degree requirements decline by 2.5 percentage points year-over-year because of policy exposure. This has expanded access to the jobs for STARs tremendously. Right now with the 26 states, 570,000 STARs could gain access to jobs they couldn't yesterday or the year before this happened," she concludes. Debroy adds, "The Paper Ceiling represents an invisible barrier of degree screens, of biased algorithms, of stereotypes, of exclusive professional networking. These are all characteristics that block career opportunities for workers who are skilled through alternative routes. "The first set of actions [by the states] has led to an increased awareness of this population as a vast, overlooked, diverse, and skilled population of the workforce that had been historically overlooked for public sector jobs. What was so extraordinary was not just the number that Blair just shared, but also that we're starting to see shifts in precisely the types of jobs that STARs have the skills for but have historically not had access to obtain in a lot of these states. "We're excited to see the progress in roles like IT roles and management roles in health care roles, a lot of jobs that have historically offered economic mobility to the American workforce," Debroy tells me. There is a lot more in the podcast on the impact of skills-first hiring on workers and job seekers in the public sector,

Welcome to the daily304 – your window into Wonderful, Almost Heaven, West Virginia.   Today is Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025. Interested in expanding your business to international markets? The WVDED is hosting a series of seminars and networking events offering insight into how to enter global markets…The History Project explores the contributions of the great American pioneer, Daniel Boone…and Generation West Virginia wants to help employers find the perfect candidate for that job opening…on today's daily304. #1 – From WVDED – West Virginia's small businesses are the backbone of our economy, driving innovation, job creation, and local prosperity. Yet, many business owners may not be aware of the vast resources available to help them grow—especially in expanding to international markets.  West Virginia is committed to supporting small businesses through export promotion programs designed to remove barriers and open doors to new opportunities. One of the most exciting initiatives is a new series of mini events launching across the state, providing direct access to export assistance and support services.  These one-hour seminars/morning networking events are a partnership between the West Virginia Economic Development team, the U.S. Commercial Service, and the West Virginia District Export Council, offering businesses direct insights into how to enter global markets. Attendees will learn about key resources, funding opportunities, and strategies to start or expand their export efforts, as well as hear about all the challenges and fears from those who have done it all.  If you've ever considered taking your business to the global stage, now is the time to learn how these resources can help you succeed. Read more: https://westvirginia.gov/exporting-101-let-the-experts-come-to-you/   #2 – From THE HISTORY PROJECT – American legend Daniel Boone's exploration of the Appalachian Mountains of the Colonial American frontier played an important, historical role in early day Pt. Pleasant in modern day West Virginia. He is celebrated for his contributions to our country. Tune in to The History Project podcast to learn more about this great American pioneer and other famous people, places and events that shaped West Virginia. Watch now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?si=yYgGyq0FUvrD_npK&v=DZ56SUkkeuk&feature=youtu.be   #3 – From GENERATION WV – Seventy-seven percent of employers reported difficulty finding skilled talent in a 2023 survey, a trend that has spiked since 2020. But is the US experiencing a labor shortage? According to research led by the workforce development non-profit Opportunity@Work, a wealth of skilled talent is available, but many employers aren't aware of this hidden pool. One way to address this opportunity gap is to develop effective job descriptions. A well-crafted job description not only helps you attract top talent but also ensures that the candidates applying for the position align with your organization's needs and values.  Generation West Virginia offers resources and support to help businesses connect with top talent in the Mountain State. Learn more about how their Generational Talent Search program can help you find the perfect candidate for your job. Read more: https://generationwv.org/tips-and-best-practices-for-creating-a-job-posting-that-attracts-qualified-talent/   Find these stories and more at wv.gov/daily304. The daily304 curated news and information is brought to you by the West Virginia Department of Commerce: Sharing the wealth, beauty and opportunity in West Virginia with the world. Follow the daily304 on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @daily304. Or find us online at wv.gov and just click the daily304 logo.  That's all for now. Take care. Be safe. Get outside and enjoy all the opportunity West Virginia has to offer.  

Organizations in the public sector are removing academic qualifications as a necessity for certain jobs, which in turn, expands their candidate talent pool and creates new career pathways for workers who have been historically overlooked due to the “paper ceiling.” Chandler Morse, vice president of public policy at Workday, chats with a leader at Opportunity@Work on the progress being made toward skills-based hiring in government and agencies. https://blog.workday.com/en-us/workday-podcast-embracing-skills-first-hiring-in-the-public-sector.html

As our centennial series continues, Annelies Goger, an economic geographer and a fellow with the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program, and Justin Heck, research director at Opportunity@Work, look at the history of non-college employment and where it stands today.

With some three-quarters of employers reporting difficulty in filling jobs, do traditional hiring methods need to change? As companies shift their focus from past job titles to specific skills, individuals are also rethinking how they present themselves to potential employers. In this episode of Top Class, Papia Debroy from non-profit Opportunity@Work and Dan McCabe, a 3D artist and WorldSkills Champion, tell OECD Editor Duncan Crawford that it is time to reconsider hiring practices. They argue that a skills-first approach benefits businesses and job seekers, and can lead to better job matches and career growth opportunities. Want to learn more about skills? Check out the OECD Centre for Skills: https://www.oecd.org/en/about/directorates/centre-for-skills.html

Welcome to the Inclusive AF Podcast! In this episode, we dive into the power of skills-based hiring and the value of non-traditional pathways. Our guests, Natalia Lara, Crystal Zilliox, and Danielle Guadeloupe-Rojas, share their inspiring journeys and advocate for dismantling traditional hiring barriers. From overcoming imposter syndrome to emphasizing transferable skills, they remind us to embrace diversity of thought and experience. Join us as we champion confidence, lifelong learning, and the importance of valuing practical skills in creating truly inclusive opportunities. Let's tear down barriers and embrace the future of talent recruitment!

Creativity through the lens of authors, teachers, innovators, builders and creators"Creativity is about synthesizing and translating"Jeanne Liedtka is the UTC Professor of Business at the University of Virginia's Darden Graduate School of Business. With interests at the intersection of strategy and design, Jeanne has written eight books and multiple articles on the subject of strategy, innovation, and design thinking, and consulted with a diverse set of organizations including IBM, Samsung, NASA, The United Nations, and the government of Singapore. Her most recent book, The Experimentation Field Book: A Step-by-Step Project Guide, co-authored with Natalie Foley, David Kester and Elziabeth Chen, was published in February 2024.Natalie Foley is a builder, innovator, teacher and author of The Experimentation Field Book: A Step-by-Step Project Guide. She is passionate about getting a new product, program or team from 0 to 1 and then on the path to scale. Having worked across all sectors and industries, the diversity and connectivity of her experience is brought to bear throughout the testing and building processes, enabling strong exploratory and divergent thinking while maintaining a grasp on the ins and outs of execution, alignment and story-telling. Recently, she led a team that designs, test & launch new products & services at Opportunity@Work, a startup social enterprise that is rewiring the labor market for the 71M workers in America who are STARs* (Skilled Through Alternative Routes, instead of a four-year degree). Previously, she was the CEO of Peer Insight, a venture studio and innovation consulting firm. She has contributed to dozens of new business ventures with clients like Kimberly-Clark, AARP, Canon, the Good Samaritan Society and ArcBest, several of which have become multi-million dollar revenue streams. Before Peer Insight, Natalie worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers & IBM, where she led strategy and tech projects in various countries, and across all organizational functions, and both private & federal clients. She holds an MBA from UVA's Darden School of Business and a BA in Psychology from The College of William & Mary.LinkedIn pages: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalie-foley-5149292/ & https://www.linkedin.com/in/liedtkaj/book: https://a.co/d/ggFCHdMdownload a book preview & sign up to get teacher/facilitator materials: https://www.darden.virginia.edu/batten-institute/research/faculty-publications/experimentation

Natalie Foley has over 20 years of experience leading teams in designing and launching new products, programs, and strategies across the private, public, and not-for-profit sectors. Recently, she joined Opportunity at Work, where she builds, tests, and launches new services to help rewire the labor market for the 71 million workers in America whose skills were acquired through alternative routes instead of a four-year degree. Today on the show, we catch up with Natalie, who was one of our first guests on the podcast, and talk about The Experimentation Field Book, which she co-authored with Jeanne Liedtka, Elizabeth Chen, and David Kester. Listen to learn about: >> Experimentation and iterative learning>> The Experimentation Field Book>> Why experiment? and the benefits of experimentation>> Opportunity@Work's mission   Our Guest Natalie has 20+ years of experience leading teams in designing & launching new products, programs and strategies across the private, public & not-for-profit sectors. Recently, she has joined Opportunity@Work, where she builds, tests & launches new services for employers and employer networks to help rewire the labor market for the 71M workers in America who are STARs* (Skilled Through Alternative Routes, instead of a four-year degree). At Peer Insight, she served as CEO & led partnerships that contributed to dozens of new business ventures with clients like Nike, Kimberly-Clark, AARP, Canon, the Good Samaritan Society and ArcBest, several of which have become multi-million dollar revenue streams. Natalie began her career at PricewaterhouseCoopers and IBM, where she supported clients such as Allstate, the World Bank, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Afghanistan program in technology & strategy initiatives. She is the co-author of a forthcoming book (available soon for pre-order), The Experimentation Field Book: A Step-by-Step Project Guide.   Show Highlights [03:02] Natalie offers gratitude for the DT101 podcast and the learning community it has fostered. [03:42] Natalie catches us up since her 2018 podcast episode. [04:03] Moving on from Peer Insight. [05:05] Taking a role at Opportunity@Work. [05:26] More than 50% of the American workforce are STARs. [08:12] Running experiments in one's personal and professional life. [09:13] How design thinking frees the learner. [10:25] Why Natalie wrote The Experimentation Field Book. [12:49] Natalie offers thoughts on moving out of one's comfort zone and trying something new. [16:59] The Experimentation Field Book will be available at booksellers November 24th. [17:12] How Natalie met Jeanne Liedtka. [17:50] Jeanne approached Natalie about Peer Insight's “secret sauce.” [18:31] Design thinking's superpower. [18:48] What's missing from the design thinking methodology and how the book fills that gap. [20:36] The book gives the reader step-by-step ways to run their own experiments. [21:40] The baggage that can come along with the word experimentation. [24:16] The first step is to frame a testable idea. [28:23] Build like you're right, and test like you're wrong. [31:20] A Miro Moment. [33:32] Opportunity@Work is creating services to help broaden the hiring mindset from only equating degrees with skillsets to looking at other ways of determining someone's ability to do the job. [34:17] Four things intriguing Natalie about her current nonprofit work. [34:48] We're designing for a world that doesn't exist yet. [36:11] Looking at how non-profits receive funding. [37:12] The ambiguity and attachment struggle in a non-profit world where people are very passionate about their mission. [37:49] Dealing with the feelings associated with the word experimentation. [38:44] The Experimentation Field Book is made for everyone, not just designers. [40:56] The process in the book helps people to not become too attached to one idea. [43:24] The book empowers anyone to put together and run an experiment on themselves or within their organization.   Links Natalie on LinkedIn Natalie on Twitter Opportunity at Work Using Design Thinking to Empower the ‘Human' in HR 6 steps to knowing how to know | Natalie Foley | TEDxCharlottesville Design Thinking: Four Steps for Innovation Peer Insight    Book Recommendations The Experimentation Field Book: A Step-by-Step Project Guide, by Jeanne Liedtka, Elizabeth Chen, Natalie Foley, and David Kester   Other Design Thinking 101 Episodes You Might Like Designing for the Greater Good, Strategy + Design Thinking, and Measuring Design Thinking with Jeanne Liedtka — DT101 E1 Leading a Design Thinking Consultancy, Betting Small to Win Big, and Driving Business Growth with Design Thinking with Natalie Foley — DT101 E5 Experiencing Design: The Innovator's Journey with Karen Hold — DT101 E71

Natalie Foley has over 20 years of experience leading teams in designing and launching new products, programs, and strategies across the private, public, and not-for-profit sectors. Recently, she joined Opportunity at Work, where she builds, tests, and launches new services to help rewire the labor market for the 71 million workers in America whose skills were acquired through alternative routes instead of a four-year degree. Today on the show, we catch up with Natalie, who was one of our first guests on the podcast, and talk about The Experimentation Field Book, which she co-authored with Jeanne Liedtka, Elizabeth Chen, and David Kester. Listen to Learn About >> Experimentation and iterative learning  >> The Experimentation Field Book >> Why experiment? The benefits of experimentation >> Opportunity@Work's mission Our Guest Natalie has 20+ years of experience leading teams in designing & launching new products, programs and strategies across the private, public & not-for-profit sectors. Recently, she has joined Opportunity@Work, where she builds, tests & launches new services for employers and employer networks to help rewire the labor market for the 71M workers in America who are STARs* (Skilled Through Alternative Routes, instead of a four-year degree). At Peer Insight, she served as CEO & led partnerships that contributed to dozens of new business ventures with clients like Nike, Kimberly-Clark, AARP, Canon, the Good Samaritan Society and ArcBest, several of which have become multi-million dollar revenue streams. Natalie began her career at PricewaterhouseCoopers and IBM, where she supported clients such as Allstate, the World Bank, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Afghanistan program in technology & strategy initiatives. She is the co-author of a forthcoming book (available soon for pre-order), The Experimentation Field Book: A Step-by-Step Project Guide. Show Highlights [03:02] Natalie offers gratitude for the DT101 podcast and the learning community it has fostered. [03:42] Natalie catches us up since her 2018 podcast episode. [04:03] Moving on from Peer Insight. [05:05] Taking a role at Opportunity@Work. [05:26] More than 50% of the American workforce are STARs. [08:12] Running experiments in one's personal and professional life. [09:13] How design thinking frees the learner. [10:25] Why Natalie wrote The Experimentation Field Book. [12:49] Natalie offers thoughts on moving out of one's comfort zone and trying something new. [16:59] The Experimentation Field Book will be available at booksellers November 24th. [17:12] How Natalie met Jeanne Liedtka. [17:50] Jeanne approached Natalie about Peer Insight's “secret sauce.” [18:31] Design thinking's superpower. [18:48] What's missing from the design thinking methodology and how the book fills that gap. [20:36] The book gives the reader step-by-step ways to run their own experiments. [21:40] The baggage that can come along with the word experimentation. [24:16] The first step is to frame a testable idea. [28:23] Build like you're right, and test like you're wrong. [31:20] A Miro Moment. [33:32] Opportunity@Work is creating services to help broaden the hiring mindset from only equating degrees with skillsets to looking at other ways of determining someone's ability to do the job. [34:17] Four things intriguing Natalie about her current nonprofit work. [34:48] We're designing for a world that doesn't exist yet. [36:11] Looking at how non-profits receive funding. [37:12] The ambiguity and attachment struggle in a non-profit world where people are very passionate about their mission. [37:49] Dealing with the feelings associated with the word experimentation. [38:44] The Experimentation Field Book is made for everyone, not just designers. [40:56] The process in the book helps people to not become too attached to one idea. [43:24] The book empowers anyone to put together and run an experiment on themselves or within their organization. Links Natalie on LinkedIn Natalie on Twitter Opportunity at Work Using Design Thinking to Empower the ‘Human' in HR 6 steps to knowing how to know | Natalie Foley | TEDxCharlottesville Design Thinking: Four Steps for Innovation Peer Insight Book Recommendation The Experimentation Field Book: A Step-by-Step Project Guide, by Jeanne Liedtka, Elizabeth Chen, Natalie Foley, and David Kester Design Thinking 101 Episodes You Might Like Designing for the Greater Good, Strategy + Design Thinking, and Measuring Design Thinking with Jeanne Liedtka — DT101 E1 Leading a Design Thinking Consultancy, Betting Small to Win Big, and Driving Business Growth with Design Thinking with Natalie Foley — DT101 E5 Experiencing Design: The Innovator's Journey with Karen Hold — DT101 E71

We're going to start this one with a question: How was success defined for you when you were 18? For many, the definition of success was likely narrowly defined as “study hard and make it into a great university”. Many of us today can agree that this definition is limiting. Thankfully, in recent years more and more job descriptions are shifting their degree requirements and instead honing in on “years of related experience” or technical expertise.In our latest episode of the Outside Insights podcast, I talk Brian Matthew Rhodes, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary at Opportunity@Work.Opportunity@Work's is a really neat organization that's on a mission to rewire the labor market so that everyone Skilled Through Alternative Routes, or STARs, can work, learn, and earn to their full potential. In other words, a four-year degree isn't the only path to success. At Placers, we're proud to help job seekers with diverse backgrounds and experience levels find work, so of course we've been big fans of Opportunity@Work for a while.During our talk, Brian provided eye-opening perspectives on how degree requirements can disadvantage certain groups and why skills-based hiring makes sense, especially given the current labor shortages. Opportunity@Work has conducted research that highlights the on-the-job potential of STARs and points to them as a solution for broadening talent pools with great candidates that would otherwise be overlooked.Here are a the key takeaways from this episode:Opportunity@Work pushes for skills-based hiring so those without degrees have equal opportunities.There are ~70 million American "STARs" skilled through bootcamps, certifications, and military service.Research shows “STARs” are disproportionately people of color, women, vets, and rural workers. Hiring STARs helps uphold businesses critical commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion. With today's labor shortages, expanding talent pools beyond degrees just makes business sense.Brian shares his “5 fingers of success” and explains why he would tell his 21-year old self to be patient - a reminder I think we could all use.How learning from younger generations and diverse viewpoints helps fosters workplace inclusion.At Outside Insights, we're all about changing the status quo and coloring outside the lines. By embracing STAR's in the workplace, we can create a more skills-focused and inclusive workforce that empowers all talents to thrive - and I think that's something we should all embrace.If you were 18 today, would you consider alternative routes to a four-year university? Reply and let me know. Let's discuss. Until next time, Chris

Many public- and private sector employers are becoming more selective about which positions require college degrees, opening more good jobs to non-degree holders. What will it take to broaden the adoption of skills-based hiring? And will the trend survive economic uncertainty and developments like generative AI? Opportunity@Work CEO and Co-Founder, Byron Auguste joins Bill Kerr.

The paper ceiling is a phrase used to describe the career limitations that bachelor's degree requirements can have on U.S. workers. With more than 70 million people skilled through alternative routes—or STARs—there is a huge talent pool going untapped. In this episode of the Unstoppable Together Podcast, host Jennie Brooks talks to Bridgette Gray, the Chief Customer Officer at the nonprofit Opportunity@Work. Learn how we can all shift our mindset when considering candidates and specifically what Bridgette thinks government contractors can do now in light of the bachelor's degree requirements stemming from the federal government. To learn more about Opportunity@Work, visit: https://opportunityatwork.org/

On this episode of in the know—ACCT's Steve Jurch sits down with Bridgette Gray from Opportunity@Work and Kermit Kaleba from the Lumina Foundation to discuss a new project focused on creating a more efficient pipeline from community colleges to the workforce. We'll discuss the importance of skills-based hiring and how it can help employers meet their need for competent workers while closing the employment gap for minority communities.

Byron Auguste, the CEO and co-founder of Opportunity@Work, joins Scott to discuss what he sees as the biggest labor market failures, specifically around our nation's obsession with college degrees. Follow Byron on Twitter, @byron_auguste.  Scott opens by discussing leadership and connective tissue in Silicon Valley.  Algebra of Happiness: what can you modulate?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode of the Work in Progress podcast from SXSW EDU in Austin, I am joined by Patti Constantakis of Walmart.org, Bridgette Gray of Opportunity@Work, and Kenny Nguyen of ThreeSixtyEight in a discussion about how to create better access to good jobs for people without a bachelor's degree. A four-year college degree can be a ticket to a good job and a great career, but it's not for everyone. In fact, it's not for most workers. More than half of U.S. workers do not have a four-year bachelor's degree. They're what's called STARs –Skilled Through Alternative Routes, and they get their start through community college, work experience, military service and credentialing. But too many employers still use a bachelor's degree as a barrier to entry, depriving many STARs from higher-paying jobs and career growth and depriving the companies of top talent. Last week I attended the SXSW EDU conference where I moderated a panel on The Invisible Barrier to Economic Mobility. The conversation focused on how STARs can Tear the Paper Ceiling created by employers who value a degree over skills when it comes to hiring and promotion. Joining me on stage in Austin were Patti Constantakis from Walmart.org, Bridgette Gray from Opportunity @Work, and Kenny Nguyen of ThreeSixtyEight. You can listen to our conversation here, or wherever you get your podcasts. Episode 264: Patti Constantakis from Walmart.org, Bridgette Gray from Opportunity @Work, and Kenny Nguyen of ThreeSixtyEightHost & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNationProducer: Larry BuhlExecutive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa PanzerTheme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0Download the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

In this episode of the Work in Progress podcast from SXSW EDU in Austin, I am joined by Patti Constantakis of Walmart.org, Bridgette Gray of Opportunity@Work, and Kenny Nguyen of ThreeSixtyEight in a discussion about how to create better access to good jobs for people without a bachelor's degree. A four-year college degree can be a ticket to a good job and a great career, but it's not for everyone. In fact, it's not for most workers. More than half of U.S. workers do not have a four-year bachelor's degree. They're what's called STARs –Skilled Through Alternative Routes, and they get their start through community college, work experience, military service and credentialing. But too many employers still use a bachelor's degree as a barrier to entry, depriving many STARs from higher-paying jobs and career growth and depriving the companies of top talent. Last week I attended the SXSW EDU conference where I moderated a panel on The Invisible Barrier to Economic Mobility. The conversation focused on how STARs can Tear the Paper Ceiling created by employers who value a degree over skills when it comes to hiring and promotion. Joining me on stage in Austin were Patti Constantakis from Walmart.org, Bridgette Gray from Opportunity @Work, and Kenny Nguyen of ThreeSixtyEight. You can listen to our conversation here, or wherever you get your podcasts. Episode 264: Patti Constantakis from Walmart.org, Bridgette Gray from Opportunity @Work, and Kenny Nguyen of ThreeSixtyEightHost & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNationProducer: Larry BuhlExecutive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa PanzerTheme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0Download the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

Melissa has 20+ years' experience leading national and international Application Development, Enterprise Security, Data Centers and Operations teams. She creates a positive, innovative, educational, fun, empowered, and equal opportunity work environment. Her strength is her analytical problem-solving ability. She is able to break down problems, define the key issues and implement the plans. Melissa has a very high work ethic. She is known for remaining calm under pressure. She is strategic in her team approach, asking the group to step back and see beyond the horizon while showing them how to connect the dots. Connect with Melissa on LinkedIn.

In this episode of Work in Progress, Opportunity@Work CEO and co-founder Byron Auguste joins me to discuss the new Tear the Paper Ceiling ad campaign launched last week by Opportunity@Work, the Ad Council, and nearly 50 partner organizations, including WorkingNation. Approximately 70 million U.S. workers have in-demand skills and experience, but they are being overlooked for higher-wage jobs because they don't have a bachelor's degree. Employers requiring job seekers and workers to have that four-year degree before being hired or promoted have created a "paper ceiling," an invisible barrier to upward economic mobility. The new campaign calls for employers to tear down that paper ceiling and let STARs – workers Skilled Through Alternative Routes – shine. "STARs don't have bachelor's degrees. They typically have high school diplomas and they're working," says Auguste. As the name explains, they've gotten their skills and experience other ways, through some college credits, the military, or certificate programs. "Most of all, STARs have gained those skills by working. It's intuitive. If you think about it, most of the skills we deploy in our own jobs – whether we are STARs or not – are skills that we have learned by working," he adds. Auguste tells me that while school is important, generally what you learn on the job is the most relevant and important. He says Opportunity@Work data shows that of those 70 million STARs, 30 million have the skills needed for those higher-wage jobs, if only they were given the chance to use them. A college degree can be a bridge to opportunity, he adds, but "it shouldn't be a draw bridge that pulls up and if you can't cross it there is no other path to opportunity. You don't have to be against college to be for so many different routes for people to succeed." Auguste says he doesn't like to say that a job "requires" a bachelor's degree. "Take an executive assistant, for example. That is a job that requires a lot of organization. It is a very skilled job and an incredibly important gateway job. Admin assistants become project managers and more. To this day, two-thirds of these assistants do not have bachelor's degrees. "So, how can something be 'required' when two-thirds of the people doing that job don't have one. It is more than of a 'screen' that is arbitrarily reducing the number of folks who can come into a field." he argues. Tear the Paper Ceiling Opportunity@Work and Auguste have long championed the advancement of STARs in the workforce. That's the mission behind the Tear the Paper Ceiling campaign – getting employers to remove the bachelor's degree screen in jobs that don't really need them. "Companies should value skills, however someone got them. I think the smartest companies get this and more and more you're seeing companies actually say 'we want ways to find skills, whether you graduated from college or not.' "We understand that a company can't interview everyone who applies, so you need to have some way to create a short list. We are working to create 'screen-in' signals. What are all the ways – the diverse ways – you can tell that someone has a skill set that's relevant for a job. That's what we need to do both for companies for entire industries and for the economy of this country. Because if half your skilled workforce is shut out or – barriers are put in their way before they can even get started – that's a pretty terrible way to run an economy. And we need to move past that." You can listen to the full podcast here, or wherever you get your podcasts. Read more about the Tear the Paper Ceiling campaign. Episode 245: Byron Auguste, CEO & Co-Founder, Opportunity@WorkHost & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNationProducer: Larry BuhlExecutive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa PanzerTheme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0Download the transcript for this podcast here.

In this episode of Work in Progress, Opportunity@Work CEO and co-founder Byron Auguste joins me to discuss the new Tear the Paper Ceiling ad campaign launched last week by Opportunity@Work, the Ad Council, and nearly 50 partner organizations, including WorkingNation. Approximately 70 million U.S. workers have in-demand skills and experience, but they are being overlooked for higher-wage jobs because they don't have a bachelor's degree. Employers requiring job seekers and workers to have that four-year degree before being hired or promoted have created a "paper ceiling," an invisible barrier to upward economic mobility. The new campaign calls for employers to tear down that paper ceiling and let STARs – workers Skilled Through Alternative Routes – shine. "STARs don't have bachelor's degrees. They typically have high school diplomas and they're working," says Auguste. As the name explains, they've gotten their skills and experience other ways, through some college credits, the military, or certificate programs. "Most of all, STARs have gained those skills by working. It's intuitive. If you think about it, most of the skills we deploy in our own jobs – whether we are STARs or not – are skills that we have learned by working," he adds. Auguste tells me that while school is important, generally what you learn on the job is the most relevant and important. He says Opportunity@Work data shows that of those 70 million STARs, 30 million have the skills needed for those higher-wage jobs, if only they were given the chance to use them. A college degree can be a bridge to opportunity, he adds, but "it shouldn't be a draw bridge that pulls up and if you can't cross it there is no other path to opportunity. You don't have to be against college to be for so many different routes for people to succeed." Auguste says he doesn't like to say that a job "requires" a bachelor's degree. "Take an executive assistant, for example. That is a job that requires a lot of organization. It is a very skilled job and an incredibly important gateway job. Admin assistants become project managers and more. To this day, two-thirds of these assistants do not have bachelor's degrees. "So, how can something be 'required' when two-thirds of the people doing that job don't have one. It is more than of a 'screen' that is arbitrarily reducing the number of folks who can come into a field." he argues. Tear the Paper Ceiling Opportunity@Work and Auguste have long championed the advancement of STARs in the workforce. That's the mission behind the Tear the Paper Ceiling campaign – getting employers to remove the bachelor's degree screen in jobs that don't really need them. "Companies should value skills, however someone got them. I think the smartest companies get this and more and more you're seeing companies actually say 'we want ways to find skills, whether you graduated from college or not.' "We understand that a company can't interview everyone who applies, so you need to have some way to create a short list. We are working to create 'screen-in' signals. What are all the ways – the diverse ways – you can tell that someone has a skill set that's relevant for a job. That's what we need to do both for companies for entire industries and for the economy of this country. Because if half your skilled workforce is shut out or – barriers are put in their way before they can even get started – that's a pretty terrible way to run an economy. And we need to move past that." You can listen to the full podcast here, or wherever you get your podcasts. Read more about the Tear the Paper Ceiling campaign. Episode 245: Byron Auguste, CEO & Co-Founder, Opportunity@WorkHost & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNationProducer: Larry BuhlExecutive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa PanzerTheme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0Download the transcript for this podcast here.

When looking at the U.S. labor market, Byron Auguste sees too many job seekers screened out based on shallow signals like a bachelor's degree, and too few ‘screened in' by directly demonstrating the skills needed for the job at hand. To close those opportunity gaps in the American workforce, Byron co-founded and runs Opportunity@Work, which played a key role in Maryland's decision in early 2022 to drop four-year degree requirements for thousands of state jobs in favor of recruiting from those identified as being Skilled Through Alternate Routes, or STARs. He joined Tyler to discuss workforce training in the digital economy, re-evaluating college degree requirements in recruitment, why IQ is overrated and conscientiousness is underrated, the major opportunity gap in on-the-job training, what people miss about the German apprenticeship model, the best novel about finding a job, what's gone wrong with American men, why we need signal pluralism for higher education admission, why he's wary of AI for predicting labor outcomes, what happened when Maryland rolled back degree requirements for state jobs, the incentive problems in higher education, and more. Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video. Recorded September 6th, 2022 Other ways to connect Follow us on Twitter and Instagram Follow Tyler on Twitter Follow Byron on Twitter Email us: cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu Subscribe at our newsletter page to have the latest Conversations with Tyler news sent straight to your inbox. 

Trevor Matthews worked in refrigeration until he admittedly, lost his joy. Greg Crumpton refers to it as a complacency rut, “in a rinse repeat cycle.” Today Matthews, Founder of Refrigeration Mentor, has re-sparked his joy.“Refrigeration Mentor started because I have a passion for the refrigeration industry,” said Matthews. He recognized a void in the commercial refrigeration space, where professional development, training, education, and mentorship have the potential to thrive. Matthews works with technicians and contractors, helps identify their skills, and creates programs to elevate their strengths.Trevor's passion for training and educating others. “I thrive when seeing people progress,” said Matthews. He invested in his training and education. He returned to university to train others. So, why does this matter? First, blue-collar jobs lead the way in on-the-job training, but Matthews recalls feeling overwhelmed and anxious in the early days of his career. He admits there were times he didn't know what to do. After training, we “hand over the keys and send them out,” said Matthews. “Data out there that people perform at their best through mentorship,” said Crumpton. Crumpton expands, “it's accountability, is what it really comes down to.”In Matthews's experience, there's a total lack of professional development, career progression, and check-ins. Managers need to create regular check-ins with their team to help them develop and encourage their growth. Matthews would like to see further development in “guide[ing] students and new people in finances.” The influx of money from working as a refrigeration technician can get some young, immature newbies into trouble. They also need to be able to see a future in their careers. Throughout the refrigerator tech's career, there are multiple pathways. Matthews mentions “a project manager, sales, and engineering” as a few opportunities for development.This trend isn't isolated to refrigeration. According to Hustle, a recent Opportunity@Work study found there are 32m Americans who lack college degrees but have the skills to transition to higher income jobs. “New Collar Workers” are those who previously held blue-collar or labor jobs and are now transitioning into desk jobs. Specifically, as technology intertwines into every industry, this trend is expected to develop. NU Property Casual believes that expanding apprenticeships is key to developing the next generation of the workforce. Maintaining that workforce going is going to take more mentoring and career development.

Now Hiring: No degree required. A growing number of tech companies are looking to fill roles that require special skills, but not necessarily a college diploma. They're being called “new collar” jobs. Now, some people who have worked hourly jobs like food service or retail are setting themselves on a new career track and many are getting paid to learn on the job. In this conversation from the WSJ Jobs Summit, Joanna Estanislao details her journey from working hospitality to a full-time role with Okta's sales team. Bridgette Gray, Chief Customer Officer at Opportunity@Work, tells us about the multiple pathways from blue collar to new collar.Read more about Blue Collar Workers Making the Leap to Tech Jobs

Last month the State of Maryland announced that it would no longer require a bachelor's degree in the hiring process for nearly half of its jobs, joining a growing number of companies and other employers. Some people in higher education might view steps like that as a slight, since Maryland and other employers are responding in part to questions about the value of degrees and growing concerns about the cost – and opportunity cost – of earning one. But in this week's episode of The Key, Bridgette Gray of the nonprofit group Opportunity@Work, which is helping Maryland identify non-degreed workers to fill jobs in technology, administration and customer service, describes the market conditions that prompted the state's decision and why equity was a primary factor behind its move. And Brandon Busteed of Kaplan explains how colleges and universities can respond in ways that not only sustain their relevance but position them better for the coming changes in how learning is likely to happen. Hosted by Inside Higher Ed Editor Doug Lederman. This episode is sponsored by Kaplan.   

Thousands of state jobs that had required a four-year degree to apply … won't from now on, Governor Hogan announced last month.  The nonprofit “Opportunity@Work” will help the state recruit, tapping into workers with alternative experience - like military service, on-the-job learning, or an apprenticeship. The group's Chief Customer Officer, Bridgette Gray, says this move shines light on the millions of Americans who've been overlooked by degree requirements. Then, Maryland's unemployment numbers are slightly worse than the national figure, but employers are desperate to hire. What's the disconnect? We ask economist Daraius Irani. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tom's Notes:This week we're sitting down with Mike Shwedick. Mike has 14+ years in the HR space, working with companies like Apple, Tapout Fitness, Moxie, Addressable, and most recently the Pinpoint team. Mike walked us through his approach to ensuring HR teams eliminate unconscious bias and hire a representative pool of candidates, even if they're a bootstrapped startup with minimal assets. If you're looking to make an impact and gain a competitive edge, you'll love this episode.One of the biggest mistakes companies make is paying lip service to grandiose Diversity & Inclusion plans before they have the resources to make those plans a reality. “So first, be really honest about where you are. If you're at a level one out of ten, stop the bad practices and bad actors as a first step. Put a process in place to get you to a two or a three.”For small businesses and startups, Mike first works to understand the state of things: basics like headcount, established processes, and significant pain points. Then he looks forward to an organization's ideal state, including elements like growth, funding, etc. From there, he establishes the core HR processes and software that will create the foundation of a healthy People Ops team, including an HRIS and an ATS. With a single source of truth and a streamlined way to manage employee and applicant data, it's much easier to take steps to eliminate individual bias from the way companies manage their teams.One of the organizations where Mike put his considerable talents to good use is Opportunity@Work, a nonprofit with a fantastic mission: to increase career opportunities for working adults without a four-year degree. Mike tells us how even with blinded applications, an enormous percentage of diverse candidates are overlooked at the stage of screening for a bachelor's degree. His advice for how to open up your pipeline to a more representative pool of qualified candidates:Write intentional job descriptionsAsk about STAR status in the same way you ask about racial diversityThink about gateway jobsMitigate unconscious bias within teams and with hiring managers by delivering quality trainingBe honest about where you are

In this episode of Work in Progress, Opportunity@Work senior vice president, Insights, Papia Debroy and I discuss Rise with the STARs, a new report from the nonprofit. If you are not familiar with the term STARs, it is a word championed by Opportunity@Work to describe the more than 70 million workers who are Skilled Through Alternative Routes. "There are a lot of different pathways by which our workers gain skills that are valuable for work," explains Debroy. "Those pathways include community college. They include military service. They include volunteering in your local community. The most common way that workers learn is frequently on the job, by showing up to your job every day, doing the tasks required of your specific profession, and getting better at those skills." Debroy points out that STARs are often overlooked when a job requires a four-year college degree, which creates an opportunity gap. One of the major conclusions of the new Rise with the Stars report is that it takes a STAR 30 years of work experience to earn what someone with a college degree earns at the beginning of their career. "This is the heart of one of the many challenges that this part of our workforce is experiencing in this generation. When a STAR entered the workforce in 1989 at the age of 25, they were earning less than the worker with the four-year college degree. That has traditionally been the case in our U..S labor market. What's stunning for this generation is that the STAR doesn't catch up. So 30 years of work experience is not allowing them to earn in wages what the bachelor's degree worker was earning on day one of their career," Debroy tells me. It's not just the worker who is missing out. Employers are missing out on untapped talent by putting up what Opportunity@Work describes as a "pointless barrier." The report offers up a couple of tools to remove the barrier to opportunity, including the Star Mobility Index and 30 Jobs to Turn the Tide. You can read about these and other observations and recommendations in the report, and here about them in this podcast. Please check both out, as I leave you with these final thoughts from Debroy. "It's important to recognize that more than half of our workforce are STARs. These are workers with the high school diploma without the four-year college degree, but who have incredibly valuable skills in the U.S. labor market. In fact, there are more than 30 million today in our U.S. labor market who we term to be rising STARs. These are folks who, based on skills with their current job, actually have the skills to do significantly higher-wage work in several other occupations. That's an incredibly important insight, because for us to now recognize those skills means that we have to think about how to open up access and opportunity to this population of STARs." Episode 218: Papia Debroy, SVP, Insights, Opportunity@WorkHost & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNationProducer: Larry BuhlExecutive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa PanzerMusic: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0.Download the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

In this episode of Work in Progress, Opportunity@Work senior vice president, Insights, Papia Debroy and I discuss Rise with the STARs, a new report from the nonprofit. If you are not familiar with the term STARs, it is a word championed by Opportunity@Work to describe the more than 70 million workers who are Skilled Through […] The post Rise with the STARs: Building a Stronger Labor Market appeared first on WorkingNation.

In this episode, Business Forward hosted a briefing with former U.S. Secretary of Education John King for a discussion on what K through 12 education and workforce development means for small businesses and local economies. After a brief introduction and opening remarks, Secretary King answered questions on topics ranging from pandemic learning loss to preparing students for success and the future of workforce development.Resources mentioned in the briefing: K12 Climate Action: https://www.k12climateaction.org/ A coalition organizing for environmental sustainability in the school system by shifting schools to clean energy, sustainable food use, and clean transportation within the next decade.Podcast: Hiring for Skills and the Future of Work https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/businessfwd/episodes/2021-04-05T17_53_07-07_00Byron Auguste, CEO and Co-founder of Opportunity@Work, and David Sutphen, Chief Strategy and Engagement Officer for 2U, joined us for a discussion of skills and opportunity gaps, the public and private sectors' roles in the future of work, and how the small business community can connect with workforce talent.

In this episode of the McKinsey Global Institute's Forward Thinking podcast, Michael Chui talks to Byron Auguste and Beth Cobert whose professional life is dedicated to fostering a more skills-based labor market. Their focus is on the United States, but their diagnostic can just as easily apply to other countries and regions. Both worked at McKinsey & Company for many years on labor-market issues before going on to work in the Obama administration. Today, Beth is the chief operating officer of the Markle Foundation and CEO of Skillful, a Markle Foundation initiative. Byron Auguste is the co-founder and CEO of Opportunity@Work. They answer questions including the following: — Who is actually working in the US labor market? — How does the language we use—“low skill”, “high skill”—cause problems? — What could a potential future of more of a skills-based workforce look like? — If employers and people want a skills-based workforce, why aren't we there already? — Do we all have to wait until there's some global skills taxonomy we all use? How does this thing evolve so that it actually becomes practical? This conversation was recorded in October 2021. To read a transcript of this episode, visit: https://mck.co/BethCobertByronAuguste Follow @McKinsey_MGI on Twitter and the McKinsey Global Institute on LinkedIn for more.See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

In this episode of the McKinsey Global Institute's Forward Thinking podcast, Michael Chui talks to Byron Auguste and Beth Cobert whose professional life is dedicated to fostering a more skills-based labor market. Their focus is on the United States, but their diagnostic can just as easily apply to other countries and regions. Both worked at McKinsey & Company for many years on labor-market issues before going on to work in the Obama administration. Today, Beth is the chief operating officer of the Markle Foundation and CEO of Skillful, a Markle Foundation initiative. Byron Auguste is the co-founder and CEO of Opportunity@Work. They answer questions including the following: — Who is actually working in the US labor market? — How does the language we use—“low skill”, “high skill”—cause problems? — What could a potential future of more of a skills-based workforce look like? — If employers and people want a skills-based workforce, why aren't we there already? — Do we all have to wait until there's some global skills taxonomy we all use? How does this thing evolve so that it actually becomes practical? This conversation was recorded in October 2021. To read a transcript of this episode, visit: https://mck.co/BethCobertByronAuguste Follow @McKinsey_MGI on Twitter and the McKinsey Global Institute on LinkedIn for more. Read more > Listen to the podcast (duration: 44:27) >

In this episode of the Work in Progress podcast, I am joined by Kelcey Reed, the new chief technology officer for the nonprofit Opportunity@Work. Opportunity@Work's mission is to rewire the U.S. labor market so that individuals Skilled Through Alternative Routes—workers and job seekers they call STARs—can work, learn, and earn to their full potential. "You shouldn't have to have a college degree to acquire a good-paying job. You should have the acumen to gain skills and utilize those skills to your fullest potential," explains Reed. "I don't want to ever tell anyone college isn't important, but college isn't for everyone. We have to remember that—we see the numbers—70-plus million folks out there do not finish a four-year degree." In the podcast, Reed and discuss how these STARs who don't go to a four-year school obtain their skills. "They go into military service, just like I did. They go into community colleges and do two years. You got that working mom that is trying to put food on her kid's table, and she's a single mother that can't." "Should I penalize you because you don't have a college diploma, you shouldn't come work?" he asks. "No, we shouldn't do that. We should really find ways to reward them for trying to get the skills that they need in order to be competent in their job and proficient in their job, right? That is key." To that end, in his role as Chief Technology Officer, Reed will oversee and expand the organization's Stellarworx hiring platform which highlights and matches a job seeker's skills to employers with open jobs. "Stellarworx actually levels the playing field for STARs who otherwise are overlooked in recruiting channels that cater to college graduates—and are dominated by employers who rely specifically on pedigree as a proxy for skill—by allowing them to showcase the skills they have for a job," he explains. Reed's passion to help STARs find a pathway to a good job comes from his own life experiences. "I didn't have all of the resources to go into college, so I decided to go into the military where I could actually get money to go to college later, so I basically was postponing college." "When I went in the military, my job was fire direction control for artillery. It is a computer operations/computer programming type of role in which I learned a lot of skills in how to program computers, how to plot on a map, how to read a map." After eight years in the military, Reed says he "hit a brick wall. A lot of employers look for you to have a four-year degree before they let you come in and get higher-paying jobs like a management type of job. Although I was managing troops, the employers was not looking at my military experience or the skills that I gained in the military." Reed was able to find employers who valued the skills he learned in the military and later in the civilian workforce. He doesn't want it to be as hard for others as it was for him. "People shouldn't be faced with the same challenges that I was faced with, especially if you've gained real hard skills that can translate for you to be very productive inside of an organization. That's what we need today." You can listen to more of Reed's personal journey and his plans for the @Opportunity@Work's Stellarworx platform here, or download the episode wherever you get your podcasts. Episode 197: Kelcey Reed, chief technology officer, Opportunity@WorkHost and Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, editor-in-chief, WorkingNationProducer: Larry BuhlExecutive Producers: Joan Lynch, Melissa PanzerMusic: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0. Download the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

In this episode of the Work in Progress podcast, I am joined by Kelcey Reed, the new chief technology officer for the nonprofit Opportunity@Work. Opportunity@Work's mission is to rewire the U.S. labor market so that individuals Skilled Through Alternative Routes—workers and job seekers they call STARs—can work, learn, and earn to their full potential. “You […] The post Hiring platform levels the playing field for job seekers without a four-year degree appeared first on WorkingNation.

Byron Auguste, CEO of Opportunity@Work and former jobs czar under the Obama administration, joins James for a conversation about degree discrimination in the workforce.Read Byron Auguste's op-ed: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/07/20/majority-americans-lack-college-degree-why-do-so-many-employers-require-one/?utm_source=podcasts&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=please-go-on

Tess Posner is the CEO of AI4ALL, an organization working to make the technology industry more inclusive and to ensure that AI is developed responsibly. Before joining AI4ALL, she was Managing Director of TechHire at Opportunity@Work, a national initiative launched out of the White House to increase diversity in the tech economy. In this episode, we explore the diversity challenges facing the technology industry and the exciting efforts that AI4ALL is leading to empower diverse young people to join – and improve – one of the most powerful industries shaping society today. ----- To learn more about EqualAI, visit our website: https://www.equalai.org/ You can also follow us on Twitter: @ai_equal

Finding qualified workers has become a chronic and deeply concerning struggle for U.S. employers, but as our guest on this episode of WorkforceRx sees it, this is a self-inflicted problem. Byron Auguste, a PhD economist and former White House economic policy official, says the skilled workers are there but are routinely screened out of the applicant pool by hiring processes that only consider those with college degrees. “When you exclude people who don’t have a bachelor’s degree, you’re excluding almost 70 percent of African-Americans, 80 percent of Latino and Latina workers, and almost 80 percent of rural Americans of all races,” he says. That’s why the non-profit he co-founded and leads, Opportunity@Work, is asking employers to dip into the overlooked talent pool of the 70 million Americans who are Skilled Through Alternative Routes (STARs). “This is the golden age of new ways to learn new skills, and yet you have these very old, backward-looking bases for hiring. We need to have hiring catch up to learning.” Check out this compelling and thought-provoking conversation with Futuro Health CEO Van Ton-Quinlivan on transitioning from a pedigree-based to skills-based approach to hiring.

Finding qualified workers has become a chronic and deeply concerning struggle for U.S. employers, but as our guest on this episode of WorkforceRx sees it, this is a self-inflicted problem. Byron Auguste, a PhD economist and former White House economic policy official, says the skilled workers are there but are routinely screened out of the applicant pool by hiring processes that only consider those with college degrees. “When you exclude people who don't have a bachelor's degree, you're excluding almost 70 percent of African-Americans, 80 percent of Latino and Latina workers, and almost 80 percent of rural Americans of all races,” he says. That’s why the non-profit he co-founded and leads, Opportunity@Work, is asking employers to dip into the overlooked talent pool of the 70 million Americans who are Skilled Through Alternative Routes (STARs). “This is the golden age of new ways to learn new skills, and yet you have these very old, backward-looking bases for hiring. We need to have hiring catch up to learning.” Check out this compelling and thought-provoking conversation with Futuro Health CEO Van Ton-Quinlivan on transitioning from a pedigree-based to skills-based approach to hiring.

Byron Auguste, CEO and Co-founder of Opportunity@Work, and David Sutphen, Chief Strategy and Engagement Officer for 2U, joined us for a discussion of skills and opportunity gaps, the public and private sectors’ roles in the future of work, and how the small business community can connect with workforce talent.

Komal’s career path seems to be contingent on one thing: follow your passions. From pursuing engineering to recognizing her love for the operational/business side, she worked in all different companies, industries and sizes. From GE Aviation, to Bain & Company, to then being an early employee at Lyft, Komal follows the signs and says “YES!” She reflects on her career path and how she was often the only female in the room. Implicit bias in the workplace is inevitable. It’s there. So how do we address it? Hear more from Komal how she recognizes it and takes action.  

Natalia Lara is a proud El Salvadorian, who is passionate about diversity, inclusion, and equality. Currently, Natalia works at at Opportunity@Work, who's mission is to rewire the labor market so that all STARs (Skilled Through Alternative Routes) can...

Of the 63 million essential jobs nationally 42 million are filled by STARs, workers who are Skilled Through Alternative Routes. These are generally people with high school diplomas who’ve been mastering new skills in the jobs they occupy and through alternatives to higher education. Byron Auguste is the co-founder of Opportunity@Work, a nonprofit whose mission […] The post Valuing the skills learned on the job appeared first on WorkingNation.

How can we find better ways to measure and value the job skills possessed by Americans who don’t have a traditional college degree? Byron Auguste, a former White House economic adviser and current CEO at Opportunity@Work, says screening out job applicants who can’t check the degree box eliminates opportunity for millions of people who already have what it takes to do a great job. Hosts: Ben Wildavsky, Anna Gatlin Schilling

Tess Posner, CEO of AI4ALL, gives an overview of the field of AI and discusses representation in AI careers, the ramifications of not having diversity in tech, the role of allies, and the future of work. AI4ALL AI4ALL Summer Programs "Decoding Diversity"- Intel study on the financial and economic returns to diversity in tech "Tech Leavers Study"- from Kapor Center for Social Impact "There is a diversity crisis in AI, but together we can fix it."- Tess Posner Algorithms of Oppression- Safiya Umoja Noble Automating Inequality- Virginia Eubanks The Gender Shades Project AOC on Automation (SxSW 2019) Opportunity@Work Open Learning Tess on Twitter See open positions at thoughtbot! Become a Sponsor of Giant Robots!

*This interview is excerpted from our hour long interview with Guru in 2017.  Reconcile how AI, analytics, and machine learning effect humans and the future of talent with Guru Sethupathy, Head of People Analytics at a Fortune 100 company and former engagement manager at McKinsey Global Institute. Guru talks to us about the value of people analytics, and how we can overcome the siloed nature of companies to use predictive and prescriptive analytics to help the business achieve its goals. He was the former Chief Economist and Director of Product Development at Opportunity@Work, a civic enterprise based at New America. Prior to joining Opportunity@Work, Guru was an engagement manager at McKinsey, serving clients on topics related to human capital. Before McKinsey, Guru was an assistant professor of economics at Johns Hopkins University. His research agenda focused on how globalization and technology are changing labor markets, including productivity, employment, skills, wages, and inequality. Prior to becoming an economist, Guru also spent some years in the hi-tech and investment banking worlds. Guru has a B.S. in computer science from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in economics from Columbia University.

  Bio Karan Chopra (@karchopra) a is Executive Vice President and Co-Founder of Opportunity@Work, where he  provides leadership on strategic direction and execution of Opportunity@Work's priorities and the TechHire initiative. He co-founded Opportunity@Work because he believes that meaningful work is not just a matter of economic wellbeing but of individual dignity. Karan's career has focused on building entrepreneurial ventures that increase upward mobility and provide opportunity for all. Prior to co-founding Opportunity@Work, Karan was the co-founder and director of GADCO (Global Agri-Development Company) -- a vertically-integrated agri-food business in sub-Saharan Africa. He led the company from business plan to building and operating the largest rice farm in Ghana, developing a processing center and launching a packaged food brand that contributed to domestic food security in Ghana and impacted the livelihoods of smallholder farmers. Leading publications and institutions, including World Bank, UNDP, World Economic Forum, Financial Times and Guardian, have featured GADCO. Karan is also the co-founder of WAVE (West Africa Vocational Education), a social venture tackling youth unemployment in Nigeria. WAVE is empowering West African youth with industry relevant skills and access to jobs while improving outcomes for employers. Prior to this, Karan was at McKinsey & Company where he was awarded the social sector fellowship.  Prior to this, Karan was a software developer with Siemens. Karan holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering with highest honors from Georgia Tech and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School with high distinction graduating as a Baker Scholar. In 2014, Forbes named Karan in its 2014 list of Forbes 30 under 30 Social Entrepreneurs by Forbes magazine and selected as a New Voices Fellow at the Aspen Institute. Resources Opportunity@Work Opportunity@Work Learn to Earn Application (Deadline October 15th) Mindset: the New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck News Roundup Social media still in spotlight regarding Russia Social media companies turned over more evidence linking Russia to ads placed across their platforms. According to the Washington Post, Google reported tens of thousands of dollars worth of Russia-linked ads  across YouTube, Gmail and search results. Facebook had reported 10 million views of Russia-linked ads on its platform. And Twitter suspended 201 accounts linked to Russia. Executives from Facebook, Google parent Alphabet, Twitter are scheduled to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee on November 1st. The House Intelligence Committee has asked the executives to testify in connection with their own investigation the same day.  Harper Neidig reports in the Hill. More federal agencies breached A new report came to light last week that Russia hacked an NSA contractor's home computer back in 2015. We're just finding out about it now, but officials discovered it in Spring 2016. According to the Wall Street Journal, Russia stole sensitive information that lays out how the U.S. hacks into foreign governments' computer networks. The Russian hackers apparently got in via the Kaspersky antivirus software the contractor was running on his computer. A separate Fed Scoop report found that hackers breached the Federal Deposit and Insurance Corp. more than 50 times between 2015 and 2016. Hackers exposed the personal identifying information of hundreds of thousands of Americans in those breaches. Google crackdown on fake news draws protest from diverse media voices Google's crackdown on fake news is biased against smaller, independent content producers. That's a according to several smaller content producers that have noticed sharp declines in their web traffic. The declines have come since April. That's when Google announced its Project Owl initiative the company says it designed to boost more authoritative content. Daisuke Wakabayashi reports in the New York Times. FCC finally responds to Puerto Rico The FCC has finally developed a plan to help Puerto Rico's communications infrastructure get back up and running. On the advice of Democratic Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, the FCC has established a Hurricane Recovery Task Force, which will focus on all Hurricane-affected areas, including Puerto Rico.  The FCC has also approved $77 million to help repair Puerto Rico's communications networks. The agency also gave Google an experimental license to deploy its ballon-based communications system dubbed "Project Loon". IRS under fire for signing a contract with Equifax The IRS came under fire last week for entering into a $7  million contract with Equifax. The deal was for Equifax to help the IRS prevent tax fraud. The IRS and Equifax signed the agreement just three weeks after the Equifax data breach that exposed the personal information of 145 million customers. The IRS's Deputy Commissioner Jeffrey Tribiano told the House Ways and Means Committee that the contract was a "bridge contract." The IRS had put the contract out for rebid and awarded the new contract to Experian. But Equifax protested that decision. As a result, Tribiano said, the IRS was under pressure to sign a bridge contract with Equifax since the existing one was set to expire on September 29th. Tribiano told members of Congress that if the IRS failed to sign the bridge contract, millions of Americans would be unable to get their credit transcripts. But the Government Accountability Office says the IRS could have moved forward with Experian. It said that the IRS could have moved forward with Experian if it considered doing so to be in the best interests of the United States.   The GAO is expected to decide the outcome of Equifax's protest against the Experian award on October 16th. Backpage.com settles with 3 women Backpage.com settled with 3 women who allege they were victims of sex trafficking that the now-defunct site facilitated. The women were between the ages of 13 and 15 when the alleged sex trafficking happened. The court did not disclose the amount of the settlement. The parties settled in Pierce County, Washington Superior Court, which is in the Seattle area. In the meantime, IBM has announced that it is backing Senator Rob Portman's bill to make websites amore accountable for content posted by third parties. Can algorithms draw district maps? The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Gill v. Whitford last week. The key question in the case is whether courts can throw out voting district maps for being too partisan. This will be a landmark decision. The outcome of this case is likely to have huge implications for American democracy for generations to come. But a recent paper published by computer scientists at the University of Illinois proposes letting algorithms do the work of redistricting. Daniel Oberhaus reports in Motherboard. EU orders Amazon to pay $295 million in back taxes The European Union has ordered Amazon to pay $295 million in back taxes to Luxembourg. The EU's Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager says that Luxembourg did not tax almost three quarters of Amazon's profits. Robert-Jan Bartunek reports in Reuters. Marsha Blackburn running for Senate Marsha Blackburn announced last week in a YouTube video that she's running for Bob Corker's Senate seat in Tennessee. But Twitter took down Blackburn's campaign ad because in it, she talks about having fought against "the sale of baby body parts". Verizon announces that hackers compromised ALL 3 billion Yahoo! accounts Verizon announced last week that, back in 2013, hackers compromised ALL of  Yahoo's 3 billion accounts. Before the acquisition, Yahoo! had said that the hacks affected just 1 billion accounts. Verizon acquired Amazon earlier this year for $4.5 billion. Nicole Perlroth reports in the New York Times.    

Reconcile how AI, analytics, and machine learning effect humans and the future of talent with Guru Sethupathy, Head of People Analytics at a Fortune 100 company and former engagement manager at McKinsey Global Institute. Guru talks to us about the value of people analytics, and how we can overcome the siloed nature of companies to use predictive and prescriptive analytics to help the business achieve its goals. He was the former Chief Economist and Director of Product Development at Opportunity@Work, a civic enterprise based at New America. Prior to joining Opportunity@Work, Guru was an engagement manager at McKinsey, serving clients on topics related to human capital. Before McKinsey, Guru was an assistant professor of economics at Johns Hopkins University. His research agenda focused on how globalization and technology are changing labor markets, including productivity, employment, skills, wages, and inequality. Prior to becoming an economist, Guru also spent some years in the hi-tech and investment banking worlds. Guru has a B.S. in computer science from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in economics from Columbia University.

Never miss another episode of Where Genius Grows. Get each new one delivered straight to your inbox by signing up here: http://eepurl.com/ckKJ1f * At the beginning of 2017 there are over 500,000 unfilled tech jobs in the United States. How will applicants learn the required skills to succeed in these jobs? How will employers avoid overlooking qualified candidates? How will applicants from underserved communities gain access to the training they need to compete for these jobs? * Tess Posner (@tessposner) is the managing director of TechHire, an initiative by Opportunity@Work to connect 100,000 people to tech jobs by 2020. In this interview she describes the steps TechHire is taking to accomplish this feat and how you can participate. Tess also offers her vision of a well-rounded 21st-century education, balancing ever-evolving technical expertise against an understanding of what it means to be human. * Further readings Tess recommends include: * - "The World is Open" by Curtis Bonk: http://amzn.to/2iLmrI8 * - "The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies" by Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee: http://amzn.to/2iIK8Ty * - "Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future" by Martin Ford: http://amzn.to/2iLkSdt * - "Savage Inequalities" by Jonathan Kozol: http://amzn.to/2iXJ8J3 * - "The Brothers Karamazov" by Fyodor Dostoevsky: http://amzn.to/2iK3F3S * - "The Apology" by Plato: http://amzn.to/2iK7lCM * - "The Republic" by Plato: http://amzn.to/2iK1PQC * - "The Wealth of Nations" by Adam Smith: http://amzn.to/2hWS2Vf * - "The Federalist Papers" by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay: http://amzn.to/2j9YDgj

People in fast growing economies are experiencing social and economic mobility for the first time, joining the middle class. Producers and makers are finding new markets for their commodities or wares, entrepreneurs are better able to access capital and customers, and job seekers are better able to connect with potential employers. Networks and knowledge are not only enabling economic growth and opportunity, but they are changing the very nature of work. Yet the “jobs challenge” remains so long as there is a short supply of the skills required for the jobs that await. What models exist for closing the skills gap? Moreover, how might employers better signal the skills they seek, and job seekers convey the skills they’ve attained, sometimes in non-traditional ways? How might each leverage networks to connect to one another? KARAN CHOPRA Co-founder and Partner, Opportunity@Work @karchopra JOSHUA OIGARA CEO, KCB Group @JoshuaOigara SHAI RESHEF President and Founder, University of the People @ShaiReshef MODERATOR: AN-ME CHUNG, Director of Strategic Partnerships, Mozilla Foundation @anmechung For more information about this conference please visit: https://philanthropyforum.org/conference/gpf-2016/