Workforce

A unified directory of organizations and employers offering work-based learning opportunities—such as internships, job shadows, and apprenticeships— to help decision-makers find, compare, and connect with providers.

This research brief summarizes key findings from a national research initiative conducted by Hattaway Communications to better understand how employers perceive skill-based hiring. Based on in-depth qualitative and quantitative research, the report explores what hiring managers value, what hesitations they face, and what builds their confidence in moving beyond degree requirements. The insights highlight a desire for strong teams, practical tools, and proven outcomes.

These findings are intended to help grantees build stronger employer partnerships, shape persuasive messaging, and advance strategies that promote skill-based hiring across sectors.

A toolkit communicating pathways with students and families. it includes: a) how different pathways can look like; b) how pathway career ladder can look like; c) how pathway support systems can look like.

Shifting the Skills Conversation: Employer Attitudes and Outcomes of Career Technical Education provides tangible data points on employer attitudes toward Career Technical Education (CTE) and the positive return on investment CTE experiences provide for business and economic growth. Based on a national survey of more than 300 professionals actively involved in hiring decisions in in-demand fields, these new findings demonstrate that employers strongly support and see direct value in CTE. The findings also indicate that employer recognition and support for skills-focused hiring is growing and that employers back a greater public investment in CTE programs and supports

This short tool offers persuasive arguments that shows how youth apprenticeships benefit both young career seekers and businesses alike. For employers, it demonstrates how apprenticeships can fill labor gaps across industries, and act as a reliable source of nationally credentialed, ready-to-work job candidates. Youth are offered access to paid work-based training in high-growth fields and the significant earnings potential.

This playbook is a step-by-step guide to implementing more equitable and effective approaches to employee recruiting, hiring, and advancement by embracing skills-first talent management practices.

This resource includes a set of skills-based hiring toolkits that include a skills-based job-posting, interview questions, and onboarding plans. Each Skills-Based Hiring Toolkit is packed with valuable resources that will help you transform your hiring strategy.

The State of the Future U.S. Workforce: Student Ability Report analyzes anonymized data from the YouScience Discovery aptitude-based career guidance assessments taken in U.S. high schools (grades 9 through 12) across all 50 states in 2021. They outline our findings and suggest solutions that address the challenge in a holistic, practical way in this report.

Pathways Narrative is a cohort-based pilot project focused on the education and career pathways space. Each of the nine organizations in the cohort works with dedicated strategists from Wonder: Strategies for Good to develop a narrative change research project that aligns with and advances the organization’s goals. Get to know the cohort partners here, and explore the many possible approaches to narrative change.

The Tear the Paper Ceiling: STARs Hiring Playbook gives human resource professionals, talent leaders, and hiring managers practical tools and guidance to shift their hiring to include STARs - workers Skilled Through Alternative Routes.