Pathways Resource Library
Tools to help people understand their options
Explore messaging, research, and resources from across the field—along with customizable, white-label tools that you can adapt, brand as your own, and use in your organization’s communications—to help you reach key audiences with language that builds confidence and expands what’s possible.
Research Report
Pathways Matter to Families: What Parents and Young Adults Believe and Want to Know About Education to Workforce Pathways
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
Pathways Matter to Families offers insights and actionable resources for students and families. The two complementary resources linked are informed by original research investigating what parents and young adults think and want to know about education-to-workforce pathways and experiences.
Research Report
MAKING THE CASE FOR SKILLS-FIRST HIRING WITH HIRING PROFESSIONALS
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
In 2023, SHRM Foundation commissioned Topos Foundation to investigate the effectiveness of various framing, language, and argumentation deployed in an ongoing effort, by SHRM Foundation and many other partners, to promote hiring that puts less emphasis on academic degrees and considers all the ways job candidates may be qualified for a position. This report contains valuable insights into effectively communicating the case for skills-first hiring with the broadest audience.
Playbook or Guidebook
Tear the Paper Ceiling
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
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.
Infographics
Opportunity@Work Tool: Infographics
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
Infographics demonstrating degree inflation, which caused labor shortage and opportunity gap. This can be used to talk with employers and government about the importance of skill-based hiring.
Research Report
Student Ability Report
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
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.
Research Report
The Value of Community Colleges: Recent Students’ Motivations and Outcomes
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
This study offers new insights about value community colleges provide and the range of needs that they serve. It examines recent community college students' motivations for enrolling, and their self-reported perceptions of the value of their education and training experiences, and the degree to which they acheived their goals for enrolling.
White Paper
Degrees of Risk: What Gen Z and Employers Think About Education-to-Career Pathways… and How Those Views are Changing
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
This is an examination of what is required to make a person employable, as well as what professional and educational success looks like. This study was commissioned by American Student Assistance (ASA) and Jobs for the Future (JFF). The research aimed to understand current familiarity with and perceptions of non-degree postsecondary pathways from both Gen Z and employer perspectives. This paper also makes recommendations for the way forward to expand high-quality postsecondary options for all learners.
Playbook or Guidebook
Skills-Based Sourcing and Hiring Playbook
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
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.
Research Report
Shifting the Skills Conversation: Employer Attitudes and Outcomes of Career Technical Education
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
This resource 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.
Filters
Research Report
Pathways Matter to Families: What Parents and Young Adults Believe and Want to Know About Education to Workforce Pathways
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
Pathways Matter to Families offers insights and actionable resources for students and families. The two complementary resources linked are informed by original research investigating what parents and young adults think and want to know about education-to-workforce pathways and experiences.
Research Report
MAKING THE CASE FOR SKILLS-FIRST HIRING WITH HIRING PROFESSIONALS
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
In 2023, SHRM Foundation commissioned Topos Foundation to investigate the effectiveness of various framing, language, and argumentation deployed in an ongoing effort, by SHRM Foundation and many other partners, to promote hiring that puts less emphasis on academic degrees and considers all the ways job candidates may be qualified for a position. This report contains valuable insights into effectively communicating the case for skills-first hiring with the broadest audience.
Playbook or Guidebook
Tear the Paper Ceiling
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
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.
Infographics
Opportunity@Work Tool: Infographics
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
Infographics demonstrating degree inflation, which caused labor shortage and opportunity gap. This can be used to talk with employers and government about the importance of skill-based hiring.
Research Report
Student Ability Report
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
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.
Research Report
The Value of Community Colleges: Recent Students’ Motivations and Outcomes
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
This study offers new insights about value community colleges provide and the range of needs that they serve. It examines recent community college students' motivations for enrolling, and their self-reported perceptions of the value of their education and training experiences, and the degree to which they acheived their goals for enrolling.
White Paper
Degrees of Risk: What Gen Z and Employers Think About Education-to-Career Pathways… and How Those Views are Changing
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
This is an examination of what is required to make a person employable, as well as what professional and educational success looks like. This study was commissioned by American Student Assistance (ASA) and Jobs for the Future (JFF). The research aimed to understand current familiarity with and perceptions of non-degree postsecondary pathways from both Gen Z and employer perspectives. This paper also makes recommendations for the way forward to expand high-quality postsecondary options for all learners.
Playbook or Guidebook
Skills-Based Sourcing and Hiring Playbook
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
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.
Research Report
Shifting the Skills Conversation: Employer Attitudes and Outcomes of Career Technical Education
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
This resource 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.