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.
Article, Research Report
Measuring Who Moves Ahead
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
The 2023 American Opportunity Index evaluated nearly 400 large U.S. firms to produce key findings on how firms maximize their internal talent to drive corporate performance and the growth of their employees. It also raised significant disparities in promotion and retention among companies and underscores the business choice in talent management practices. Among their key findings are that large companies that excel in employee retention save up to $400 million annually on turnover costs, primarily by offering promotion opportunities and competitive wages. Additionally, top companies are 2.5 times more likely to promote employees and pay 68% more for the same roles, benefiting corporate performance and worker growth.
Playbook or Guidebook
Building a Communications and Marketing Strategy in a State or Institution for Incremental Credentialing
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
Communications and marketing are critical in the effort to transform the nation’s degree-centric postsecondary model to an incremental credentialing system. To support such a major transformation, communications and marketing are needed at three levels: state and institution Wide, individual credential and program levels, and nationwide. This Playbook focuses on the first of these.
Research Report
Family Voices
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
Faced with unprecedented change in the postsecondary landscape, America's families are wrestling with questions of college, careers, skills development and meaningful work. This study aimed to understand American parents' aspirations for their children after high school, as well as the barriers they face to following a preferred postsecondary path.
Toolkit
Roadtrip Nation Storytelling Toolkit
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
This storytelling toolkit outlined the fundamentals of Road Trip Nation's storytelling approach, developed over two decades of co-creating these stories with young people, so that other nonprofits and impact-minded organizations can amplify young people’s voices and stories in their own work.
Playbook or Guidebook
Making the Case
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
This playbook gives people in the learn-and-work ecosystem key information they can use to make the case for incremental credentialing. Case-making requires different information for various audiences, including the campus community, employers and industry partners, funders, learners, and policymakers. The playbook covers: How to define incremental credentialing and incremental credentials, the benefits of incremental credentialing to various constituencies, and the four factors driving the case for incremental credentialing.
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
Organizing People through Storytelling: Public Narrative as a Leadership Development Practice
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
The study supported by the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative proposes “public narrative” as a key form of leadership development in organizations and communities. This report raises a set of 'Action Insights' on how to use public narrative to organize people through storytelling.
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.
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.
Filters
Article, Research Report
Measuring Who Moves Ahead
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
The 2023 American Opportunity Index evaluated nearly 400 large U.S. firms to produce key findings on how firms maximize their internal talent to drive corporate performance and the growth of their employees. It also raised significant disparities in promotion and retention among companies and underscores the business choice in talent management practices. Among their key findings are that large companies that excel in employee retention save up to $400 million annually on turnover costs, primarily by offering promotion opportunities and competitive wages. Additionally, top companies are 2.5 times more likely to promote employees and pay 68% more for the same roles, benefiting corporate performance and worker growth.
Playbook or Guidebook
Building a Communications and Marketing Strategy in a State or Institution for Incremental Credentialing
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
Communications and marketing are critical in the effort to transform the nation’s degree-centric postsecondary model to an incremental credentialing system. To support such a major transformation, communications and marketing are needed at three levels: state and institution Wide, individual credential and program levels, and nationwide. This Playbook focuses on the first of these.
Research Report
Family Voices
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
Faced with unprecedented change in the postsecondary landscape, America's families are wrestling with questions of college, careers, skills development and meaningful work. This study aimed to understand American parents' aspirations for their children after high school, as well as the barriers they face to following a preferred postsecondary path.
Toolkit
Roadtrip Nation Storytelling Toolkit
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
This storytelling toolkit outlined the fundamentals of Road Trip Nation's storytelling approach, developed over two decades of co-creating these stories with young people, so that other nonprofits and impact-minded organizations can amplify young people’s voices and stories in their own work.
Playbook or Guidebook
Making the Case
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
This playbook gives people in the learn-and-work ecosystem key information they can use to make the case for incremental credentialing. Case-making requires different information for various audiences, including the campus community, employers and industry partners, funders, learners, and policymakers. The playbook covers: How to define incremental credentialing and incremental credentials, the benefits of incremental credentialing to various constituencies, and the four factors driving the case for incremental credentialing.
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
Organizing People through Storytelling: Public Narrative as a Leadership Development Practice
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
This resource may be shared with proper attribution to the organization.
The study supported by the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative proposes “public narrative” as a key form of leadership development in organizations and communities. This report raises a set of 'Action Insights' on how to use public narrative to organize people through storytelling.
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.
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.