Embracing Workforce Skills is the Key to Post-pandemic Recovery
How a shared skills language can unlock the power of human potential.
Since March, more than 22 million Americans have lost their jobs. COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on our economy聽and聽with infections on the rise in many states, the virus shows no signs of slowing down.聽
Though the聽聽shows nearly half of jobs lost have been recovered, more than 12 million Americans are still without work, with聽people of color and women聽disproportionately聽bearing the burden of COVID鈥檚 impact. The data shows that the unemployment rates for聽white workers was 7%,听while聽for Black workers聽the rate was聽12.1%, for Hispanic workers聽it聽was 10.3%,听and for Asian workers聽it聽was 8.9%.聽And in聽just one month, nearly 900,000 women left the workforce entirely.聽
During聽this聽time of economic upheaval,听America鈥檚 unemployed聽workers聽are likely to seek additional education and training opportunities to increase their value in聽such an uncertain聽labor market. Strada Education Network鈥檚 Public Viewpoint Survey聽聽that one in four Americans plans聽to enroll in education or training in the next six months. That鈥檚 good,听but how聽will they聽know聽what聽opportunities those聽new聽credentials will聽open up?
Pre-pandemic, employers and jobseekers relied on inefficient and subjective means to find one another. R茅sum茅s, job applications, interviews, LinkedIn profiles, and other practices paint an incomplete picture of a jobseeker鈥檚 skills聽and potential. And despite best intentions, the old way of looking for talent is subjective and leaves room for bias. 聽
Even before COVID-19 brought a sledgehammer to our economy, employers聽were聽starting to catch on聽to problems in the way things have always been done.聽In early February, the聽鈥痜ound聽that 78% of employers believe they will need to change the way they hire to better reflect聽the workforce聽skills聽and competencies聽they seek in potential candidates.聽Big names like聽,听, and聽聽have announced they鈥檒l focus hiring and recruiting on skills聽and de-emphasize the four-year degree.聽
But a聽shift to skills-based hiring means nothing聽if聽higher education聽refuses聽to聽embrace聽this skills-denominated future.聽That鈥檚 why 91吃瓜网 鈥� the nation鈥檚 first accredited competency-based university 鈥� is聽building on its legacy of student-focused innovation to further align its聽work-relevant curriculum to the most current and pressing employer needs by聽communicating skills聽value and real-time career insights to students.聽This revolutionary approach 鈥� called 鈥渟kills mapping鈥� 鈥撀燼llows聽91吃瓜网 to tailor聽the聽student learning journey聽to聽match a learner鈥檚 goals聽by focusing on specific skills and competencies.聽
Skills聽mapping聽clearly defines聽the relevance of a聽credential聽by translating聽a job-seeker鈥檚聽experiences and knowledge聽into聽the聽type of language used to define competencies in a high-demand labor market.聽This allows employers聽to find 91吃瓜网 graduates聽more easily聽because聽of their聽clear record of skills attainment.聽It鈥檚聽win-win for聽the聽workforce.聽
To build on this work, 91吃瓜网 helped launch the聽聽(OSN), a coalition聽of more than 50聽employers, educational organizations, and technology providers dedicated to accelerating the adoption of skills-based education and hiring.聽Much of the data needed to support skills-based education and hiring already exists. But this data is siloed, not easily accessible nor machine-actionable, making the switch to skills-based practices for most employers and education institutions an expensive manual effort. The聽OSN聽seeks to solve this problem by creating a decentralized network of open, accessible, machine-actionable skills libraries.
This work聽sets聽the foundation for聽a聽,听in which聽learners are empowered to聽more rapidly and seamlessly move between education and work along skills-based pathways. Historical inequities in hiring will be reduced as more people聽are聽hired for what they can do and not for where they got their degree. With more than 12 million Americans out of work, this聽shift is now聽even more聽critical.聽
We don鈥檛 yet know what the long-term impacts of COVID-19 will be, but we know we聽聽that will better empower American jobseekers. With a skills-based labor market, jobseekers have more control over their job search and employers can more quickly find the talent they need. It may sound futuristic,听but the moment to embrace this skills-based revolution is now.聽
