Building a Better System *for* STARs Starts with Intention
I was interviewed by reporter Lauren Weber for her recent Wall Street Journal story which explains that while more employers are eliminating degree requirements, more work must be done to change practices and remove barriers blocking STARs - workers skilled through alternative routes, rather than a bachelor's degree - from opportunities. Weber quotes me citing Opportunity@Work 's research: “Many managers who graduated from college overestimate the share of the workforce that has a degree…When managers think there are more grads to choose from, they are more likely to list a degree as a priority.” As Weber says, “old hiring habits are hard to break.” Why??
From day one since we launched the Tear the Paper Ceiling campaign we identified the paper ceiling as the multiple barriers STARs face at every turn as they navigate the labor market: degree screens, biased algorithms, the lack of alumni networks, broken pathways for internal advancement, stereotypes and misperceptions. Ask any STAR - and they will tell you that the list goes on. Tearing the paper ceiling is more than just removing unnecessary degree requirements. Intention matters - and the intention to do this work at any scale began a year and a half ago. Since then, 60+ national corporate, technology, and non-profit partners have committed to Tear the Paper Ceiling and adopt new systems and standards for skills-based hiring. The hard work is just beginning.?
In order to build a system that truly works for STARs - it must be rooted in STARs' experiences and voices. I was particularly struck by the number of STARs who commented on Lauren’s story - you can read the full comments here - many sharing their own stories of how they are blocked from advancement all because of the so-called lack of? “a piece of paper:”
Here at Opportunity@Work, we believe in listening to STARs' voices - one example is the Black History Month blog spotlighting perspectives from Opportunity@Work’s Director of Strategic Corporate Partnership Danielle Guadeloupe-Rojas , Executive Assistant Monique W. and Senior Associate, Business Analytics Da'Von Yates , with contributions from Manager, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging Rose Francois and many others. In the blog, they have a candid discussion on the obstacles Black STARs face and share advice to employers to create Black STARs talent strategies.?
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What blocks STARs from being seen and heard? One major barrier is when tools are designed by bias in = bias out, as proven in the new research done by The Burning Glass Institute and Harvard Business School’s Project on Managing the Future of Work , also cited in the Wall Street Journal piece: “Automated hiring tools frequently compare candidates to previous high performers, which would favor degree holders.”
How do we avoid this automatic “screening out” going forward? Instead of blaming the tools, we can fix the rules. Opportunity@Work’s Director of Product Alicia Ogilvie , Principal Software Engineer Eduardo Ferraz and COO Shad Ahmed participated in the Google.org Accelerator: Generative AI alongside 21 other social impact organizations. I’m particularly excited about how AI can unlock opportunities for STARs.?
I’m encouraged by the people and institutions - across the public sector, emerging industries, and technology platforms who are listening and putting STARs' voices and data at the center of their talent strategies - here are just a few milestones from the past month:
Dismantling decades of STARs-exclusion will take years of hard work work - together, and on purpose. But the reasons to keep pushing forward are many - 70+ million to be exact - that's the number of workers skilled through alternative routes, rather than a bachelor’s degree. They represent half our U.S. workforce. At Opportunity@Work, we believe that building a labor market that works for 70+ million STARs is not only worth the hard work - but that it’s imperative.
CEO & Co-founder at Opportunity@Work | Forbes Future of Work 50
9 个月You can read the full research behind the finding* cited by Wall Street Journal in the STARs Belonging Survey and Manager Survey section in Opportunity@Work's Rise with the STARs report - done in partnership with researchers Peter Belmi and Catherine Summers (Owsik) https://opportunityatwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Rise-with-the-STARs.pdf * "managers with degrees overestimate the proportion of the workforce who hold degrees, and those misperceptions impact their hiring preferences"
Talent Marketing Consultant | Strategic Communications | Public Speaking Coach | Speaker
9 个月For any marketers/communications professionals who are curious to learn more about the story and success behind the Tear the Paper Ceiling website - there is a free webinar happening Wednesday March 6 with STARs Advisory Council member Kenny Nguyen and Opportunity@Work's Head of Marketing Chris Francica Details and free registration code here: https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/kennynguyen1_b2bmarketing-tearthepaperceiling-marketing-activity-7161387930773577728--fCB?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
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