Skills-First Talent Movement Continues to Grow

Co-authored by Beth Cobert , acting president of the Markle Foundation and Maria Flynn , president and CEO of Jobs for the Future (JFF)

There’s a shift happening, led by early movers and change leaders, and now expanding from niche circles to corporate boardrooms—skills-first practices are taking hold.

It’s not a new idea to look beyond qualifications and previous job titles when hiring, but as employers struggle to fill open roles and build more diversity in their workforce, there’s an increasing appetite to take a different approach across talent management practices. Skills-first practices provide tried and tested ways that organizations of any size can immediately start to find new sources of talent, build more equity into how they hire, and advance their workforce.

However, change is never easy. It’s not a matter of simply dropping degree requirements but developing and implementing policies and practices that ensure job seekers can cultivate in-demand skills, find jobs, navigate the hiring process, and receive the additional training and support they need to access quality jobs and advance in their careers. While employers have a critical role to play, we need a comprehensive approach to truly move the needle. ?

This is why Markle Foundation and Jobs for the Future (JFF) recently announced the transfer of Markle’s marquee skills-first initiative—the Rework America Alliance—to JFF to expand the work on a greater scale.

The Alliance is a unique collaboration of civil rights organizations, education providers, labor unions, private sector employers, and others, all working to help millions of U.S. workers without a degree build skills and move into quality jobs. As the country embraces the skills-first movement, JFF is a natural new home for the Rework America Alliance.?

When Markle began its focus to transform America’s outdated labor market a decade ago, skills-first approaches were relatively unknown, but we’re now at an inflection point, with a rapidly growing number of companies, states—and even the federal government —recognizing the importance of a skills-first approach to hiring and talent management.?In order for new approaches like skills-based hiring to scale, we need to streamline the solution and make it easier for stakeholders to find, use and leverage the necessary tools. Consolidating and coordinating efforts is an important step in achieving this and maximizing collaborative impact. Markle’s vision has always been to step up to catalyze a sector and then step back and let others take the reins if that’s what it takes to achieve systems-level impact. And so, Markle has transitioned the Rework America Alliance to JFF. Under JFF’s leadership, the current employer-focused work of the Alliance and the career coaching support will continue.

JFF is well positioned to advance the work of the Alliance through its established networks and initiatives, to help the Alliance drive impact at and even greater scale. In turn, the Alliance’s existing infrastructure and resources will play a significant role in JFF’s recently announced North Star goal to help 75 million people facing systemic barriers to advancement move into quality jobs within the next 10 years.?

So, we ask you to join us in coming together to build on this momentum by looking at how you can adopt a skills-first approach or encourage others to do so—and in turn to help build a more equitable labor market that allows everyone access to jobs that provide family-sustaining wages and economic mobility.