Resources

Half of College Grads Are Working Jobs That Don’t Use Their Degrees

Roughly half of college graduates end up in jobs where their degrees aren’t needed, and that underemployment has lasting implications for workers’ earnings and career paths.

Source: The Wall Street Journal,
February 2024

Why Pre-Skilling, Not Reskilling, Is The Secret To Better Employment Pipelines

To help build adaptability and resilience into their workforce, more organizations are prioritizing job candidates who show the ability to learn over time.

Source: Forbes,
January 2024

Companies Care More About Skills Than Degrees

According to LinkedIn data shared with CNBC Make It, 45% of companies are now explicitly using skills-related metrics to find candidates, 12% more than a year ago.

Source: CNBC,
June 2023

How to Address the Skills Gap

The United States is facing a growing skills gap that threatens the nation’s long-term economic prosperity. The workforce simply does not have enough workers and skilled candidates to fill an ever-increasing number of high-skill jobs. Because a high-quality workforce is the most important determinant of business success, challenges related to hiring the best people have a direct influence on an organization’s competitiveness today and in the future.

Source: SHRM,
January 2023

The skills gap is so big that nearly half of workers will need to retrain this decade

The skills gap is so big that it’s one of the main barriers preventing companies from modernizing their business model, companies told WEF. There’s clearly a need for training and reskilling; to keep up with the fast-shifting landscape, WEF finds, nearly half (44%) of an individual worker’s skills need to be updated.

Source: Fortune,
May 2023

Rekindling US productivity for a new era

In October 2022, there were 10.3 million job openings according to the Census Bureau, but many business leaders complain of not being able to find qualified workers. At the same time, labor force participation rates have fallen to 62 percent from a high of 67 percent in the late 1990s, as workers are unable or unwilling to find work that matches their skills.

Source: McKinsey Global Institute,
February 2023

5 ways a ‘skills-first’ approach unlocks access to future jobs

For employers, a skills-first approach creates a significantly more robust talent pipeline and helps to address skills shortages.

Source: World Economic Forum,
January 2023

Job interviews are a nightmare — and only getting worse

Employers are constantly finding new hoops for candidates to jump through.

Source: Vox,
January 2023

Early career talent is trainable, eager and loyal

Tapping into early career talent can help companies fill positions faster

Source: CNBC,
October 2022

The skills-based organization: A new operating model for work

Skills based organizations are 107% more likely to effectively place talent

Source: Deloitte Insights,
September 2022

Additional Recommendations from McKinsey

Prepare for the future war for talent:

Rethink hiring to reduce focus on credentials and instead value experience.
Invest in on-the-job training and rotation programs that build your talent bench.
Expand policies on childcare, elder care, and parental leave to retain top talent.
Partner with public- and social-sector organizations to reskill workers at scale.

Accelerate business reinvention:

Commit to your digital transformation with bold goals and shared accountability.
Complement technology investments with R&D, brands, and other intangibles to reimagine core business operations.
Retool your organization to build the capacity and flexibility for reinvention.
Invest in technology-ready talent at all levels to lead and deliver the change.

Source: McKinsey Global Institute, February 2023