Dive Brief:
- Traditional work training programs are quickly becoming obsolete, reports ECampus News. Today, organizations are getting better results from competency-based programs in hiring and training their workforces.
- Innovate+Educate, a national nonprofit, released their report Shift Happens: The Entrepreneurs, Wonks, and Investors Revolutionizing the Learning-to-Employment Landscape that details how employers can close the skills gaps by developing more competency based learning programs using new learning models.
- Workforce data shows that there are around 11 million adults in the USA without a 4-year degree, but they have professional certifications and licenses that make them eligible for employment. That is the market that competency-based employment programs can make the most difference within.
Dive Insight:
In a time when there are massive skill shortages in the fastest growing industries in America, companies are actively seeking out ways to bring in great candidates and train them effectively to take on new roles. The competency-based employment system seems to be a viable way of accomplishing this goal, as evidenced by the report above. However, companies are not equipped to handle this type of employment arrangement, so recruiters continue to seek out candidates who already have relevant degrees and experience.
Will the US be able to catch up at some point? Will there be enough companies that will step up to provide displaced candidates the opportunity to learn new job skills based on their own abilities? This remains to be seen, and perhaps Innovate+Educate's study will set the bar high for companies to try and reach.
