Tag: workforce development

Think Local – Hire Local

by Edu-Advisor, posted in HR Professionals, Marketing Professionals, Workforce Development

Businesses are seeking talent for vacant positions.  Why not consider hiring the person who is bagging your groceries or someone who holds the door for you? We come in contact with great people everyday, yet we turn to job boards to determine who we might employ. Instinctually, we know a good person when we meet them and for entry-level positions and, maybe, mid-level positions it might be more beneficial to your company and your community to think local.

If you need specialized training or skills for your employees turn to the education providers in your community. These local training providers will serve you better and for a fairer price then  “big-box, little content” degree mills that steal, money from the student and the opportunities from your community. If you work with the local education providers, they will help you to create a workforce pipeline that will serve your needs in the future and they will reduce your talent acquisition costs and even improve employee retention rates.

Try contacting your local workforce development teams and even get involved with projects in your community. Local groups offer community-based projects that are reimagining talent development and provide win-win solutions that benefit the employee and the employer.

Technology is cool, but it is only one of many tools that solve the worlds problems. Dream2Career believes that companies should start using collective impact solutions to bring back small town America.  This means using data, but also using logic and intuition. If something makes sense, it doesn’t need to be backed by years of research. It’s time to step back from technology and find new ways to inspire hope and innovation in the next generation workforce.

If you would like to discuss collective impact opportunities for your organization, contact Dream2Career.

Dream2Career (D2C) is a women-owned RPO agency that reimagines talent acquisition and optimizes the system for candidates and employers. D2C provides human-centric solutions that filter-in candidates who exceed expectations in the workplace.

Investment in Talent Pays Off For Businesses

by Edu-Advisor, posted in HR Professionals, Marketing Professionals, Workforce Development

Here are a few reasons to consider investing in talent during this time of record low unemployment.

  1. Using education to attract and retain talent is cost-effective. Paying job boards to post an entry-level, site-base position to reach candidates across the nation, wastes time and resources. Because job boards are keyword driven, they are designed to filter candidates out rather than filter candidates in. Only 35% of career seekers find their job using the position title, which is the main filter when using job boards. Because of the pandemic, candidates are searching for remote positions and the job boards can’t handle this search request uniformly, meaning quality candidates get missed and don’t become part of your prospective applicant pool. A better solution is to work directly with local educational providers when on ramping new talent. Not only can the educational system provide a talent pipeline, but it can also provide motivated candidates who want to grow with your organization. These prospective employees are also invested in the local community making them more likely to stay and thrive within the company.
  2. Here is a link to five studies, conducted in collaboration with the Lumina Foundation, that show talent development is worth the investment for businesses. Education related solutions offer a 5X ROI and inspire hope by upskilling current workers, which builds a community around education.
  3. Communities can work together using education to provide “collective impact”. Organizations have a shared mission to attract and retain qualified talent and organizing locally helps to streamline the messaging by illustrating career onramps that simplify outreach to students and career seekers. Harvard Business Review, recently conducted research with 73 business leaders, and they uncovered the need for this type of collaborative process which includes a “common agenda, explicit goals, metrics to measure success, and a funded “backbone” organization to ensure continuity.” This process can also benefit from a shared communication strategy like the one provided by the Horizontal Industry Framework.
  4. The most innovative companies are using education as a strategic talent advantage. InsideHigherEd and CNBC show how companies like Chipotle, FedEX, and Walmart are using education to attract and retain top talent. These companies are not only using education programs, they are expanding their offerings with new employee-focused training solutions. These companies are offering their workers something more than a paycheck, they are on ramping them into dream careers and providing their employees with a strong sense of belonging. By taking an interest in their employees’ personal and professional growth, they now have loyalty in the culture which provides an opportunity for relationship building in fun and engaging ways, consequently, helping employees to live their best life.

If you would like to discuss opportunities for your organization to use education as a strategic advantage, contact Dream2Career.

Dream2Career (D2C) is a women-owned RPO agency that reimagines talent acquisition and optimizes the system for candidates and employers. D2C provides human-centric solutions that filter-in candidates who exceed expectations in the workplace.

NC-RA Seeking Founding Board Members

by Edu-Advisor, posted in CDFI, Workforce Development

Seeking Industry Partners and Thought Leaders Interested in Developing the Workforce of Tomorrow

PHILADELPHIA, PA, UNITED STATES, January 5, 2020

The National Career-Readiness Association (NC-RA), a forming 501(c)(3), is seeking industry and educational leaders to sit on its founding board charged with developing a National Workforce Recovery Plan (NWRP) that helps students and displaced workers find learning on-ramps leading to sustainable careers. The NC-RA will be built upon four pillars; develop, connect, validate, and advance career-readiness projects in schools and communities. The NC-RA board will be made up of executive leaders who can use the Horizontal Industry Framework (HIF) to develop policy, purpose, and curriculum that supports learning and workforce development initiatives.

The Board will be charged with helping the nation tackle the psychological, educational, and operational challenges of getting students and displaced workers back to work after the COVID-19 crisis decimated communities across the nation. This disaster recovery initiative is designed to inspire hope and promise at a time of greatest need by providing a win-win-win solution for jobseekers, organizations, and communities.

“The National Workforce Recovery Plan is vital to our nation’s success as we emerge from this crisis with promise and purpose.”

— Dr. Kathleen Houlihan, D2C CEO & Creator of the HIF

This initiative will provide a framework for all industries to effectively work together to tackle societal problems and pressing issues like sustainability, privacy and security, diversity and inclusion, and the political divide. The plan will uncover new methods for innovation and change and it will provide a sense of belonging that will move society forward in a positive way. Dr. Kathleen Houlihan, NC-RA’s Acting President, states, “The NC-RA Board’s ability to develop a National Workforce Recovery Plan is vital to our nation’s success as we emerge from this crisis with promise and purpose and as we seek ways to innovate, collaborate, and create thriving organizations and communities.”

The NWRP will create synergies between workforce and education that close achievement gaps by using innovation and collaboration in the work-learn space. The Board will also be working with educators to support the implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which essentially highlights inroads, for students, to high demand and emerging industries matching their career interests.

In 2001, the National Science Foundation (NSF) changed their career fields’ categorization to STEM. Government entities, schools, and industry collectively used the term STEM to identify the skills and integrated knowledge in science, technology, engineering, and math. Because of the popularity and mainstream use of the acronym, schools were able to develop curriculum, government was able to write policy, and industry was able to innovate in all of the STEM fields.

The Horizontal Industry Framework, developed by Dr. Houlihan, uses the same logic as STEM which brings entities from various industries together with shared knowledge of a subject to innovate and collaborate under a shared vision. The HIF does not replace STEM, it expands its initiatives and allows all industry professionals to have a common language that allows for participation and collaboration with government, educators, parents, displaced workers, and interested students. The Horizontal Industry Framework is also inclusive because it reaches diverse genders, races, ages, classes, and communities who can converge around similar interests and objectives.

By including the HIF as the base structure for the National Workforce Recovery Plan, SMEs, educators, and students with similar interests and schools of thought can coalesce to create curriculum, reframe current structures, innovate training on-ramps, and create the workforce of tomorrow.

To learn more about NC-RA, please visit www.nc-ra.org.

About Dream2Career, LLC
Dream2Career, LLC is a specialized intermediary that works with schools, businesses, and workforce groups to create synergies between workforce and education. The D2C mission is to integrate the HIF in ways that help students and career seekers succeed in learning and in life. D2C is a women-owned startup located in Northeastern PA.
To learn more about Dream2Career, LLC, please visit www.dream2career.org.

 

This article first appeared in EIN News

Horizontal Industry Framework

Dream2Career Publishes Framework for National Workforce Recovery Plan to Biden, Cardona, and Incoming Labor Secretary

by Edu-Advisor, posted in Workforce Development

Dream2Career, LLC, an educational intermediary, invites President-Elect Joe Biden, incoming Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and the soon-to-be-announced Secretary of Labor to use the Horizonal Industry Framework to develop a National Workforce Recovery Plan that tackles the psychological, educational, and operational challenges of getting students and displaced workers back to work after the COVID-19 crisis decimated communities across the nation.

The Horizontal Industry Framework (HIF) creates synergies between workforce and education and encompasses all industries and all careers identified by the Department of Labor and curates them into an organized structure that aligns with the Department of Education’s career cluster model and the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Using the HIF allows schools, businesses, and workforce groups to develop policy, purpose, funding, and curriculum that supports learning and innovation that will help communities recover emotionally and financially from the destruction created by the coronavirus. The HIF inspires personal growth, creates a sense of belonging, and provides a common language that creates a stronger, more integrated, work-learn ecosystem.

Like President-Elect Joe Biden, Dream2Career believes that the only way America will succeed is by coming together and reconciling our differences. To achieve this objective, Dream2Career developed a specialized space that allows for collaboration between the emerging industry needs, training on-ramps, and the pool of available workers. This framework allows groups to develop actionable solutions that serve industries, jobseekers, students, educators, and benefits entire communities.

Dream2Career, LLC is forming a non-profit called the National Career-Readiness Association (NC-RA) that will be responsible for developing the National Workforce Recovery Plan using the Horizontal Industry Framework. Dream2Career is seeking founding board members to represent each mega cluster (Specialists, Visionaries, Processors, Protectors, Naturalists, Mavens). These executive positions will be filled by high-level industry leaders and educators who want to build the workforce of tomorrow and who are interested in helping communities recover and thrive under the new administration.

For more information about NC-RA, visit www.nc-ra.org.

About Dream2Career:
Dream2Career, LLC, was established in 2020 to help students and career seekers to find pathways to sustainable careers that match their interests and aspirational goals. D2C is a women-owned startup located in Northeastern PA.

 

This article first appeared on IssueWire

National Challenge: 90 Days to a Career Ready America

National Challenge: 90 Days to a Career-Ready America

by Edu-Advisor, posted in Admissions Professionals, Advice for Workers and Career Seekers, Businesses Work-Learn Insights, HR Professionals, Marketing Professionals, Trending, Work-Learn Solutions for Businesses, Workforce Development

Dream2Career challenges educational leaders to participate in 90 Days to a Career-Ready America. Schools and businesses that offer online experiences like webinars, courses, certificates, badges, degree programs, activities, virtual tours, educational games, learning communities, presentations, camps, educational kits, internships, mentorships, scholarships, incubators, or events for students of any age or ability, can post these experiences in a new way.  Dream2Career quickly connects learning experiences with the appropriate types of students based on their individual interest profiles.

Access to information has become a challenge because there is so much of it. Many organizations are posting lists of online learning resources for students. This is helpful, yet it takes too long for students and parents read through and check each website regarding all the of opportunities on the list, most of which do not apply to each unique circumstance.  These lists are all encompassing and consequently, poorly match to what each specific the learner is trying to achieve. Dream2Career filters learning experiences based on the user’s interests so students can quickly find the relevant information to immediately begin the learning process that matches their interests and aspirations.

Dream2Career is a women-led tech startup that developed a platform for schools and businesses to post online learning experiences in a student-focused way. Students, parents, educators, and career seekers need a resource that quickly matches needs and interests to the appropriate learning on-ramps. Using a unique algorithm, the platform integrates users interests and filters them through the Department of Education’s career clusters making it easy for users to receive only relevant learning experiences.

Some of the Best Planning Occurs in “Captivation”

Because of “shelter in place” rules, families are going to want to find tools that are useful in finding quality experiences to do at home. This unusual form of confinement offers individuals time to plan for their dream life and the best free tool to help families with this process is Dream2Career. NPR followed a group of inmates who completed degrees in prison and found that the learning experiences were able to inspire hope by making the time in confinement easier and more productive.  It is important to be able to see beyond our “incarceration” to life after this horrible pandemic. Using this newly found time to learn and to grow will inspire new ideas and it will create opportunities for a more promising future.

When we learn about things that interest us, innovation and prosperity await us on other side of this national disaster. Students, parents, mentors, and educators can register for free and we will email learning experiences that match the completed interest profile.

If you are a business or a school post learning experiences and help communities to find and prepare for dream careers.

Dream2Career Startup Acceptance

Dream2Career Accepted into Y-Combinator Startup School

by Edu-Advisor, posted in Admissions Professionals, consulting, HR Professionals, Solving the Work-Learn Problem, Work-Learn Solutions for Businesses, Workforce Development

Dream2Career was accepted into Y-Combinator’s Fall Startup Class. Dream2Career recently launched Edu-Advisor, The Ultimate Training Companion, which helps students and career-seekers find and prepare for dream careers. Because Edu-Advisor offers a transformational concept in the work-learn space, the admissions office at Y-Combinator gladly admitted Dream2Career into its prestigious Bootcamp-style program.

Y-Combinator has funded many successful startups in their early stages including Airbnb, Stripe, DoorDash, and Dropbox. Based in Silicon Valley, CA they have one of the largest and most collaborative alumni networks in the industry. This community creates an environment that is conducive to learning and it supports new founders with every aspect of the start-up business. Dream2Career’s founder, Dr. Kathleen Houlihan who has over 20 years of experience in education says, “I have never experienced a more supportive and inspiring group of educators. I am certain that Dream2Career will be successful as a direct result of being involved with the Y-Combinator ecosystem.”

Dream2Career offers consulting services for businesses, schools, and workforce development teams on how to create synergies between workforce and education. Dream2Career has a mission that is focused on helping students find on-ramps to learning experiences leading to high demand and emerging careers. We match student interests with career learning opportunities.

Edu-Advisor is designed to promote learning events and programs that lead to sustainable careers. Users can simply learn about careers that might be of interest them by attending work-based events and programs offered in their communities. More businesses and educators are working together to develop career-readiness programs that help students identify pathways to sustainable careers. Working with insights from industry experts and educators, Edu-Advisor compiles training information and distributes the content in schools and within communities across the nation.

We post events in Edu-Advisor such as Camps, Career Fairs, Job Shadowing, Travel Experiences, Skills Competitions, Hackathons, Career or College Prep, Educational and Historic Tours, Lectures, Webinars, Tutoring, Exam Prep, Gaming, Podcasts, Escape Rooms, and Scavenger Hunts.

We post programs in Edu-Advisor such as Incubators, Certificates, Badges, Internships, Apprenticeships, Associates, Bachelors, Career Coaching, Mentorship, Scholarships, On-The-Job Training, Franchising, and Hire a Successor Projects.

In celebration of our success, we are offering businesses, educators, and workforce development groups the opportunity to post learning events and programs and save 10% off all posting fees by using PROMO CODE: YCombinator before September 25, 2019. Go to Dream2Career.org to register your learning experience. 

Contact Us with questions or if you are interested in partnering to enhance the world of opportunity within your community.

Dream2Career: Our Only Angle is Student Success

by Edu-Advisor, posted in Advice for Workers and Career Seekers, Work-Learn Solutions for Businesses

Every story is written from an angle. Our only angle is to ensure that students are not taken advantage of by the system and that they are provided with the best on-ramps to sustainable careers. Dream2Career writes stories that help students find and prepare for dream careers. We can’t do it alone, we need insights from industry professionals who understand the nuances of each specific industry. Business leaders can recommend workforce-aligned schools, majors, programs and events offering career exploration and preparation matching future needs.

Once this information is collected, Dream2Career organizes and shares business-led insights with students and educators across the nation. We want to write more stories about real solutions that align with emerging industries like the internet of things and artificial intelligence. We also want to allow small business professionals and entrepreneurs to have a stronger voice in creating the workforce of the future. An African proverb states, “It takes a village”. Let’s come together and change the lives of children in our communities.

Dream2Career is a company of educators. We understand that teachers are not the problem but as innovation changes the business environment, teachers need opportunities to engage with the future world of work. Teachers work tirelessly, often for very little money, to help students succeed. For this reason, we are not working with the political climate. We do not want to create a system of extensive regulation. These regulators are robbing our classrooms of the creativity our nation desperately needs.

Therefore to help educators and students connect with businesses, we created a tool called the Edu-Advisor. Edu-Advisor promotes business recommendations and collaboratives in an organized way. Students and educators can filter through relevant content to find the best matches relating to career aspirations. This free resource helps teachers align workforce agendas with the curriculum and projects that they have already designed for their classrooms. In essence, we give the power back to the educator to do what they do best—inspire and teach our next generation workforce.

Join the Rope of Hope Campaign –5 million voices impacting 56 Million Students. Do it for your students, do it for your community.

Need Workers? Submit a Talent Request

by Edu-Advisor, posted in Businesses Work-Learn Insights

Wouldn’t it be great if you could order workforce talent just like you order a new piece of equipment? You enter the technological specks: It needs to be 5G ready, it needs to work with Microsoft Office, and it needs to integrate with all current platforms. Then in a few days, weeks, or months, your product arrives ready for installation into your production schedule.

Now, you can submit a talent request in exactly the same way. All you need to do is complete a Talent Request at https://Dream2Career.org and we will start training individuals to meet your needs. In a few days, weeks, or months; depending on the complexity of your request, we will have your newly trained individuals ready for on-boarding. We will be working with our training partners to ensure that you can hire individuals who fit your exact specifications.

Don’t worry… We always work first with the student in mind. We are creating on-ramps for all industries for students to explore. Using Dream2Career‘s new D2C Directory students and job-seekers have easy access to organized and validated work-learn information from which to learn about and choose careers. The best part for the student is they will see career pathways before they waste their time and money on the wrong training programs. They will also be happier employees when they can easily find career opportunities that matches their interests and aspirations.

The best part for you, as the employer, is that you will have easy access to individuals who exactly match your hiring criteria-because you submitted the request. Retention rates will soar, saving you time and money. We are embarking on this brand new talent strategy, one that truly looks at the process through a completely different lens, but we are certain that in the end, your workforce environment will improve significantly.

You’ve already done all of the work, we just need to move your information from your website and other resources into the Talent Request form so that students can have access to industry information and your recommendations or specks so they know how to “build themselves”. The form is simple there are only a few boxes to click and you can share links to your current career resources. You know.. those great pages you developed that no one ever visits. Working with D2C, you will immediately see increased traffic to those pages. Remember this is a resource for entry-level talent what you say to them is completely up to you. Join us and let’s create the workforce pipeline you’ve always wanted. When you get your wish we will also be helping students succeed and communities flourish.

February 2019 republished from LinkedIn Dr. Kathleen Houlihan’s post