For Field Leaders
What the Field Is Missing
Workforce development has spent decades getting better at one thing: preparing STARs (Skilled Through Alternative Routes) to do the job. Occupational credentials. Resume development. Interview practice. LinkedIn profiles. These are real skills, and the field delivers them well.
The job search skill gets taught too. But for a significant portion of STARs, it doesn't always get used.
The Belief Gap
The barrier isn't always a skills gap or a credential gap. It's the belief that an employer would want to hear from them — a belief shaped by generational patterns of limited opportunity and by credential-filtering systems that repeatedly said they did not qualify. That belief doesn't change through instruction. It changes through experience — the experience of reaching out and being heard.
Skills-based hiring is making genuine progress on the demand side of the labor market. The paper ceiling is cracking. But demand-side progress doesn't complete what supply-side practice leaves unfinished.
The Evidence in Progress
Opportunity@Work has selected this methodology for a curriculum validation pilot, currently in its preparation phase, designed to generate evidence-based data on how a structured, proactive job search discipline changes engagement and behavior among the STARs population.
Read the Full Argument
I've written a position paper on this titled "Half a Preparation." You can download it directly below, or email me if you'd like to start a conversation about it.
40 years in career education. Founder, The Proactive Job Seeker.
"Half a Preparation"
Download the position paper directly, or email me if you'd like to talk about what it means for your work.