As a nonprofit focused on closing the country’s opportunity divide, Elyse Rosenblum, founder and managing director, Grads of Life, says, “We go about advancing our mission is by working with employers to support them in changing their human capital practices so that they are skills-first and driving equity through employment.”

WorkingNation sat down with Rosenblum at JFF Horizons in New Orleans.

She says, “Degrees have been a proxy for a lot of hard skills – but, importantly, is someone going to show up on time? Are they professional? Do they know how to write an email? So, when companies really commit to a skills-first talent strategy, they have a piece of work to dig in and understand what are the critical skills in these roles. And then, how do I assess it?”

Rosenblum continues, “If you think about large companies that have large workforces and large frontline workforces, their greatest opportunity is to look at that frontline. Understand the skills their frontline workforce has and how they map to jobs with upward mobility.”

“Those frontline workers already have learned your culture. They already are part of your family. Why not have that be the first place your hiring managers and corporate look to find their talent pipelines?”

Learn more about Grads of Life.