Empowering employers to increase diversity, improve hiring, and help move to establish an economy that works for all

Getting America Back to Work: Connecting Displaced Workers With Good Jobs

Tools to Get Started

The Rework America Alliance is working with leading employers and advocacy and civic organizations to help displaced workers, particularly those of color, move into quality, in-demand jobs as the economy rebounds so that we can create a more equitable recovery. To support that work, we are working with leading employers from the Alliance and the Rework America Business Network, their partners, and members of their supply chains to develop a coalition of employers, large and small, committed to using inclusive, skill-based sourcing and hiring strategies to meet their talent needs, increase diversity, and help get Americans back to work. Taking a skills-based approach will enable companies to leverage the skills and abilities of workers who have been displaced by COVID-19, enabling them to quickly fill positions with a talented, diverse set of workers when they are ready to hire.

To make it easier for employers to adopt inclusive sourcing and hiring practices, we are developing a series of implementation tools and resources. This is the first version of these tools. We will continue to refine them and release enhanced versions over the coming months. We encourage companies to get started NOW in putting these new approaches to work – even if that means starting with a narrower set of roles that you expect to hire for over the next year. Making changes now will enable you to apply lessons learned to a broader set of hiring needs increase.

• Sourcing & Hiring “Quick Start” Playbook – Step-by-step guidance, case studies, tools and resources, and tips from leading employers to help organizations adopt a skills-based strategy and bring talented workers from new sources and backgrounds to your organization

• Job-specific Hiring Toolkit – Ready-to-use, customizable job postings, interview guides, onboarding plans, and other tools for specific roles that are expected to experience job growth and are accessible to large numbers of displaced workers. Toolkits for additional jobs will be added on an ongoing basis and we will focus the early toolkits on good jobs where demand will be stronger as the economy recovers and where workers displaced by the pandemic can be strong candidates based on the skills they have or can quickly build with affordable, accessible, effective targeted training.
    ◦ Computer User Support Specialist
    ◦ Cyber Security Analyst
  
• Skillful Talent Series – e-Learning platform with practical guidance and support to help employers and employer intermediaries implement an inclusive, skills-based strategy. This new digital training version of Skillful’s market-tested, SHRM-certified training allows HR professionals and hiring managers to learn remotely.
  
  

Other tools to get started:

• Skillful Job Posting Generator Create free, ready-to-use, customizable skills-based jobs postings
• HRIT “How-to guides” – Overviews on how to use existing functionality at major HRIT vendors to support the adoption of inclusive, skills-based practices.*
    ◦ Workday
    ◦ Other vendor overviews coming in 2021
  

*Please note that these overviews are posted ‘as is’ as resources to users of this website and do not constitute an endorsement of any organization or specific practices by Markle, Skillful, the Rework America Alliance or any Alliance member.

Join Leading Employers and National Advocacy Organizations

"Employers will play a critical role in determining whether the recovery from this crisis creates opportunity for all. At Microsoft, we are committed to broadening our skills-based assessment approach to recognize ability regardless of where it was acquired"
- Lauren Gardner, Corporate VP, Global Talent Acquisition, Microsoft

“Without substantial changes to how employers source and hire talent, this crisis will follow the model of past recessions and leave millions of Latinx workers and other workers of color behind. We need employers at the table to drive an equitable recovery, and we’re prepared to help them do that.”
- Peggy McLeod, Deputy VP of Education and Workforce Development, UnidosUS

A Skills-Based Strategy Reduces Bias and Improves Hiring

Employers committing to action with the Rework America Alliance are adopting the following skills-based sourcing and hiring practices for target roles* at their organization:

Screening & Sourcing

• Write inclusive, skills-based job posting with required and preferred competencies for the role.
• Remove degree and years of experience requirements.
• Mask applicant name on resume review to select interviewees.

Interview & Selection

• Ensure an interview pool contains multiple candidates with a diverse mix of experiences and educational attainment
• Create and utilize a skills-based interview guide and ensure all applicants are asked the same questions.
• Use rubrics to evaluate candidates on interviews and assessments.


*Employers are focusing on roles where they have hiring needs and where a displaced worker without a 4-year degree could gain the skills needed for the role with limited additional training. These roles offer good wages, benefits, and a path to advancement.

Skills-Based Hiring - A Proven Approach:

• 5x better hiring: Research shows that hiring for skills is 5x more predictive of job performance than hiring for education and 2.5x more predictive than hiring for work experience
• Improved engagement: Workers who strongly agree that the job description was a good reflection of their job are 2.5 times more likely to be engaged as an employee.
• Increased equity: Women tend to apply to jobs only when they meet 100% of job requirements, while men apply if they meet 60%.

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