Social Innovation, Inc.: 5 Strategies for Driving Business Growth through Social Change

Chapter 7. STRATEGY FOUR: DEVELOP NEW PIPELINES FOR TALENT

Talent has never been harder to find. And it's not because there's a labor shortage (in fact, unemployment rates are now at a sixteen-year high). Rather, companies are talent-starved because the pace of business is changing more rapidly than the pace of education. Fewer people have the specific skills companies are looking for, even in entry-level positions. That's where the next social innovation comes in: pipelining talent. As we'll see, the U.S. education system is failing to produce job-ready students. Rather than bemoaning the situation, more and more companies are taking action, creating alternative education pathways that will better prepare young (and not-so-young) people for jobs ...