The collaboration aims to help employers in the Orlando region hire more effectively and create more opportunities for jobseekers by providing training in skills-based practices through the Skillful Talent Series.
Orlando, Fla. – The Orlando Economic Partnership and Skillful, a Markle Foundation initiative, announced today a partnership to help employers in the Orlando region hire more effectively and create more opportunities for jobseekers. The collaboration will provide training in skills-based practices through the Skillful Talent Series. This innovative program creates a bridge between the workforce and economic development systems by helping employers identify the skills they need for a role within companies and to recognize those skills in candidates, particularly workers without traditional academic credentials, such as a bachelor’s degrees, who may otherwise be overlooked.
“Talent is by far the most important asset in any company. Finding the right talent is key for most businesses’ success and ultimately the success of our region,” said Tim Giuliani, Partnership president and CEO. “That’s why it’s very important for the Partnership to support our employers by providing the tools they need to implement skills-based practices.”
“This partnership with Skillful is part of a strategy to help companies in different industry sectors discover talent that has been displaced because of the pandemic and recession while also benefiting workers in our region as they seek to develop their skills and find work that is both meaningful and improves quality of life for them and their families.”
Tim Giuliani, Partnership president and CEO
First established in Colorado and now expanded to Indiana and Rhode Island, Skillful is dedicated to enabling all Americans – particularly those without a four-year college degree – to secure good jobs in a changing economy.
How Skillful Works
The Partnership is working with Skillful to bring Skillful-developed tools and strategies to employers in the region. The Skillful Talent Series, a Society of Human Resources Management (SHRM)-certified workshop program, makes the case for the switch to skills-based practices and provides implementation guidance. This includes digital tools, such as the Skillful Job Posting Generator, a free tool employers can use to take the first steps in adoption by easily creating a skills-based job posting.
The partnership aims to create a network of Orlando-based Skillful Talent Series facilitators, from local workforce organizations, who will conduct programs with their stakeholders to spread the adoption of skills-based practices in each moment of the talent management lifecycle: hiring, assessment, onboarding, and retention.
Background on the Partnership’s Thought-Leadership in Skills-Hiring
This summer, JPMorgan Chase awarded the Partnership’s Foundation for Orlando’s Future $125,000 grant to support research and program development in correspondence to a regional skills-based hiring platform. Post-COVID-19, the platform will be critical to ensuring equitable hiring practices, providing research on upskilling needs to address automation, and developing new career pathways that create upward mobility.
Skills-based hiring, the subject of the Foundation’s special report, Re-Imagining Orlando’s Talent Supply funded by the JPMorgan Chase grant, is a strategy that generates value for both employers and applicants by creating skill-focused job descriptions and evaluating candidates based on distinct skillsets vs. experience. It requires a mindset shift—one that encourages an employer to evaluate an individual’s skills and abilities instead of background, and rethink job requirements. When implemented, skills-based hiring helps fill jobs quickly, retains talent, diversifies an organization’s talent pipeline, and helps provide a greater awareness of skill attainment and critical upskilling needs.
For more information, please contact Laureen.Martinez@Orlando.org or at 407-242-3982.
About Skillful
Skillful, a non-profit initiative of the Markle Foundation, is dedicated to enabling all Americans – particularly those without a four-year college degree – to secure good jobs in a changing economy. In partnership with Microsoft and others, Skillful is developing skills-based training and employment practices in collaboration with state governments, local employers, educators and workforce development organizations. Skillful and its partners are working to create a labor market in which skills are valued, and people can more easily access the information and education they need to keep pace with technology’s impact on work. Skillful currently operates in Colorado, Indiana, and Rhode Island bringing investment, training, tools and innovative methods to augment local workforce development efforts. It formed and facilitates the Skillful State Network, a collaboration among 30 state governors plus the Mayor of Washington DC, to accelerate the development and deployment of effective skills-based practices to transform their labor markets. Skillful is grateful for support provided by its partners, including Lumina, Microsoft, Purdue University, Purdue Extensions, and Walmart and the states of Colorado and Indiana.
