Opportunity@Work has had a
PR bonanza with its
campaign for employers to drop
degree requirements. Now the group wants to “rewire the labor market” by helping workers without degrees land good jobs.
This week the nonprofit
rolled out a pilot project with Youngstown State University in Ohio that will offer free short-term training for jobs at Ultium Cells, a joint venture by General Motors and LG Energy Solutions to mass-produce battery cells for electric vehicles.
The plan is to place 300 workers into jobs at Ultium in coming months, with more jobs to follow soon.
“There is no talent shortage,” says
Bridgette Gray, chief customer officer at Opportunity@Work. “Employers can’t complain about their challenge with talent supply if they don’t change their approach.”
Byron Auguste, a White House official during the Obama administration, founded Opportunity@Work in 2015. The group’s focus is the
70M+ Americans who have a high school diploma or its equivalent as well as the
skills to perform higher-wage work, but who lack a four-year college degree. It says these workers are Skilled Through Alternative Routes, or STARs.
Almost two-thirds (64 percent) of workers in the Youngstown metro area fit this description. Opportunity@Work is partnering with local organizations to help people get onto its
Stellarworx platform, which connects workers with area employers who are committed to skills-based hiring. Northeast Ohio is the fourth market the group has entered with the platform, following the Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., metro areas.
“We recognize skills as a key asset and value a diverse workforce,” says
Tom Gallagher, vice president of operations for Ultium Cells. “The technical components can be taught through on-the-job training.”
Higher Ed’s Role: Colleges and universities can’t keep up with labor market demands, says
Jennifer Oddo, executive director of Youngstown State’s division of workforce education and innovation.
She describes the project as a “new way to address the pipelines into higher education.”
GM and Ultium have made an initial investment of $5M in the effort. The university is serving as the air traffic control, Oddo says, by connecting Opportunity@Work with local high schools and community organizations. It also is administering the 40-hour education and training program for the Ultium hiring path.
The fully online pre-apprenticeship in advanced manufacturing will include skills training in digital literacy as well as in reading and math comprehension. To complete, students must pass a proctored assessment. Ultium, which is an active user on the talent-matching platform, will then hire from among the on-ramp program’s completers, offering apprenticeships that will pay annual wages in the low- to mid-$40K range.
“This is them actually being hired into Ultium,” says Gray, who describes the first 300 jobs as “just the beginning.”
The new training program is noncredit. But Youngstown State offers prior-learning credit to students who earn
professional certificates for pre-apprenticeships and related skills training. And apprenticeships can lead to 30 credits for students who enroll in degree programs at the university.
“What we’re hoping is that we will get them on an education pathway,” says Oddo, so Ultium employees can “chip away at a degree.”
Opportunity@Work wants to expand its work in Ohio by partnering with community colleges and other universities, both public and private. And Youngstown State has big ambitions for its online pre-apprenticeships in battery-cell manufacturing. Oddo says:
“Our goal is to be able to do this at Ultium sites as they expand across the country.”
Beyond Degrees in Maryland: Opportunity@Work notched a win this week with the
announcement by
Larry Hogan, Maryland’s Republican governor, that
the state will eliminate four-year degree requirements for thousands of jobs at government agencies.
Maryland employs roughly 38K workers. And the state’s Department of Budget and Management estimates that more than half of those roles “can substitute relevant experiences, training, and/or community college education for a four-year degree,” according to Hogan’s office. Maryland already has dropped degree requirements for 300 open government jobs that are now listed on Stellarworx.
The federal government took a
similar step toward skills-based hiring during the Trump administration. But Maryland appears to be the first state to do so.
The Kicker: “People shouldn’t be compensated based on their years of education but on their skills to get the job done,”
Hogan said.