⬇️ Inside this issue:

• How skills-based hiring gets you more women in leadership

• Guest writer: “What 29 years of my career taught me about skills over status”

• Our picks for what to read, watch, and listen this week

INTERESTING READS

🪞 Vanity titles might sound impressive, but they could be repelling the right candidates.

👨🏽‍🎓Gen Z wants growth, not just perks. Professional development is their love language.

🌾 America’s farm workforce is aging, but women are rising in the ranks.

🌈 DEI isn’t disappearing. The Department of Labor’s former chief diversity officer weighs in on what’s next.

LEADERSHIP

Want More Women in Leadership? Here’s How Skills-Based Hiring Gets You There

So you want to close the gender gap at your company. That’s great. But if your job descriptions still lead with “Bachelor’s degree required” and your candidate filters still prioritize pedigree over proof of ability, then we need to talk.

Skills-based hiring isn’t just a trend—it’s a tactical move. And if you actually want to bring more women into leadership, it’s one of the most actionable ways to do it.

Here’s how to actually do skills-based hiring in a way that helps women rise.

1) Rework your job descriptions

Start by asking this: What does success in this role look like—and what skills are required to get there?

• Strip out fluff like “must have 7+ years of experience” if it’s not tied to actual job outcomes.

• Focus on outcomes: “Build and launch a customer onboarding workflow that reduces churn by 10%.”

• Need help? Use tools like O*NET or this Skills-Based JD Template to ground your descriptions in real competencies.

2) Test skills, not history

When you rely on résumés, you’re playing a guessing game. Want to know if someone can lead a team? Give them a collaborative case scenario. Want to know if they can build a campaign? Ask them how they’d approach a real-world problem.

• Use tools like Vervoe, Applied, or TestGorilla to assess skills directly.

• Keep it standardized so every candidate gets a fair shot.

• These assessments reduce the “confidence gap,” a common hurdle for women who may opt out of applying if they don’t meet every requirement.

3) Create transparent, skills-based promotion paths

The gender gap doesn’t stop at hiring. It widens with each rung of the ladder.

• Use internal skills frameworks to outline exactly what’s needed for promotion—and make those frameworks public.

• Offer upskilling opportunities tied to those competencies (think Coursera, edX, or internal L&D).

• Encourage managers to coach based on skills, not likeability or “potential” (which research shows is biased against women).

4)Audit your hiring funnel for bias

Want to know where women are falling off? Track it.

• Pull data on who’s applying, who’s advancing, and who’s getting offers. Slice it by gender.

• Watch for red flags like high dropout rates after assessments or panel interviews.

• Train hiring managers to recognize and avoid gender-coded feedback like “she wasn’t assertive enough” or “not quite a culture fit.”

6)Remove the burden of translation

Many women (especially career switchers, caregivers returning to work, or veterans) have skills that don’t fit neatly into traditional buckets. Help them tell their story.

• Use LERs (Learning & Employment Records) and digital credentials to give candidates a verified, portable way to showcase what they can do—not just where they’ve been.

• Consider adding this to your job posts: “If you have the skills, we’re interested! Even if your background looks nontraditional, we encourage you to apply.”

The takeaway

If your hiring process still starts with “upload your résumé,” you’re likely filtering out brilliant, capable women before they ever get in the door.

But if you:

• Center roles around outcomes,

• Assess candidates based on what they can actually do,

• Create clear internal mobility maps,

• And stop penalizing nonlinear career paths…

You don’t just increase your female applicant pool. You unlock a workforce that’s more dynamic, innovative, and equitable.

Want to put this into action? Start with your next job post. We’ve got a template waiting for you 👉 Download it here.

WEBINAR

Navigating workforce policy in 2024

Key decisions are being made in Washington that will shape the future of workforce programs across the country. Join the National Skills Coalition for an in-depth federal policy update on Monday, June 16 from 3:30–4:30pm ET.

During this one-hour webinar, NSC’s Government Affairs team will share the latest developments from Capitol Hill and what they mean for your work. The session will cover:

• The current state of reconciliation and the federal budget process

• What’s included in the President’s budget proposal

• Actionable steps you can take to support workforce and training programs in your state

Time will be reserved for live Q&A. This is a valuable opportunity to stay updated on the federal landscape and ensure your strategies remain aligned with national policy priorities.

👉 Register now to join the conversation.

CAREER

What I’ve learned in my 29 year career about skills over status

I’ve got more letters after my name than a bowl of alphabet soup - BS, MS, dual-title PhD - in addition to a professional certificate and decades of experience in research, teaching, and leading programs within the Cooperative Extension System. You’d think that would make me a die-hard degree evangelist.

But…not quite.

My wake-up call came in 2003 during an annual evaluation. My boss told me I was just “meh” in the standard interview, but what really clinched the job was how I nailed the practical Q&A on landfill design and leachate management.

Funny thing is, I’d only been to a landfill once during college. My degree in Soil Science didn’t directly teach landfill design.

And that theme has played on repeat across my career.

Sure, degrees helped me get in the room. But it was my skills—most of them earned outside of formal education—that helped me thrive, grow, and lead complex projects across Alaska, Maine, and beyond.

Looking back, this story has played out again and again over the ensuing 22 years. My degrees opened doors, but the skills I built, most post-undergraduate, are what advanced my career. As a non-traditional student in grad school, I felt this disconnect. What coursework prioritized didn’t always align with what mattered in my ‘real world’ experiences.

This disconnect is at the heart of why the skills conversation matters. Degrees are signals, but skills and competency are the real currency.

There's a social contract among academia, earners/learners, and employers. Ideally:

• Learners gain skills to navigate careers and contribute to society.

• Employers get skilled labor and new ideas.

• Academia gains enrollment, input, and public support.

But that contract has frayed.

Degrees no longer guarantee ROI. Employers struggle to find talent. Academia faces declining enrollments and funding. And talented, skilled individuals get passed over for less competent but better-credentialed candidates.

To fix this, we need to re-center on skills:

• Skills are versatile. Many transfer across domains, just like a hammer isn’t just for nails.

• Educational products must align with real-world needs. Otherwise, the credential is just empty currency.

• Employers must rethink hiring. Skills and competency don’t always show up on paper.

• Learners must treat their skills like a toolbox. Competency is knowing which tool to use, when, and being flexible enough to use it outside its original context.

Digital credentials offer a path forward. They’re portable, flexible, and can be integrated with systems like LMSs, LERs, and wallets. They meet learners and employers where they are, refresh easily, and scale cost-effectively.

That matters, because most future learners won’t be “traditional students.” They’re juggling jobs, families, and life. They don’t want three lectures a week. Non-traditional students are now the majority.

Skills-based badging can be a gateway to deeper education. Introducing learning in small bites might lead to degree programs or certificate enrollment.

Rethinking skills and competency as fluid, powerful tools can help rebuild the social contract. The institutions that embrace this, especially online, work colleges,  and community colleges, are already reaping the rewards.

BY THE NUMBERS

78% of employers reported a decrease in turnover among employees hired through skills-based hiring.

_{Source: 2020 study conducted by the ManpowerGroup}

READ, WATCH, LISTEN

Our recommendations to check out over the weekend, or during your next walk or workout to further your knowledge about LERs and digital credentials.

📖 Read: The Full Story: Community Colleges - Now, Tomorrow, and Into a Skills-Based Future by Edalex.

📺 Watch: “Untapped”, a new documentary makes the case for skills-based hiring.

🎧 Listen: “The next 5 years of digital credentialing” by Credentials Unscripted.

JOB OPPORTUNITIES

🔔 Open Roles

• AVP, Workforce of the Future @ USAA - San Antonio, TX

• Portfolio Manager, Family Philanthropy @ The Tepper Foundation - NYC

• Director, Global Communications - Philanthropy @ Walmart, AR

FOR FUN’SIES

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