The Project on Workforce at Harvard

‘The Evolution of Hiring: What Managers Know About, Think About And Are Doing With Microcredentials’, a new report from Northeastern University Center for the Future of Higher Education and Talent Strategy, explores how hiring managers perceive and utilize microcredentials. “Recent research found that 45% of firms removing degree requirements from job postings showed no significant difference in the share of non-baccalaureate hires, while 20% showed a decrease in hires without degrees. This suggests a need to explore employer behavior more closely to understand where the use of microcredentials in hiring is working and where it is meeting resistance.” Key Highlights: 📌 Managers report that the applicant pool now includes more under qualified candidates, making it challenging to find high quality hires. Microcredentials could provide valuable information to better match candidates to roles. 📌 Many hiring managers value microcredentials as indicators of ambition and learning mindset rather than specific skill competence. 📌 Personal experience with microcredentials among managers significantly influences their hiring decisions. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gV5efDwA Authors: Amanda Welsh, Shannon Alpert, Anne Nanovic, Jamie Warner #hiring #recruitment #microcredentials #talentmanagement #HR

🌟Alongside Northern Virginia Community College and Education Design Lab, we hosted an interactive convening yesterday on NOVA’s campus in Annandale, Virginia. This event brought together community college leadership from across the country for a day filled with panels and hands-on workshops focused on strengthening colleges’ capacity to drive economic mobility and regional growth. We couldn't have done it without all of our amazing speakers. Thanks to Anne Kress, Lee Lambert, Rachel Lipson, Bob Schwartz, Kordell Williams, Stephen Jolly, Chad Knights, Renee Haltom, Joseph Fuller, Bill Hughes, Margaux Fontaine, Tracy Green, David Shahoulian, Steven Partridge, Ian Roark, Paula Chrin Dibley, Jessica Lauritsen, Ed.D., Rufus Glasper, Dee Dee Peaslee, Kay Francis-Garland, Kenneth Adams, Dr. DeAnna R. Burt-Nanna, Matt Hurlbutt, Patricia Clay, Michael A. Baston, J.D., Ed.D.,. And a special thanks to the Axim Collaborative and Stephanie Khurana for your support. Stay tuned for key takeaways later this fall. 🔗If you’re interested in learning more about our research on the innovative practices that position U.S. community colleges as pathways to quality employment, check out the book that inspired this event, “America’s Hidden Economic Engines:” https://lnkd.in/ezYTcaNs

Community college leaders on fire today talking about “ the moment” at a national convening led by two of my fave orgs Education Design Lab and The Project on Workforce at Harvard . This was the place to hear the good news story about colleges looking to industry partnerships fueled by federal economic development grants to look beyond the degree model to “save” college enrollment. Northern Virginia Community College described large scale work based learning partnerships with companies like AWS, whose rep today described NOVA as their “innovation hub.” Intel’s rep is hiring 10,000 new workers at their Ohio semiconductor sites. And has invested $50m to create short term and apprenticeship training programs with the state’s 23 community colleges.

Let’s fix broken career pathways! Join Kerry McKittrick, Co-Director of the Harvard Project on Workforce, as we explore redesigning systems for Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and low-income communities. Discover insights from "Unlocking Economic Prosperity" and help spark change. Register to hear Kerry McKittrick speak here: https://lnkd.in/evrSfwaZ

In BGI Senior Fellow Michael Bernick’s latest piece for Forbes, "The Best Job Training Programs in America”, he spotlights the groundbreaking job training programs that are leading the way in the U.S. Throughout the article, Bernick dives deep into what makes these programs so effective and how they pave the way for meaningful employment and career advancement. He details how early career job training programs like those at McDonald’s can create pathways for workers into better careers, and highlights the importance of entry-level jobs are an on-ramp for new workers to get their start. 🔗 Check out the full article:  https://lnkd.in/g6QAna8c To learn more about The American Opportunity Index, a joint project of The Burning Glass Institute, Schultz Family Foundation, and The Project on Workforce at Harvard, check out: https://lnkd.in/gcgXy_X6 #WorkforceDevelopment #JobTraining #FutureOfWork #BurningGlassInstitute #Forbes #Economy

“The presence of ‘high training’ (HT) middle managers significantly affects the odds of employees being trained.” Today, Faculty Co-Director Raffaella Sadun discussed her paper ‘Training Within Firms’ on the critical role of middle managers and their impact on internal training programs and firm performance at the NBER Summer Institute: https://lnkd.in/gB3_Nqwq Explore the full paper here: https://lnkd.in/geTuAwUf Authors: Raffaella Sadun, Brayan S. Diaz, Andrea Neyra Nazarrett, Julian Ramirez, and Jorge Tamayo Other research being highlighted today at the NBER Summer Institute: https://lnkd.in/gM9czvpz

This morning, watch Raffaella Sadun present on Training Within Firms at the NBER Summer Institute at 9 a.m. ET: https://lnkd.in/gM9czvpz Learn more about her recent article Designing a Successful Reskilling Program, with Jorge Tamayo, in the Harvard Business Review. They identify possible bottlenecks and highlight important areas for improvement in reskilling programs and present key questions that companies should ask when designing and managing them: https://lnkd.in/etiDyDPW

Here are a few of today's presenters at the NBER Summer Institute, Labor Studies convening, happening this week in Cambridge. Watch the livestream here https://lnkd.in/eYt2JQTE [8:30am] Does Wage Inequality Affect the Labor Movement? Zoë Cullen, Harvard University and NBER Julia Gilman, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Nina Roussille, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and NBER [10:20am] Do Commuting Subsidies Drive Workers to Better Firms? David Agrawal, University of California, Irvine Elke Jahn, University of Bayreuth Eckhard Janeba, University of Mannheim [11:25] Low-Wage Jobs, Foreign-Born Workers, and Firm Performance Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes, University of California, Merced Esther Arenas Arroyo, Vienna University of Economics and Business Parag Mahajan, University of Delaware Bernhard Schmidpeter, Johannes Kepler University Linz Find the full agenda of speakers for the NBER Summer Institute: https://lnkd.in/gKXcZCd8

Workplace Insight: Does caring for another person impact worker productivity? 80% of workers said yes, compared to only 25% of employers.   According to a Harvard Business School report, Healthy Outcomes, this discrepancy highlights a major disconnect between employees and employers, as well as an opportunity. The report points to the fact that companies that offer innovative benefits for caregivers can make better hires, mitigate turnover, and increase productivity and morale. The report examined employers that offered caregiver #benefits through a “care concierge” that connects caregivers to planning, administrative, and support services. The payoff was clear. Employers that provided these services reduced absenteeism by up to 50% and even saw a return on investment (ROI) of up to 72%. To learn more about HBS professor Joseph Fuller’s research about #caregivers in the workplace, and what employers can do to support them, visit the HBS Institute for Business in Global Society (BiGS): https://lnkd.in/edwMYgTS. And if you have a story about effective employer caregiving benefits, we’d like to hear about it — reach out to us. #WorkplaceInclusion #Inclusion #Business #Innovation #Harvard #DEI #Caregiving #TheFutureofWork #Productivity #Turnover #ROI #HumanResources #HR #CHRO #Research #ResearchBasedInsights #Absenteeism #Values Project on Managing the Future of Work

"Economic decision-making skill strongly predicts labor earnings in representative samples of full-time workers in the U.S. and Denmark..." Watch a recap of David Deming discussing his paper on Economic Decision-Making Skill today at the NBER Summer Institute: https://lnkd.in/g4Sbiq3J Find the full paper here: https://lnkd.in/gJkWCRE8 Also on the agenda today at the NBER Summer Institute: (https://lnkd.in/gKXcZCd8) Effective and Scalable Programs to Facilitate Labor Market Transitions for Women in Technology Emil Palikot, Stanford University Susan Athey, Stanford University and NBER The Adoption of ChatGPT Anders Humlum, University of Chicago Emilie Vestergaard, University of Copenhagen Wage Insurance for Displaced Workers Benjamin G. Hyman, Federal Reserve Bank of New York Brian Kovak, Carnegie Mellon University and NBER Adam Leive, University of California, Berkeley and NBER