Skills-first hiring has traction but still has some way to go, says Maria Flynn, CEO of Jobs for the Future (JFF).
Flynn joined WorkingNation’s editor-in-chief Ramona Schindelheim for and interview for WorkingNation Overheard at her organization’s annual conference, JFF Horizons, in Washington, D.C.
She says that to move skills-first hiring forward, we really need to be “thinking about skills as a currency where you can demonstrate (it) in a tangible way, ideally through a digital wallet that can move with you from school to employment and from employer to employer,” says Flynn. “And again, that’s happening now in pockets, but we want to see that really happening at scale.”
Regarding good jobs, she says, “We have a quality jobs framework at JFF, and we see it as having four elements, so obviously, fair compensation, worker agency, worker advancement, and stability. We see those four pieces coming together to make a quality job.
“I think another thing that makes our view a little unique is that obviously employers are key to making this happen, but we really see it as an ecosystem issue that all players that we work with in this system have a role to play in generating and preparing folks for good jobs. So, whether it’s a community college or a workforce board or a community-based organization or an employer – we should all be looking at that as our North Star.”
At the conference, Flynn also announced the organization is partnering with ASA (American Student Assistance) to create a center to help young people, ages 16-24, better navigate postsecondary education and career pathways.
Learn more about Jobs for the Future.
WorkingNation Overheard at JFF Horizons 2024 was made possible through funding from EnGen.
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Dana Beth Ardi, PhD, Executive Committee, is a thought leader and expert in the fields of executive search, talent management, organizational design, assessment, leadership and coaching. As an innovator in the human capital movement, Ardi creates enhanced value in companies by matching the most sought after talent with the best opportunities. Ardi coaches boards and investors on the art and science of building high caliber management teams. She provides them with the necessary skills to seek out and attract top-level management, to design the ideal organizational architectures and to deploy people against strategy. Ardi unearths the way a business works and the most effective way for people to work in them.
Ardi is an experienced business executive and senior consultant who leverages business organizational transformation through talent strategies. She uses her knowledge and experience to develop talent strategies to enhance revenue and profit contributions. She has a deep expertise in change management and organizational effectiveness and has designed and built high performance cultures. Ardi has significant experience in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, IPO’s and turnarounds.
Ardi is an expert on the multi-generational workforce. She understands the four intersecting generations of workers coming together in contemporary companies, each with their own mindsets, leadership and communications styles, values and motivations. Ardi is sought after to assist companies manage and thrive by bringing the generations together. Her book, Fall of the Alphas: How Beta Leaders Win Through Connection, Collaboration and Influence, will be published by St. Martin’s Press. The book reflects Ardi’s deep expertise in understanding organizations and our changing society. It focuses on building a winning culture, how companies must grow and evolve, and how talent influences and shapes communities of work. This is what she has coined “Corporate Anthropology.” It is a playbook on how modern companies must meet challenges – culturally, globally, digitally, across genders and generations.
Ardi is currently the Managing Director and Founder of Corporate Anthropology Advisors, LLC, a consulting company that provides human capital advisory and innovative solutions to companies building value through people. Corporate Anthropology works with organizations, their cultures, the way they grow and develop, and the people who are responsible for forming their communities of work.
Prior to her position at Corporate Anthropology Advisors, Ardi served as a Partner/Managing Director at the private equity firms CCMP Capital and JPMorgan Partners. She was a partner at Flatiron Partners, a venture capital firm working with early state companies where she pioneered the human capital role within an investment portfolio.
Ardi holds a BS from the State University of New York at Buffalo as well as a Masters degree and PhD from Boston College. She started her career as professor at the Graduate Center at Fordham University in New York.
