Work-based learning can better prepare college students for the workforce

A conversation with Jane Swift, president, Education at Work

March 18, 2025

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In this episode of Work in Progress, I’m joined by Jane Swift, president of Education of Work, for a discussion on the importance of work-based learning in preparing college students for careers and how the national nonprofit is championing the mission.

Recent grads trying to launch their careers sometimes find they don’t have the experience that employers are looking for to fill their open jobs, even entry-level jobs. Education at Work is trying to bridge that gap between academics and the workforce by connecting college students with top employers to give them valuable work experience.

Swift explains that Education at Work is hired by these employers to fill specific roles and are given a certain number of hours to cover. She says there are other organizations out there providing contract workers, but “the real magic happens because we are one of the few, maybe the only provider who is doing this at scale with college students in a part-time role.

“Our students actually prefer the times that many full-time employees do not want to work. We’ll work on weekends. We will work evenings, and the definition of evenings is even different for our students. That also allows us to schedule them in hours that don’t conflict with their academic responsibilities.”

Swift says that while some employers have been initially hesitant to hire young adults in college, but they are persuaded by the data that shows these college students are exceptional employees.

“We have super ambitious, hardworking students and that I think is a surprise to them. We can show them that ‘yes, you can use college students in a part-time role to fill a job, you’re already struggling to fill with a full-time worker.’

“And having that data is really why we think we’re growing so fast right now because folks are like, ‘Whoa. Your students perform better than seven other outsourced providers who are using the traditional model.”

Swift says this model has been shown to help students, many of whom are from underrepresented backgrounds, develop the skills and experience needed to secure good first jobs after graduation.

Listen to the entire podcast to learn about the types of jobs these college students are working in, and how Education at Work is working to support students holistically to help them navigate their transition to the professional world.

You can listen to the podcast here or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also find our podcasts on the Work in Progress YouTube channel.

Episode 356: Jane Swift, President, Education at Work
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Transcript: Download the transcript for this episode here
Work in Progress Podcast: Catch up on previous episodes here

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Dana Beth Ardi

Executive Committee

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.