A Year of Action for STARs: 2024 Reflections

Thank you for joining us on this journey to remove barriers and open up pathways for the 70+ million STARs - workers skilled through alternative routes, rather than a bachelor’s degree. 

Opportunity@Work 's research reframed the problem to solve: it now takes 30 years of work experience for a STAR to reach the starting wage of a college graduate on average. While employers worry about a “skills gap," 30 million STARs have the skills for jobs that pay at least 50% more for in-demand roles across industries. The root cause: today’s labor market does not "see" skills for half our nation’s skilled workers.

This is why in 2022 we launched a movement - the Tear the Paper Ceiling coalition - to bring STARs to the national forefront as a valued talent category. Our coalition of over 75 partners has generated 6.5 billion impressions, and 4+ million website visits in partnership with the Ad Council - underscoring the resonance of the campaign’s core message “if you can do the job, you should get the job.”

Opportunity@Work’s 2024 focus has been moving awareness into action for STARs. Across governments, companies, and technology platforms, we and our Tear the Paper Ceiling (TTPC) partners are enabling the adoption of skills-first hiring practices and the activation of STARs-hiring into upwardly-mobile jobs and careers based on skills, not pedigree.

Breaking Barriers for STARs in Public Sector Jobs

• Since our first work with Maryland in 2022, 25 states have removed unnecessary degree requirements from public sector jobs. This bipartisan support for “tearing the paper ceiling” has unlocked over 554,000 roles for STARs, and the federal government continues to take action too. Through Opportunity@Work’s Public Sector Hub and “Transformers in the Public Sector” initiative, we’re directly working with six of these states to deploy skills-first hiring practices over the next year. This has already had a measurable impact on STARs mobility. Since federal, state, and local governments employ millions, its direct potential is huge. Since the public sector does its work in public, this opens public service to skilled state residents from all backgrounds and regions (e.g., rural) and inspires the private sector to follow.

Driving Employer Demand for STARs

• Across the Tear the Paper Ceiling’s employer partners, 60% of job postings are now accessible to STARs, up from 35% the previous year. When asked about STARs, 50% of employers are now familiar with the term.* Smart employers are realizing that without a STARs talent strategy, they only have half a talent strategy. Major companies are making the business case for STARs not just internally, but to their customers as well: Indeed - the world’s largest hiring and matching platform - made the case for STARs talent to 800+ HR leaders at its FutureWorks conference and STARs insights were shared at the Workday Rising conference - an event with 30,000+ in-person and online attendees.  

Trane Technologies is pioneering a STARs talent strategy for clean energy. Since joining the coalition last year. Trane launched a four-year HVAC apprenticeship program intentionally for STARs and removed degree requirements for 50+ positions. "Tearing the paper ceiling is a win-win for our company, for our talent, and for our customers," shares Rod Cook , Director, Trane North American Service Operations.  It’s a great example of how Trane is acting out its vision that “one company can change an industry, and one industry can change the world.” See the video here:

Insights to Impact - Using Data to Inform AI-Driven Hiring Platforms

As I shared at this year’s ASU+GSV Summit with Reid Hoffman and 70 leaders - “AI” could stand for "Amplified Intention" as a tool, our intentions matter most. If you aim to screen out everyone without a certain degree - AI will screen STARs out. But, if we decide instead to use AI to screen STARs in based on a diverse range of signals of relevant skills, then we can scale a skills-first labor market and win the war for talent. For example - across TTPC members: 

• We’re leveraging our STARs’ skills data with TTPC member Jobcase, Inc. -  a leading technology and AI company that provides a talent marketplace and social platform for jobseekers - including a new AI Career Counselor powered by the STARs Mobility Data Model.
• TTPC member Google selected Opportunity@Work to join their inaugural GenAI non-profit accelerator to explore how AI can scale STARs hiring. 
• Indeed shared its intention to use AI to unlock skills-first hiring at platform scale for its millions of users: “AI gives us the opportunity to analyze both job descriptions and resumes to find out what key skills are needed to succeed,” says Hannah Calhoon, Vice President of Product at Indeed. Such innovation must take great care to avoid bias, but pursuing skills-based inclusion "on purpose" is a vital start. As the Indeed team notes, “Generative AI can help employers recognize the capabilities STARs bring to the table.”

Join the Movement 

It's encouraging to see so many organizations spreading the message to “Tear the Paper Ceiling.” This year marked the release of the documentary UNTAPPED, which shines a bold light on STARs and the imperative for skills-based hiring. Produced by #TearThePaperCeiling champion partner Workday, UNTAPPED interviews leaders embracing skills-first hiring, including Mark Cuban General Motors CEO Mary Barra , JPMorganChase CEO Jamie Dimon , Walmart CEO Doug McMillon , Workday Co-Founder Aneel Bhusri , Workday CEO Carl Eschenbach , Year Up United Founder Gerald Chertavian , and more. Most importantly, the inspiring heart of this film are the striving working learners of Year Up United whose journeys it follows.

“Hearing CEOs and Founders of major companies openly discuss the need for changes in the workforce and recognizing that skills, not just degrees, should be enough to open doors is incredibly empowering; we all want the chance to succeed, and with this kind of support, that chance feels possible.”  - Oppportunity@Work’s Senior Product Marketing Associate and STAR Marsay McKinney reflecting on the impact of the UNTAPPED documentary

This year Opportunity@Work received transformative support for our work to expand upward mobility for STARs, including a $20 million grant from MacKenzie Scott’s Yield Giving. This investment will drive STARs hiring and economic mobility, ensuring that STARs can thrive in emerging industries like clean energy, healthcare, and technology.

Our goal is clear - to generate a $20 billion wage gain for STARs by 2030. Dismantling decades of exclusionary hiring practices will take hard work. We’ll achieve it together, and on purpose. 

Looking for a first action to take in 2025? This video outlines how the Tear the Paper Ceiling tools help employers tap into all the talents. To learn about joining the Tear the Paper Ceiling coalition, reach out to our VP of Strategic Alliances Georgia Gillette (georgia@opportunityatwork.org), or to collaborate in other ways contact us here. 

Join us in building a new labor market where all talents can shine - one action at a time.

*Source: Ad Council and C+R Research