Innovating Workforce Development

By Bri Vespone, Director of Workforce Innovation and Implementation

When I introduce myself to people outside of my field, I often get asked, “So what is workforce development?” If you were to ask Google, it would tell you that workforce development is about strategies and initiatives focused on job placement, skill development, economic growth, employer needs, and market responsiveness. And while all of that is true, workforce development is so much more than that.

Workforce development is how we conceptualize, support, and facilitate the human effort and energy it takes to make our society and economy function. The way that we think about the workforce and job economy must flex and adapt along with their ever-changing needs, strengths, and gaps. Often the strategies and practices in the field of workforce development are repetitive and redundant, and I think some of that comes with relying on the same foundational understanding of what workforce development is, with the same buzzwords and taglines across organizations and industries.

We need to innovate how we think about (and talk about) workforce training. “Development” is a misnomer. Yes, we are training skilled workers and placing them in roles (i.e., developing a pipeline of talent), but we also need to think differently about the structures and assumptions around those pipelines. All too often we consider the needs of the market and of employers before the needs of the individual. Other times we make generalizations about a population of workers that neglects individual attributes and characteristics.

For instance, matching resume bullets to a job description and to determine “fit” for a job is problematic in multiple ways — it assumes that the employer is accurately representing the job in their word choices and descriptions of job duties, has the potential to create an immediate barrier to access through unnecessary degree requirements, and neglects the personal, cognitive, and behavioral skills a person brings to the job. We need to value workers for their lived experiences and transferable skills, not prejudge them based on past job titles or missing inflated education requirements. Yet, this is a common practice in job placement strategies and career exploration (and you can even get AI to do it for you).

That’s why we need to innovate workforce development. We cannot become complacent in our practices and approaches. Rather, we have to challenge ourselves to think differently about what it means to “develop” our workers and what changes we need to make in our own organizations to honor and support them in the ways they deserve.