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In simpler times, all it took to solve a crisis was a gathering of celebrities. In 1985, as a devastating famine in East Africa was attracting worldwide attention – in no small measure due to the efforts of Bob Geldof of the Boomtown Rats and Midge Ure of Ultravox, and the formation of the UK’s Band Aid (Do They Know It’s Christmas?) – Harry Belafonte enlisted Michael Jackson and Lionel Ritchie to write America’s kindhearted yet self-important response: We Are The World.
On the evening of January 28, 1985, most of the bold-faced throats in American music gathered at a Hollywood recording studio. Stars like Diana Ross, Willie Nelson, James Ingram, Darryl Hall, Tina Turner, Huey Lewis, Billy Joel, and Bob Dylan were welcomed by Stevie Wonder, who warned colleagues that if they proved unable to check their egos at the door, they would be driven home by him and Ray Charles. The only notable absences were Prince – peeved that Bob Geldof had called him a creep – and Eddie Murphy, too busy recording the equally kindhearted yet self-important Party All the Time.
We Are the World became the top selling single in pop music history and led to Live Aid that summer. Watching the stars of yore parade by in the video, there are three surprises: Kenny Rogers physically towering over Paul Simon, the fact that someone invited a tie-toting Dan Ackroyd, and Cyndi Lauper. Cyndi Lauper wasn’t an obvious choice for one of the 21 solos on We Are the World. But with the possible exception of Bruce Springsteen, who always looks like he’s either working hard or constipated, no one worked harder that night. Prancing rhythmically up to the microphone (well well well well), eyes closed, clenching her fists, jumping up and down, and singing what was, for my money, the most memorable line of the song (during the bridge, nonetheless) – let us realize / Oh, that a change can only come – Cyndi was a revelation.
Who would have predicted that the flouncy auteur of The Goonies ‘R’ Good Enough would be the hardest worker in the room? Employers have always faced this challenge in evaluating applicants for jobs. But the question is more important than ever as we figure out how we’re going to get nearly 30 million unemployed Americans back to work.
Hiring managers consistently identify work ethic as a key attribute, particularly for entry-level jobs. And when candidates for professional positions are able to check all key skill boxes, over 60% of managers identify work ethic as the decisive factor. Employers are desperate to avoid “lion on the CV, cat on the job” syndrome. And there aren’t enough hard working farm kids to go around anymore.
Beyond work ethic, in hiring for entry-level jobs, employers are seeking unique constellations of digital skills and business (process) knowledge, as well as non-cognitive skills such as listening, project management, teamwork, communication, and leadership. These skills are increasingly hard to assess in the hiring process, whether from résumés or during interviews.
As millions of employers face tens of millions of hiring decisions over the coming years, they may feel as blind as Stevie Wonder or Ray Charles. With Covid, there are fewer reliable signals than ever. Unemployment is typically a negative sign of skills and work ethic. But during a recession – particularly this one – it’s almost certainly a poor predictor. Similarly, employment track record is important. But as a result of Covid, fewer young people are working than ever before. Employers are wondering – as Eddie Murphy asked in the anthemic Party all the Time (albeit in a slightly different context i.e., his girl wanting to “party all the time”), “What am I to do?”
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Well, well, well, well let us realize
Oh, that a change can only come
When we…
… stop assuming that every answer to structural unemployment starts and ends with postsecondary education and training. Every week brings a new proposal from public officials or foundations to allocate billions more to colleges, universities, and legacy workforce training programs in order to put America back to work. As to what education, training, or upskilling specifically, there’s a lot of hand waving. No one really knows, and since education, training and upskilling is inherently good, does it really matter? The assumption that education is a plausible solution for 30 million unemployed Americans appears to be not only as transmissible as the cause of our current unemployment, but perhaps as dangerous. Because investing in education alone is likely to be as effective in addressing structural unemployment as a gathering of celebrities.
Education and training say little about the work ethic employers prioritize for entry-level positions. (Hard working Cyndi Lauper was a high school drop out.) In a highly uncertain economy, the priority must be getting employers comfortable taking a chance on new employees. Employers need to be confident candidates are much more likely (and perhaps certain) to create value quickly than cause problems or churn within a short period of time. But traditional postsecondary education is hardly the most powerful lever to accomplish this. What makes more sense is to address the problem head-on: facilitate labor market mechanisms to reduce the binary nature of hiring (hire/don’t hire) by giving employers a greater opportunity to try talent before being asked to buy.
I have three mechanisms in mind:
1. Free Competency-based Assessments!
Not “free” competency-based assessments as in free college (and no one really means
completely free anyway), but rather liberate them. In India and Europe, many employers have begun disentangling the car crash of online job applications by first asking each hopeful to complete a short online assessment of situational judgments – including work ethic – that predict job performance. The result is a skills-based top-of-hiring-funnel screen that gives employers greater confidence in candidates they’ll take time to look at and talk to. But American employers remain constrained by a 1970s-era labor law that puts the burden on them to first demonstrate that assessments in the hiring process will not have an adverse impact on members of a legally protected group. I’ve argued
previously that, through a combination of burden shifting and safe harbors, the federal government can allow American employers to responsibly replace current keyword (and often degree- and pedigree-centric) filters at the top of the hiring funnel with competency-based assessments. Now with nearly 30 million unemployed workers, it’s never been more important.
2) Integrate Real Work Into Coursework
Even better than a short test: see how candidates complete relevant work. I was glad to see Singapore launch a
new workforce program with Google: following three months of online training, trainees get up to six months of work experience with Google or Google partner. And while Americans don’t have a skills credit system to pay for training like this, they do have plenty of higher education institutions starving for enrollment and revenue. New marketplaces like
Riipen make it easy for colleges and university to incorporate employer projects into individual courses, or to provide students with virtual internships, so employers can try before they buy.
3) Expand Apprenticeships
But the apotheosis of trying before buying is the apprenticeship. The way most apprenticeship programs are structured in Europe – as well as in the building and construction trades where they thrive in the U.S. – is that an intermediary (typically an industry association or a union) runs the program and acts as the employer of record before employers are asked to make a hiring decision. But too often when American policymakers discuss extending apprenticeships beyond building and construction trades into technology, professional services, and healthcare, the assumption is that employers will establish apprenticeship programs and hire apprentices themselves.
This assumption has limited the expansion of American apprenticeships. In order to launch apprenticeship programs, employers need to: (1) Hire or assign someone to run the program; (2) Source and screen talent; (3) Hire dozens or hundreds of apprentices; (4) Design curriculum and deliver training; and (5) Pay apprentices to sit through training. If you think that gun-shy employers are about to go to the trouble of launching their own apprenticeship programs, your connection to reality may be on par with the late King of Pop’s. It’s tantamount to asking employers to “buy” before they “try before they buy,” which makes the whole exercise redundant and ridiculous.
A more plausible and productive apprenticeship policy would provide meaningful incentives to third-parties – industry associations, unions, non-profits, and staffing and business services companies – to set up apprenticeship programs and serve as employers of record until their many members or clients have had ample opportunity to “try before they buy.” Fostering the rapid emergence of what we call “outsourced apprenticeships” has the potential to provide pathways to employment for millions of newly displaced workers, as well as young Americans seeking a good first job.
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The perils of hiring a candidate who doesn’t work hard have never been clearer. Almost four years ago, the American people hired a candidate for President without realizing he prefers watching Fox News, golfing, and talking about himself, to reading or doing any real work at all. The mess we’re in underscores the very high cost of a bad hire at a time we can least afford it.
Prioritizing “try before they buy” doesn’t shove postsecondary education, training, and workforce development out of the picture. It simply means that upskilling gets built into employer-centric models, rather than starting (and ending) with education and training and hoping for the best. Competency-based assessments could lead to directed online upskilling for candidates who fail to pass an employer’s top-of-funnel screen. Rather than organizing offerings around what faculty want to teach, colleges and universities should be designing courses (and preferably short certificate programs) around the availability of work projects and virtual internships from real employers. And outsourced apprenticeships deliver custom training for specific clients for the express purpose of having them convert apprentices to full-time employment after the requisite trial period. What these pathways have in common is that they start with employers and employment – allowing employers to try before they buy – and subsequently integrate education and training. It’s in stark contrast to the education-first, education-only policies being thrown around Washington, DC and most state capitals that may serve the interests of universities and colleges, but probably not the interests of 30 million Americans who need help finding and landing good jobs.
“Try before they buy” policies are also likely to help diverse candidates who may not have perfect résumés or powerful networks, but who have learned the value of hard work and persistence. (Recall that punk, playful, feminist role model Cyndi was diverse in her day.) “Distance Traveled” remains opaque to most employers, so providing new ways for candidates to prove work ethic and skills to employers can help level the playing field. And from the standpoint of job seekers, designing education, training, and upskilling into employer-centric models increases motivation, completion, and (obviously) employment outcomes. The other great thing about leveling the playing field by prioritizing try before they buy is that prep school jerks who were born on third base and think they hit a triple will be in for a rude awakening.
Cyndi “She’s So Unusual” Lauper went on to have an incredibly varied and productive career, including winning an Emmy and Tony Award, which is more than I can say for Steve Perry, Huey Lewis, Kenny Loggins (whose highlight of the past 20 years is performing the theme song for Disney’s The Tigger Movie) or the other stars in the studio on January 28, 1985. But disappointed record companies and employers who subsequently engaged these talents have no excuse. By watching them work Time After Time – by trying before buying – they could have figured out their True Colors, easily distinguishing between the Cyndis who work hard to Make a Brighter Day, and those who just want to Party all the Time.