To Survive a Digital Future, Guide Employees to Own Their Learning

First published by HR Dive, December 04, 2018.  The market will leave behind those who think continuous learning is anything but a necessity, various experts say. In elementary school, students are told what they need to learn. In high school, they receive some choices with electives....

Gallup: How to Reduce Bias and Hire the Best Candidate

A Gallup publication. Find the original here. According to Gallup, companies fail to choose the candidate with the right talent for management positions 82% of the time. That means organizations hire the best managers fewer than two out of 10 times. Business experience and the data...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Detroit Pistons Partnership Aims to Increase Workforce Participation on Construction of Henry Ford Detroit Pistons Performance Center

SkillSmart technology helps match candidates with positions; Detroit At Work to help prospective workers gain the skillset needed for future employment The Detroit Pistons, The Platform and Christman-Brinker today launched a new partnership with SkillSmart to create a workforce...

SkillSmart to Help Fill Pistons Headquarters Construction Jobs with Detroit Residents

First published by Crain’s Detroit Business, September 12, 2018.  The Detroit Pistons and partners building the team’s new headquarters and practice facility in the city’s New Center area have launched a jobs portal to help meet a hiring quota. The Platform LLC,...

Should employers care about GPA anymore?

First published by HR Dive, July 26, 2018.  In 2013, Laszlo Bock, then senior vice president of people operations at Google, revealed to The New York Times in an interview something most businesses probably already knew: GPAs were “worthless as a criteria for hiring, and test...

How Tech Can Bridge the Employment Opportunity Gap

First published by Walmart, March 22, 2018.  Technology is quickly changing how we live our lives, helping to make so many things easier, cheaper and faster. It’s also changing the way we work. Research suggests that innovations like artificial intelligence have the potential to...

Springfield Works Gets State Funding to Expand Programs to Help Job Seekers

First published by MassLive, March 6, 2018.  Springfield Works will use $75,000 it received last week from the state to expand efforts to mentor and guide job seekers all the way from initial assessment to employment. Director Anne Shecrallah Kandilis said Springfield Works will also...

MGM Springfield Looks to Hire Puerto Rican Evacuees Using SkillSmart Platform

First published by MassLive, January 24, 2018.  In Puerto Rico, Omyra Merced worked at several hotels planning events. “I worked in tourism and event planning, doing weddings and parties, things like that,” she said Wednesday. “After the hurricane, many of...

Veterans: America’s Skilled Workforce

  Veterans and their spouses have the right skills. On this Veteran’s Day, our thoughts turn to those who have served and are serving our nation in the military. There is often talk of sacrifice and service, but most of our population has very little understanding of what our...

Getting Smart About Skills Transfer Could Solve the Skills Gap

First published by SHRM, November 7, 2017.  A poor understanding of how job skills transfer among occupations—especially from occupations in decline to in-demand fields—is one of the biggest reasons for the nation’s skills gap. But employers and job seekers can...

Milwaukee Bucks Retrain Jobless Workers to Build New Arena

  First published by Dusty Weis, Association of Equipment Manufacturers At the urging of local officials, contractors on the $524 million project have approached hiring challenges with bold, unconventional workforce development strategies that help people get needed job training....

SkillSmart connects people, training, jobs in Western Mass.

First published by Jim Kinney at MASSLive.com, October 25, 2017.  Baystate Health has 12,000 employees and makes about 1,400 new hires a year of folks from outside its system, said President and CEO Mark Keroack. And as the city’s largest employer,...