Join Us in Accelerating the Skills First Movement
The Center for a Skills First Future helps employers put skills at the center of hiring and advancement—unlocking talent, fueling growth, and creating opportunity. We provide the tools, guidance, and shared language to make skills-first practices the standard.
Skills Action Planner
Skills Action Planner
Evaluate your organization’s progress in adopting a skills-first approach. Our interactive tool helps you identify strengths, gaps, and actionable steps to implement a skills-based approach effectively.
Resource Library
Resource Library
Access research, tools, and employer examples to implement and sustain skills-first talent strategies across the employee lifecycle.
Skills First Credential
Skills First Credential
Demonstrate expertise in skills-based workforce strategies. Equip yourself with the tools to drive impact across hiring, development, and retention.
Vendor Database
Vendor Database
Find vetted solutions and community support for skills-first implementations—from sourcing and assessment to upskilling and mobility.
Hear from Taylor Dunne, San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation
Taylor Dunne of the San Diego Regional EDC shares how skills-first hiring gains real traction—by starting from within. In this spotlight, she emphasizes the power of aligning HR and technical teams, identifying internal champions, and rethinking how organizations recognize and value skills beyond traditional proxies.
Hear From Rose Sikder, OKTA
Rose Sikder, of OKTA explains how a skills-first approach unlocks potential in today’s workforce. In this inspiring message, she shares how leading with skills—not assumptions—helps businesses find untapped talent, support upward mobility, and future-proof their teams.
Hear from Steven Flenory, WB Games
Steven Flenory of WB Games shares why skills-first hiring isn’t just the future—it’s the now. In this short spotlight, he highlights how prioritizing skills over outdated proxies helps employers tap into overlooked talent, improve retention, and build stronger teams.
Hear from Josh Tarr of Workday
Josh Tarr of Workday shares how their internal gig program sparked a skills-first transformation. By focusing on real skills over résumés, Workday saw faster hiring, better candidate experiences, and stronger acceptance rates. His advice? Start small, use your data, and make skills a company-wide priority—not just an HR project.
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19x
Removing degree requirements unlocks 19x more candidates (JFF, 2023)
30%
Skills-first hiring reduces cost-per-hire by 30% (SHRM, 2023)
42%
Companies adopting skills- first decrease turnover by 42% (McKinsey, 2023)
Featured Resource
Promotes inclusive skills training policies that build the skilled workforce employers need to grow and thrive. Business leaders advocate for effective industry-based strategies and policies that help create effective training pipelines across the country in 7 areas: industry and sector partnerships that drive industry-specific training and hiring strategies; career and technical education and work-based learning opportunities; changes to higher education policy to access high-quality short-term training; digital skills training, workforce data policies that measure whether training programs are effectively and equitably preparing workers with the skills needed by employers; supports that workers need to participate in skills training programs, get to work, and maximize their productivity; and inclusive skills training policy so that all workers have what they need to succeed.
Founding Investors
Founding Partners
