Shaping Talent for a Stronger Pipeline: SHRM’s E² Initiative During UN General Assembly High-Level Week

Workforce policy is moving fast, and HR professionals can't afford to watch from the sidelines. Across the U.S. and around the world, employers, policymakers, and education and workforce leaders are grappling with many of the same questions: How do we close persistent skills gaps? How do we prepare workers for jobs that keep changing? And who is responsible for building stronger pathways between education and employment?

SHRM built the Education-to-Employment (E²) Initiative to help answer those questions. By bringing employers, policymakers, education and workforce leaders, and international organizations to the same table, E² gives HR professionals a framework to help shape the systems that prepare, connect, and develop talent. That work was on full display at the recent E² Global Roundtable, held in New York City during United Nations General Assembly High-Level Week. 

Emily M. Dickens, SHRM’s chief administrative officer, joined leaders from across sectors to examine a shared challenge: how to strengthen the pipeline from education to meaningful employment at a time when technology and workforce needs are rapidly changing.

Three takeaways stood out.

Human Skills Are the Real Competitive Edge

Policymakers and employers alike are focused on artificial intelligence (AI) fluency. But the discussion underscored that technical skills alone won't build a resilient workforce. The skills employers value also remain deeply human: communication, critical thinking, collaboration, teamwork, and the ability to connect the dots.

“What we don’t want to lose as technology progresses is the skills that make us human, the ability to critically think about problems and ways to solve them,” Dickens said.

The urgency is real. As organizations adopt AI and automation, participants raised concerns about what these changes could mean for the internships and entry-level roles emerging workers often depend on to gain experience. If those first rungs of the career ladder begin to disappear, the gap between emerging talent and midlevel roles could widen, leaving young people with fewer opportunities to gain the experience needed to advance.

Dickens pointed to SHRM's efforts to close that gap, including work through AmeriCorps to develop internships that move people directly toward midlevel opportunities.

“It’s important for students to develop power skills early, before they enter the workforce,” Dickens said. “SHRM is working with AmeriCorps to help ensure students have the opportunity to build these skills as part of their broader education experience and feel ready to take them into their career.”

How-To: Conduct a Skills Gap Analysis

Institutions Must Adapt and Meet Learners Where They Are

The second takeaway centered on the institutions and systems that help prepare people for the workforce. Participants discussed how education and workforce pathways can become more flexible, responsive, and aligned with how people learn and build careers today — and how policy can help accelerate that shift.

The scale of the opportunity is striking: An estimated 43 million people in the U.S. have some college credit but no degree, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. Reaching them takes new models, not the old "learn the theory, then join an established organization" playbook that some participants said is breaking down.

Apprenticeships came up repeatedly as one model for creating those pathways. Participants praised programs in Germany and Austria, where strong apprenticeship systems keep youth unemployment low. 

Shea Gopaul, permanent representative to the United Nations in New York for the International Organisation of Employers (IOE), noted the biggest barrier to expanding apprenticeships in the U.S. isn't funding — it's perception. Often, apprenticeships are viewed as blue-collar, even though apprentices can earn credentials and return to higher education later. Community colleges emerged as an underused asset, especially when paired with apprenticeships that let students earn pay and credits at once.

“Building a stronger pipeline of talent requires employers, educators, and government programs to meet learners where they are at,” Dickens said. “Apprenticeships, community college partnerships, or an entirely new path help show talent exists everywhere, and it’s our job to make sure the pathways do too.” 

The conversation also returned to talent pools too often left on the sidelines. Dickens emphasized the importance of creating pathways for people who were previously incarcerated, people with disabilities, military spouses, and other populations that can face barriers to employment. Policy, she noted, plays a direct role in whether those doors open.

Article: Apprenticeship Gains Attention as Employers Confront Skills Shortages

Middle Managers Carry the Weight

The final takeaway focused on the people who receive new talent: middle managers. As AI reshapes jobs and the tasks within them, managers face enormous pressure. They're expected to nurture younger workers, apply their own human skills, and master the core functional areas of their work all at once.

“We're asking middle managers to nurture younger talent, apply their own human skills, and master the core functions of their work all at once, and often without enough support,” Dickens said. “SHRM's role is to help them do both, connecting those human skills to the real, functional work their teams depend on every day.”

The Path Forward

The roundtable made one thing clear: Building a stronger workforce isn't the job of any single institution. It requires employers, education and workforce systems, policymakers, and international partners working together — with HR professionals playing an important role in connecting talent needs with the systems that prepare people for work. 

Get Involved

For SHRM members, the opportunity is to help bring this work to life in their own communities. Whether that means partnering with a local school or workforce organization, creating work-based learning opportunities, engaging policymakers, or helping connect emerging talent with employers, HR professionals can play a direct role in strengthening the education-to-employment pipeline. 

Members interested in getting more involved can learn more about SHRM’s E² Initiative and opportunities to engage at shrm.org/advocacy/e2-initiative.