The education-to-employment pipeline isn't broken in one place. It's leaking at every stage — in how students learn about careers, how employers communicate their needs, and how programs connect to each other. Closing those gaps requires more than good intentions. It takes coordination between all stakeholders, and it takes employers who are willing to show up.
That's why SHRM built the Education-to-Employment (E²) Initiative. By bringing employers, educators, workforce development organizations, and policymakers to the table, the E² Initiative gives HR professionals a concrete way to help shape the systems that connect learning to work. That work continued at a recent roundtable in Northeast Pennsylvania, where Emily M. Dickens, SHRM's chief administrative officer, convened leaders from K-12 schools, higher education, nonprofits, business, and government to examine a shared challenge: how do you build workforce pathways that actually work for the students and communities who need them most?
"HR needs active partners in shaping the talent pipeline by creating opportunities for students and job seekers to gain practical skills,” Dickens said. “SHRM is here to be a partner, and leverage our resources to help."
Three takeaways stood out.
The Stakes Are High — and Closer Than They Appear
The conversation in Scranton didn't stay abstract for long. Participants described a region where thousands of young adults are neither working nor enrolled in school. Often described as opportunity youth, each of these young adults are part of an untapped pool of talent for employers seeking to meet evolving workforce needs. Untapped talent pools are overlooked or underutilized groups of workers, and include people with disabilities, people with criminal records, and older adults. In fact, 77% of HR professionals who have worked with opportunity youth report they perform as well as or better than other employees, according to the SHRM Foundation’s From Social Good to Strategic Talent Advantage: The Business Case for Hiring Opportunity report.
The Scranton roundtable surfaced the specific barriers that prevent young people in the community from connecting education to meaningful employment opportunities.
One major barrier is lack of access and information. An education leader pointed out that in their urban district of roughly 14,000 students, poverty is pervasive, and college is not the default pipeline. Breaking this barrier requires making opportunities more visible, and engaging students to find their own paths.
Pathways Exist — and Employers Can Help Make Them Visible
Northeast Pennsylvania is home to more than a dozen colleges and universities. The region is not short on assets. The challenge, as roundtable participants made clear, is helping students and families connect the dots and keeping talent in the area with high-quality jobs. That's a challenge SHRM believes HR professionals are positioned to help solve.
Participants pointed to several models gaining traction in the region: stackable credentials that let students earn a healthcare certification in weeks rather than years; preapprenticeship programs that pair job shadowing with foundational skills; and broader career exposure initiatives that help students see beyond the most visible roles in fields like healthcare or manufacturing.
But across these examples, one theme came through clearly: employers need to be part of the design. Education leaders said directly that they want to hear from HR — which entry-level skills matter most, and which power skills determine whether a new hire succeeds? Dickens noted that power skills are especially important in the AI-driven workplace. “We need power skills in the workplace,” Dickens said. “Human intelligence — creative thinking, adaptability, and empathy — can’t be replaced with artificial intelligence.”
Coordination Is What the Pipeline Is Missing
The roundtable was candid about something that shows up in communities across the country: the work is happening, but it's fragmented. Northeast Pennsylvania has strong programs and committed organizations. What's missing is someone seeing the whole picture.
One participant described the group as an all-star team in need of a quarterback — someone who sees the entire field and can align resources across organizations. Programs launch, funding cycles end, and nonprofits absorb much of the burden. As another attendee put it directly: "It's not resources, it's collaboration." These aren't new problems, but they need new coordination to solve them.
This is precisely where SHRM's E² Initiative plays a role — not just convening conversations, but helping build the awareness and advocacy infrastructure that sustains them.
What This Means for HR Professionals
Conversations like this one aren't just community issues. They shape the talent supply your organization depends on. HR professionals who engage early — with schools, training providers, and regional coalitions — help determine whether that pipeline reaches you with skilled, work-ready candidates or arrives with gaps that take years to close.
The pipeline isn't failing for lack of effort. It breaks down where awareness, alignment, and sustained coordination fall short. HR professionals have the influence to help close those gaps.
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.
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