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In today's economy, young adults are increasingly disconnected from employment at a time when the business community is in dire need of talent. Half of employers are unable to fill vacant positions and only 11 per cent of employers feel newly credentialed graduates are ready for work. Failure to address this challenge has resulted in record youth unemployment rates that at times were double the national unemployment rate. The cost to society is lost taxes, growing entitlements, and missed chances for advancing economic opportunity. To address this challenge, federal and state policies have increased the levels of investment in youth employment and career pathway initiatives that address both in-school and out-of-school youth. The US Chamber of Commerce Foundation (USCCF) launched a Youth Employment initiative that is supporting employers and business associations championing scalable and sustainable solutions.

In particular, this effort focuses on building the capacity for greater employer leadership and identifying promising practices for how the business community can more deliberately engage youth as an overall part of their talent strategy. This paper explores how employers and employer associations can leverage business-facing intermediaries as talent orchestrators to manage their human capital needs and scale youth employment efforts. It can also serve as a guide for how existing intermediaries can improve and scale in partnership with employers. First, the paper defines business-facing intermediaries and introduces a set of design principles for how this group can serve as talent orchestrators. Then it investigates how business-facing intermediaries are providing new opportunities for employers and business associations engaging in this space.

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This white paper begins by examining the challenge and need for a 'demand-driven' system. From there, it introduces supply chain management and explores key lessons that inform how employers can improve their partnerships with education and workforce providers. Next, the paper identifies three foundational principles for a new talent pipeline management system and concludes by highlighting implications for key stakeholders, including employers, education and workforce providers, students and workers, and policymakers.

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This implementation guide builds on the foundation set forth in the 2014 white paper, which identified how employers could leverage lessons learned from supply chain management and apply them to their education and workforce partnerships. The strategies identified in the current guide expands on this work and shows how key practices in supply chain management can inform employer action in organizing and managing the talent pipeline.

The guide is divided into six strategies that employers can use to be more effective end-customers of education and workforce partnerships: (1) organize employer collaboratives; (2) engage in demand planning; (3) communicate competency and credential requirements; (4) analyze talent flows; (5) implement shared performance measures; and (6) align incentives. While each strategy can be pursued independently as a best practice, the strategies are intended to be coordinated as a systemic supply chain approach. Implementing the strategies in the recommended order will optimize the benefits received by employers.

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