Move Beyond the Pilot.

Consider this. More than 70 million workers in the U.S. don’t have a college degree - that’s half the workforce. Not that long ago, these workers, now known as STARs for Skilled Through Alternative Routes, provided companies with a reliable pipeline of skilled talent. In exchange, companies provided a pathway to upward economic mobility for STARs. Together, STARs and companies built a thriving economy where both sides prospered.

Today, STARs and the companies who seek their skills and experience find themselves on opposite sides of an invisible barrier - the paper ceiling - separated by degree screens, algorithms, stereotypes, and even professional networks. The result has been a severe decline in STARs’ upward mobility, matched by a severe talent shortage as companies struggle to fill millions of 21st century jobs with skilled talent.

But the paper ceiling is not a force of nature beyond our control. It is the sum of institutional and individual choices that prioritized hiring shortcuts over real skills. Now, a movement has begun. Workers and companies uniting to create a new and more equitable future of work in which skills matter more than what’s on paper. A future that is back in balance, when both STARs and employers can thrive again. A future that starts by working together to tear the paper ceiling and see the STARs beyond it.