Talent orchestrators: Scaling youth employment through business-facing intermediaries
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% 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.
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.