Skillful Initiative Career Coaching Programs
The Markle Foundation
The Skillful Governor’s Coaching Corps has supported 157 career coaching professionals across multiple states and inspired more than 20 governors nationwide to pledge implementation of similar programs in their own states. HR&A collaborated with the Markle Foundation’s Skillful Initiative to design and launch these workforce development programs in Colorado, Indiana, and Rhode Island, reshaping how employers recruit workers and how public sector, educators, and nonprofit organizations prepare jobseekers.
The rapidly changing labor market demands new models for connecting workers to quality jobs. Traditional recruitment approaches relying on degrees often overlook qualified candidates while jobseekers navigate fragmented support systems. HR&A helped design programs enabling career coaches to work across silos, share resources, and better assist jobseekers across organizations and regions.
The Skillful Governor's Coaching Corps has supported nearly 90 career coaches across Colorado through three cohorts, establishing the first-in-the-nation model for investing in frontline professionals who connect jobseekers with careers in growing industries. HR&A developed and launched this program with Governor John Hickenlooper in October 2017, creating a replicable framework that has since inspired more than 20 governors nationwide to pledge implementation of similar initiatives.
HR&A supported the design and implementation of Skillful Indiana, adapting Colorado's successful model to address the state's workforce challenges. Launched in October 2018, the initiative includes a Governor's Coaching Corps serving cohorts of 35 career coaches who collectively assist 3,500 individuals monthly, and an online Coaching Community of Practice connecting coaches across states for peer learning and resource sharing.
Back to Work RI aims to connect thousands of Rhode Islanders with employment opportunities through a $45 million initiative launched by Governor Gina Raimondo and the Governor's Workforce Board, prioritizing people who lost jobs due to COVID and those facing persistent employment barriers. HR&A supported Skillful to design a Rhode Island version of the Governor's Coaching Corps that will equip career coaches to address degree inflation and implement skills-based recruitment, hiring, and retention practices among participating employers.
