Skills-First Practices

Our Vision for a Skills-First Colorado

The CWDC’s mission is to enhance and sustain a skills-based talent development network that meets the needs of employers, workers, job seekers, and learners for today and tomorrow. By working together across the skills ecosystem, we can:

• Equip individuals with the skills they need to succeed in a changing economy.
  
   
• Strengthen businesses by providing access to a pipeline of skilled talent.
  
   
• Build a more equitable workforce that provides opportunities for all Coloradans. 
   

Skills-First Ecosystem     Current News and Programs     Resources     

Building Skills Requires an Ecosystem

Colorado is committed to building a strong and dynamic workforce that meets the needs of our growing economy. We believe that a skills-first approach is essential to achieving this goal. But building skills doesn't happen in isolation. It requires a collaborative effort from a diverse ecosystem of stakeholders.

What is a Skills-First Approach?

A skills-first approach focuses on identifying, developing, and recognizing the specific skills individuals possess, rather than relying solely on traditional credentials like degrees or years of experience. This approach benefits everyone:

• Learners and Workers: Can better understand and articulate their skills, access relevant training, and pursue career pathways aligned with their abilities.
  
   
• Employers: Can find the right talent more efficiently, reduce hiring barriers, and build a workforce with the precise skills needed to succeed.
  
   
• Education and Training Providers: Can design programs that are aligned with employer needs, ensure learners gain relevant skills, and provide clear pathways to employment.
  
   
• The Community: Benefits from a stronger economy, increased opportunities for residents, and a more equitable workforce system.

The following stakeholders play critical roles in a building a skills-first ecosystem:

• Employers: Individual employers, industry associations, local workforce boards and chambers of commerce that describe the skills needed for jobs and adopt skills-based hiring and advancement practices.
  
   
• L/Earners: Including learners, workers, and job seekers, who develop skills and use them to fill critical positions.
  
   
• Intermediaries: Government agencies, intermediaries, sector partnerships, and local workforce boards that link employment, education, and skills data. They convene stakeholder groups to align goals and work streams around skills and train and promote skills-first practices.
  
   
• Navigators: Career counselors, case managers, parents, coaches and digital navigators who help learners and workers assess and describe their skills and match them with relevant opportunities and resources.
  
   
• Funders: Local and national philanthropists who incentivize practices that describe and center on skills.
  
   
• Policymakers: Legislators, accreditation bodies, and regulators who develop and promote policies that align a focus on skills across systems and build trust and confidence in skills.
  
   
• Education and Training Providers: Schools, colleges and universities, and community-based organizations that make skills visible in curricula and transcripts, provide evidence of skills or achievements for learners, and align skill descriptions with employers.

Current News and Programs

News

Skills-First Local Workforce Board Challenge

Goal: Increase awareness and adoption of skills-first practices encourage local boards to explore the use of LERs

Funding: A $5,000 grant is available to each local workforce board that completes a checklist of "Skills-first Board Activation" practices by August 31, 2025. 

Checklist: Boards must complete several tasks, including attending a roundtable event, sharing insights, reviewing a toolkit, integrating skills-based language, and adopting a local policy related to skills-first practices.

Optional Challenges: Local Workforce Boards are invited to submit plans for exploring the use of a Colorado LER solution and adopting and advancing skills-first practices. The winner will be selected by CWDC Council Members and announced at the CWDC Council Meeting in September 2025. 

The winner will receive an additional $10,000.

Learn more about the Skills-First Local Workforce Board Challenge here.  

Resources

_{Unlocking Colorado's economic potential and creating equitable pathways to prosperity means prioritizing skills-first approaches in hiring and talent development. These resources equip employers, workforce development experts, and other partners with strategies to expand the supply of skilled talent, resulting in fulfilling careers for Coloradans and increased competitiveness for businesses.}
 

Take Action

SHRM Foundation - The future of work is skills-first. As hiring practices evolve, employers who adopt a skills-first approach gain access to untapped talent, drive growth, and create more opportunity. Skills First Future (SFF) equips organizations with the tools and guidance to adopt, scale, and sustain these strategies.

 

 

Train on Skills-First Hiring and Advancement Practices

Jobs for the Future - Participants in the Skillful Talent Series will learn effective ways to attract, select, and retain workers that bring in-demand skills to your organization. Skills-based hiring practices effectively reduce hiring bias and improve employee retention, diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace.

Learn more about Skills-First Practices from the Rework America Alliance 

Rework America Alliance - Advancing opportunities for millions of workers in low-wage roles to move into quality jobs.

Explore tools to advance Skills-First Talent Management Practices

Colorado FWD - ColoradoFWD is an 18-month pilot demonstration working to catalyze an equitable, skills-based ecosystem that uses learning and employment records (LERs) to address urgent talent shortages in behavioral health and direct care.

Success Stories

To be announced