Discover the 3 critical lessons C-BEN Solutions has learned about building effective skills-first ecosystems through our work with partners across education and work.
Talk about skills is pervasive, but actually seizing and maximizing the opportunity that skills-first practices present is easier said than done. As the demand for skills-first practices like skills-based hiring and competency-based education have grown, we’ve partnered with educational institutions, employers, and workforce leaders nationwide to develop practical solutions that bridge learning and work. Here are the three key lessons we’ve learned about successfully building a skills-first ecosystem.
1. Credentials must do more than just reflect a person’s education – they need to show what people know and can do.
In today’s competitive job market, graduates need trusted signals of job-readiness to employers. At C-BEN, we help our clients design, build, implement, and scale Credentials of Value, meaning they offer clear signals between learning and employment and validate that graduates possess job-ready skills.
We’ve provided technical assistance in the design and launch of programs at R1 universities, such as the University of Kansas’ CBE portfolio, Jayhawk Flex, and community colleges, like Coastline College who recently launched California’s first Direct Assessment associate’s degree in business. We even offer CompetentU, our own on-demand learning and development experience, to empower teams to build internal capacity for quality program design. These initiatives strengthen the crucial connection between education and employment, ensuring learners receive meaningful return on their educational investment and economies are strengthened with job-ready talent.
2. Solving talent shortages requires ecosystem-wide cooperation across education providers, employers, state or regional agencies, and individuals.
Individual employers and institutions working in isolation cannot meet workforce demands – the need is just too great. Cross-ecosystem collaboration is the only way to address talent shortages at scale. C-BEN Solutions facilitates the development of scalable, competency-based solutions across state, regional, and national levels to advance alignment of learning to key workforce needs.
We support the creation of state- and tribal-nation-wide competency-based talent marketplaces—such as our facilitation across state agencies, employers, and education providers to create the Alabama Talent Triad, a platform connecting Alabamians to in-state employment and upskilling pathways. We also enable associations and consortia to use competency-based models to strengthen regional and national talent pipelines, such as our work leading a coalition of seven community colleges in California’s Central Valley to create a shared direct assessment, CBE Agricultural Systems Certificate designed to reskill incumbent farmworkers at risk of losing their jobs to automation.
These collaborations create transparency in typically opaque systems—clarifying which skills align with specific jobs, how candidates can signal job readiness, and which learning opportunities most efficiently develop career-relevant competencies.
3. Workers and learners deserve models that honor their existing skillsets and unlock clear pathways to mobility.
Traditional education often fails to recognize the valuable skills, knowledge, and strengths adult learners bring to the classroom. One way C-BEN Solutions operationalizes worker- and learner-centered design is through the creation of competency-based apprenticeships in high-demand fields like nursing and teaching—such as our collaboration with Tennessee Grow Your Own to design competency-based curriculum to teach apprentices seeking teacher licensure and address the teacher shortage.
We also build skills validation centers and assessments that recognize and accelerate existing talent, including our work helping shape a stackable, competency-based nursing apprenticeship pathway—from MA and CNA through RN-BSN—designed to expand and strengthen nursing workforce advancement and practice-readiness, starting in Arkansas. Our approaches meet learners where they are, lower barriers to upskilling, and honor the real-world experience they already bring to more efficiently and effectively meet workforce needs.
The Path Forward for Skills-First Success
Truly effective skills-first approaches require thoughtful attention to all three elements: creating credentials that demonstrate real-world abilities, fostering broader collaboration and partnership, and designing learner-centered pathways that honor existing skills.
Organizations that embrace these principles are seeing tangible results—stronger talent pipelines, more efficient educational pathways, and better alignment between learning and work. By focusing on these key lessons, we can collectively build a more responsive, equitable skills ecosystem that serves learners, employers, and communities alike.
Let’s Work Together
C-BEN is the bridge between learning and work, and our Solutions team is partnering with leaders across the country to meet the skills moment. Whether you’re launching your first CBE initiative or scaling a system-wide transformation, C-BEN Solutions is here to help you move from ideas to action.
Submit your interest form or reach out to our team at info@c-ben.org. We’d love to hear your goals and co-create a path forward!
