THE TALENT SOLUTIONS FORUM
Year Up’s annual Talent Solutions Forum brings together forward-thinking executives from some of America’s largest companies to share and learn strategies for creating more inclusive economies in their cities, particularly for Opportunity Youth—motivated and talented young adults that are disconnected from the economic mainstream due to socioeconomic barriers, but have immense potential to thrive in professional careers if given access to opportunity. Talent Solutions Forum attendees are national leaders and changemakers across a variety of industries that are in search of opening their doors to a more diverse and inclusive pipeline of talent and leveraging innovative and scalable solutions to meet their entry-level talent needs.
Recap: 2019 Talent Solutions Forum
HARNESSING THE POWER OF UNTAPPED TALENT
The 2019 theme was Harnessing the Power of Untapped Talent, and we tackled the major talent acquisition issues companies were facing through the lens of Opportunity Youth. We examined major talent acquisition trends and topics such as hiring and managing Millennials and Generation Z employees of various backgrounds, the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) and automation on entry-level jobs, and how companies can help their communities prepare young adults for the new careers that will emerge as a result of these trends.
RECAP: 2017 TALENT SOLUTIONS FORUM
On September 14th, 2017 more than 100 business leaders from 45 different companies convened at the Chase Tower in Chicago for Year Up’s 5th annual Talent Solutions Forum. With a theme of “Unleashing the Power of Untapped Talent,” it was a day full of inspirational speakers, best practice sharing, and thoughtful dialogue around how we can create strong, sustainable, and scalable career pathways for Opportunity Youth.
The day’s agenda featured more than 25 speakers from companies such as JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, GE, Accenture, and many more. Event highlights included a keynote presentation facilitated by Joe Fuller from Harvard Business School, challenging employers to re-think degree requirements for entry-level roles and alternative sourcing strategies for changing the way companies think about, recruit, and hire talent. Following the keynote, Year Up Founder & CEO Gerald Chertavian was joined by Managing Partner of the Emerson Collective and former Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, for a fireside chat on the power of jobs to stop violence and positively impact our local communities. “Disconnected youth aren’t disconnected from us, we are disconnected from them,” Duncan stated, emphasizing that a program like Chicago CRED (Create Real Economic Destiny) isn’t a second chance for disconnected youth; it’s a first chance.