It's time for JOBS THAT WORK
Too few people talk about workforce like it is for humans. It makes it harder to help people get good jobs. Let's change that, starting January 28.
Workforce development is how we get people who need jobs into jobs that employers need to be filled. Everything is workforce because whether you end up in a good job is a result of everything that happens to you and all the personal decisions in between.
It is an exceedingly human endeavor, given that workers and employers tend to be people1 and therefore every aspect of work is subject to every unpredictable and frustrating thing that humans do. In America, that means whether society values you as a person and thinks you get cool things like medical care can turn on whether you interviewed on the day that Terry in HR didn’t eat lunch and started yelling about too many people having tattoos.2
So of course workforce development is a notoriously hard thing to get folks to write about.3 And when you do get a bigger publication to write about it, it can be one of these all-stars:
“The machines are coming to kill us but first they’re going to take your job and make you feel bad for getting a library science degree.”
“A new lightly researched paper says Gen Z—all of them—are doing something called ‘Loud Orc-King,’ where they show up to the office pretending to be a king of the Orcs from Lord of the Rings and yell about the fall of man until they get to play Fortnite at work.”
This has driven me crazy as a former investigative reporter making policy at a federal workforce agency, most recently overseeing how to get people into better jobs using each cent of the Department of Labor’s grants portfolio. There have been policy conversations that more working people and employers should have been part of.
That treatment also makes it hard for the workforce organizations to get the information—and not insignificantly, the money—they need to do the work. Often, an organization only learns grant money is out there because of happenstance.4
Or, as I’m told happened frequently in 2024, they read something I put on my LinkedIn.
My LinkedIn is pretty dope, but all in all, not ideal!
Doing better at all these workforce things is why I’m starting…
The goal of this newsletter is to find ways to talk and do workforce development through systems and money built for humans.
And frequently sometimes make great dumb jokes like every other sentence. Because I once used an elaborate bear gag to teach a federal agency to help itself, and I will cling to that data point until my grave.
Here’s what you’ll get if you subscribe
On TUESDAYS, free and paid subscribers get a piece on the newsiest issues in workforce, written in accessible language that shows why everyone should care, and sharing what concrete steps by policymakers and practitioners can make a dent in the problems. Usually in a five minute read, with formatting to help you get the point as soon as possible.
On FRIDAYS, paid subscribers will find in their inbox the best, most comprehensible listing of current workforce grants as well as analysis tracking what dollars may get cut during the new Trump Administration.
In between, paid subscribers will get exclusive analysis and explainers aimed at helping practitioners fill knowledge gaps and bring people deeper into our magical world.5
Everything will be free for the first four weeks, but there may be a timely early access piece or two available to early bird subscribers ($30 off for annual subscriptions, by the way).
You can learn more about the subscription tiers here—including how to get a free(ish) consulting session with me on your workforce strategy. You also can learn about my mom’s memorial fund that helps nontraditional nursing students with costs keeping them out of the workforce; 10% of my subscription revenue will support this fund.
No other publication will track available workforce dollars—and potential Trump workforce funding cuts—with the depth and expertise of JOBS THAT WORK. Subscribing early helps me budget for the year and keep this publication going.
Mainly because I need to show my two clever girls that I will remain a sure source of means and delay their inevitable uprising against their parents. Here is a recent photo of my kids, by the way:
Cuties!
What you can expect to read here in the coming months
Here are some of the policy questions I’ll be unpacking for humans:6
Why doesn’t the American workforce system work for more people and why should we blame Congress—other than blaming Congress being deeply fun and cathartic as an everyday activity?
If we lay off three-quarters of the federal workforce—just to pick a number—what jobs programs will we need to prevent a catastrophe?
Why is my old workplace, the Department of Labor, a key battleground in the future of economic Trumpism (if we know what that means yet)?
Are there actually good jobs in legal weed?
All this Biden money—what happens to it now?
Why is the childcare crisis actually a workforce crisis, and how do we start to fix it?
Me trying to get rid of this question: “Why hasn’t apprenticeship taken off as much as people think it should?”
See you next Tuesday.
And perhaps some large pets. Due to rumors of an Alaskan accountancy staffed with hyperintelligent St. Bernards, the evidence is inconclusive.
Under his pressed blue dress shirt, does Terry have two full sleeves of ink? Of course, but you know what Hungry Terry wasn’t hungry for? Compromise.
To avoid tossing everybody in one unfair bucket, there are some smart voices out there you should be reading on these topics. Two worth your time: the great Paul Fain over at WorkShift and Alison Green at Ask a Manager, the latter of whom is the authority on (i) getting a job and (ii) the intersection of manager-employee relations and people who would rather make the workplace a nightmare in lieu of therapy.
Yes, there is a well-known public website collecting all the grants made by the federal government. It is terrible.
There’s nothing like seeing a child’s face when they learn about “career lattices” for the first time.
And perhaps some large pets. Again, the evidence is inconclusive.