60+ Organizations Unite to Release Groundbreaking Skills Trust Guide

Today, the Partnership for Skills Validation released first-of-its-kind guidance and resources to help skills-first leaders and employers validate skills for hiring, training, and advancement practices. This cross-sector agreement on guidance marks progress for the field and a commitment to building trust in skills, ensuring that learners and workers can demonstrate what they know and can do.

Based at the Center for Skills by the Competency-Based Education Network (C-BEN), the Partnership is comprised of over 60 leaders across workforce development, education, and employment–including the SHRM Foundation, National Governors Association, Education Design Lab, Aspen Institute’s Upskill America, Knowledge Works, SOLID, and Grads of Life–who are committed to building a new skills-based economy through trusted and clear assessment practices.

“In today’s job market, knowledge, skills, behaviors, and performance have never mattered more. But we still lack consistent, accurate ways to measure them,” said Amber Garrison-Duncan, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at C-BEN. “We’ve brought together the foremost leaders in skills-first systems—from workforce, education, military, industry, and more—to build trust in skills by establishing clear, cross-sector guidance and best practices to measure what people can do.”

Despite record investments in education and workforce training, too many job seekers are overlooked because there is no standard way to validate skills. At the same time, employers in every sector struggle to identify and hire qualified talent. Skills validation solves this economic imperative by providing reliable, objective measures—like performance assessments, work samples, and first-person testimonials—so that hiring and advancement decisions are based on ability, not just traditional credentials.

The Partnership’s new resources are designed to help organizations and institutions at any stage—whether you’re just learning about skills-based hiring or looking to strengthen your existing approach—providing clear definitions, guidance, and practical tools.

Materials include:

• A Vision statement that explains the importance of moving towards skills-validation practices for our economy and workforce.
• A Common Language Glossary that provides new, industry-standard definitions of “skills” and other key concepts.
• A set of User Personas that illustrate how skills-based assessments can be understood and implemented from the worker, employer, and state perspectives.
• Principles for Quality at Scale that outline how performance-based evidence is key to building fair, transparent, and scalable systems.

Reliable skills validation benefits everyone: it opens doors to new jobs, advancement, and lifelong learning for employees. It leads to better hiring decisions, improved retention, and a stronger return on investment in talent for employers. It ensures that talent is recognized and mobilized where it is needed most—fueling innovation, productivity, and economic growth.

By issuing resources and creating consensus, the Partnership is making it easier to adopt, implement, and benefit from skills-first systems, ultimately making the skills-first economy possible. More industry guidance, including a policy agenda, employer practices guide, and summary of performance evaluation platforms to assist with skills assessment, will be released in the upcoming months.

To learn more about the Partnership for Skills Validation and the Center for Skills at C-BEN, access resources, stay informed about new materials, and join the movement to make skills-based hiring a reality in every sector, visit the Partnership for Skills Validation.