Case Study

Unlocking career paths for workers through skills-first hiring

Partnering with Opportunity@Work to increase access to higher-wage careers for more workers

Opportunity

Removing barriers that limit upward mobility

Opportunity@Work (O@W) is a national nonprofit working focused on eliminating the barriers that hinder upward mobility for STARs—workers Skilled Through Alternative Routes. More than 70 million Americans fall into this category: they hold a high school diploma and have developed valuable skills through community college, military service, on-the-job training, or other alternative paths. Yet many are excluded from higher-wage roles due to degree requirements, disproportionately affecting Black and Hispanic workers.

O@W aims to close this opportunity gap by helping employers shift from degree-based to skills-based hiring. With growing traction across the public, social, and private sectors, O@W is working toward opening 10+ million higher-wage jobs to STARs, raising wages for 100,000 STARs, and unlocking $20B in aggregate wage gains by 2030.

Hear from Opportunity@Work's CEO and co-founder, Byron Auguste, and Chief Impact Officer, Papia Debroy, along with the McKinsey team, about how our partnership is driving upward mobility for millions of workers

Solution

Rewiring the labor market to prioritize skills-first hiring

McKinsey partnered with Opportunity@Work to scale its mission and amplify impact through a suite of strategic initiatives:

  • Co-launched the “Tear the Paper Ceiling” campaign to help employers replace degree requirements with skills-based criteria
  • Developed a digital portal enabling employers to explore STARs data, identify eligible roles, and access a diverse talent pipeline
  • Redefined O@W’s operating model crafting a five-year strategy and pinpointing critical initiatives and cross-unit synergies
  • Created messaging and communications for the STARs Fund--a $100 million campaign to grow O@W’s capabilities and network by 2028
  • Captured best practices in open-source playbooks to support US states in removing degree screens for for public-sector roles

McKinsey’s partnership with Opportunity@Work has had an extraordinary impact. It’s been a multiplier in many respects for the progress that we’re seeing STARs start to make in the US labor market.

Papia Debroy, chief impact officer, Opportunity@Work

Impact

Unlocking an overlooked talent pool in the American workforce

Get in touch

Carolyn Pierce
Southern California
Leads 400+ technologists building software and analytics tools to serve People and Organizational Performance clients.
Paul Welling
Bay Area
Supports clients on large-scale digital transformations in building platforms to modernize core technology through Agentic systems...

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