America, we have a problem. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor, the number of job openings climbed to 10.3 million across the nation in November, while the pool of unemployed workers stood at only 6 million—a job market mismatch. Adding insult to deficit injury, in a recent U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation report, 74% of hiring managers say there’s a skills gap, and 48% note that candidates lack the skills required to fill open jobs. Not only are businesses short workers, they’re also short qualified workers.

In order to fill that gap, more accessible job training could be the solution. It’s something The Salvation Army has historically championed with programs and resources across the country that allow potential employees to learn a skill or trade and pursue a career.

Take Cierra Jackson, 32, a former site supervisor at a plant in Detroit, Michigan. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, she was laid off with no safety net. Facing joblessness, a broken marriage and family loss, she packed her three young children in a car and headed to Chicago with $700 in her pocket, a plan to stay with friends for two weeks and a vision for her life and her kids. “We are going to make this work,” she told herself. “We are going to figure this out.”

That two-week stay stretched to six weeks. She needed work and found it via The Salvation Army—though not in the way she expected.

“I have a history with The Salvation Army,” she explains. “Their after-school programs, open gym, soup kitchen. I knew I could get on their computers to search for a job.”

But at a local office, she discovered the organization offers employment resources as well: résumé and cover letter writing classes, interview preparation, subsidized employment opportunities and more.

Giving a Hand Up, Not Out

“We provide job readiness training,” says Alex Garcia, the employment specialist at The Salvation Army Freedom Center in Chicago who helped Jackson learn new skills and pursue a new career. The “hand-up” employment services programs he coordinates gives job seekers like Jackson an assortment of educational tools and employment support, from skill set assessments to job search counseling, and from job training to job placement.

Garcia and his team help people finish school requirements, complete job certifications and pursue gainful employment despite the barriers standing in their way—such as mental health or substance abuse issues, a criminal background or homelessness. In 2021 alone, The Salvation Army provided job training to more than 25,500 people, each with their own level of job readiness, many uncovering skills they didn’t know they had or think were valuable. “We meet our clients where they’re at,” Garcia says.

For clients like Jackson—who admits to not knowing how to type or answer a phone in a professional manner until she took advantage of The Salvation Army’s services—having access to a wide range of programs has been life-changing. The working mother was accepted into the organization’s paid on-the-job program, in which participants work 30 hours a week for up to eight weeks at a company with the potential for a permanent position, if one is open, being offered at the end.

By the end of the program, Jackson was offered a part-time position as a community center assistant. One week after starting, she went full-time.

“Sometimes it’s unbelievable to me the way life is panning out,” she says.

Working Toward a Brighter Future

Success stories like Jackson’s punctuate the value of intuitive and accessible job training programs. And the need for such programs is only growing.

According to a survey conducted by the U.S. Chamber of Congress Foundation, 74% of hiring managers require the submission of a credential in their hiring practices, with 41% saying credentials mostly act as a verification of skills. And 67% expect to use skills assessments as part of the interview process even more in the next year.

Employability requires more than determination. It warrants acquiring and improving marketable skills. Yet, the U.S. lags France, Germany, Italy and Canada in percentage of GDP invested in workforce development and training, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Investing in training workers pays off. Garcia says he is always looking for companies to partner with, to take on new hires, in order to give people who participate in The Salvation Army’s employment services programs job training and experience. He notes a successful partnership with the Chicago Transit Authority’s second chance apprenticeship program, designed for people who have been in the justice system or have experienced homelessness. Workers apprentice for a year, sometimes two, with their goal being a permanent position.

“That’s been a pretty successful partnership for us,” he proudly shares. “It’s a win for the city and also for the new employees who get to make their community better while supporting their families.”