Latest / The Inspired Stories Podcast / Hearts, Minds & Tech: How Career Team Leverages Software to Build Bridges to Better Lives for our Nation’s Underserved Population | Staffing Series

Transcript

Hearts, Minds & Tech: How Career Team Leverages Software to Build Bridges to Better Lives for our Nation’s Underserved Population | Staffing Series · The Inspired Stories Podcast

0:04
Welcome to another edition of Inspired Stories, where leaders
0:07
share their experiences so we can learn from their successes,
0:10
how they've overcome adversity, and explore current challenges
0:13
they're facing. Welcome to another edition of
0:18
the Inspired Stories podcast, where leaders share their
0:21
experiences so we can learn from their successes and be inspired
0:24
by how they've overcome adversity.
0:27
My name is Anthony Kotaspodi, and today's guest is Michaela
0:30
Pearson. She is the Chief Business
0:32
Officer at Career Team, an organization founded in 1996 and
0:37
headquartered in North Haven, CT Career Team provides workforce
0:41
services and software for government and educational
0:44
institutions, helping maximize investments through innovative
0:48
models. Their Career Edge platform
0:51
delivers career readiness, courseware, case management,
0:55
labor exchange, and more. Recognized by outlets like 60
0:59
Minutes, CNN, and Fox, Career Team has received multiple
1:04
awards for innovation and growth.
1:06
Michaela has worked with academic leaders nationwide,
1:10
guiding them through shifts to online and hybrid learning.
1:14
She strongly believes education is the key to empowerment and
1:17
has dedicated her career to pairing workforce development
1:20
with modern service delivery. She is also a certified trainer
1:24
in the AHA Process Bridges Out of Property program and
1:28
completed the Accomplishment Coaching Leadership Coaching
1:31
program in 2013. Her extensive background in
1:34
business, finance and coaching allows her to help individuals
1:38
and organizations thrive. Now before we get into all that
1:41
good stuff, today's episode is brought to you by my company,
1:44
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To find out if your company qualifies, contact us today at
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Add Back benefitsagency.com. Now back to our guest today, the
2:11
Chief Business Officer, Career Team, Michaela Pearson.
2:14
I appreciate you making the time to Share your story today.
2:16
Oh, thank you so much for having me.
2:18
I'm excited to be here. OK, so tell us just in in plain
2:22
language for people who may be outside of the the industry that
2:26
you work in, what are the services that career team
2:30
offers? Paint a picture for us in a way
2:32
that we can all understand. Absolutely.
2:34
So as you mentioned, Anthony, we were founded back in 1996.
2:38
We were actually founded by a husband and wife team at the
2:41
time, Chris and Sue Casillius. And they're in Connecticut.
2:45
And Sue Casillius was actually running the workforce
2:49
development programs for a college that she was working
2:52
for. And what she found is that a lot
2:55
of workforce programs were very mechanical.
2:58
And so if you have a sense of what I mean by that, not sure if
3:02
you've been to the DMV in the last couple of years, but I had
3:07
a recent name change when I got married about a year and a half
3:10
ago. So I just went through this
3:11
process and I wouldn't say that it's the most wildly engaging
3:16
and exciting experience and so. That is putting it kindly.
3:20
Right. So what Suit found is that we
3:23
were taking in many cases, a very hard to serve population,
3:26
meaning individuals that are coming to us with lots of
3:29
barriers to employment success, whether it's transportation
3:33
barriers, housing issues, first generation career seekers and
3:37
things of that nature. And then putting them through a
3:40
very mechanical process, come in, stand in line, fill out an
3:44
application, go to the next desk and thinking that that was going
3:48
to lead to sustainable employment and success.
3:51
So as you can well imagine, that is not necessarily a recipe for
3:56
for individuals to secure and sustain employment.
3:59
And so she and her husband, Chris, the the founder and CEO
4:03
of the company, they decided to build a workforce program that
4:06
was going to be grounded in the principles of building the
4:10
self-confidence, the hearts and minds of career seekers before
4:14
we send them out into the workforce.
4:17
I'm really sorry. I have a couple of guests in my
4:20
office here. So they decided to build a
4:23
workforce program that was going to be focused on helping
4:26
individuals build their hearts and minds 1st.
4:28
And with that, these individuals would then go out and sustain
4:33
employment. And that worked really, really
4:34
well. So that is the start of the
4:36
company. We started with a tiny contract
4:38
with serving a handful of individuals in Connecticut, and
4:41
now you can see that we're operating workforce development
4:43
programs across the country. So it's been a tremendous
4:47
experience. I came on board about 10 years
4:51
ago after spending the first half of my career in higher
4:55
education publishing. So I started my career working
4:59
with, at the time it was Thompson Learning.
5:01
They're now Send Gauge learning. So they've gone through a number
5:05
of changes over the years, but I was working predominantly with
5:08
institutions that were focused on helping individuals achieve
5:12
specific career pathways, whether it was nursing or IT or
5:16
things of that nature. And in doing so, I sat on dozens
5:20
of employer advisory boards across the country.
5:23
And I would hear consistently from my employer partners that
5:27
our schools were doing an incredible job teaching nurses
5:31
how to take blood pressures and how to, you know, put an IV, but
5:38
they didn't necessarily have the sustainable skills that they
5:41
needed to sustain employment. Things like critical thinking,
5:45
time management, leadership skills, conflict resolution.
5:49
So when I was approached by career team saying, hey, we are
5:53
a workforce development firm. We've been working with hard to
5:55
serve populations for at that time, it was 16 years.
6:00
We're looking to expand our footprint within the education
6:03
sector. Would you be open to coming on
6:06
board and helping us do that? I didn't necessarily look at it
6:09
as an opportunity. I truly felt like it was a
6:12
responsibility. It was something that my my
6:15
schools were really trying to figure out.
6:17
And if there was a model and a curriculum or a philosophy that
6:22
could actually help people break these cycles of poverty and
6:25
enter the workforce and sustain that employment, that is
6:28
something that very, very closely aligned not only with my
6:31
professional goals, but with my personal mission statement.
6:34
So I took the plunge. I left my, at the time, I was a
6:37
national sales manager for McGraw Hill Education, running
6:41
a, a sales organization and solutions consultants from coast
6:44
to coast and went from that to be going back to an individual
6:48
contributor in an entrepreneurial environment
6:51
where first one over the fence. I was the, the marketing
6:55
department, the sales department, they invoicing the
6:58
collections, the implementation manager, the product analyst.
7:02
And so that was a really big change and one that I absolutely
7:08
am so glad that I took the risk because when you can truly build
7:11
something that is aligned with your personal mission, it's
7:14
extremely rewarding. And here we are 10 years later,
7:18
serving over a half a million career seekers a year in various
7:22
different outlets. And that's a little bit about
7:25
how we got here. That's a phenomenal story.
7:29
It really stuck with me that you said it wasn't an opportunity,
7:33
it was a responsibility. But clearly they had to feel
7:36
like a bit of a career leap for you coming from a great position
7:43
with an established publisher. You know, you were kind of at
7:46
the top of your field there, and here it was.
7:48
You were in a lead to go to a much smaller entity with much
7:52
less support, much less infrastructure.
7:55
Were you a little bit nervous in making that transition?
7:58
Of course. And I would say that if you're
8:00
not a little bit scared, then you're not taking a big enough
8:03
risk, right. And so yes, I mean, I especially
8:08
at the time I was a new mom, I had a brand new baby and I was
8:12
the primary breadwinner for my family.
8:14
So leaving a very secure job to go and try my entrepreneurial
8:19
spirit was not only a huge risk personally, but for my family as
8:25
well. And I was very supported in that
8:27
experience and very glad that I that I took that initiative.
8:31
But no, I mean, and sometimes it doesn't work out.
8:33
So, you know, those are some of the the risks that you have to
8:36
be willing to take or at least understand what your risk
8:39
tolerance is when you're making transitions like that.
8:43
So with the work that you do in the workforce development arena,
8:47
are there federal dollars, are there like is there government
8:52
funding that comes in to help with this?
8:53
Is this all coming from some kind of the some part of the
8:56
private sector? Sure.
8:58
We have our tentacles in a few different markets.
9:01
So I guess going back to your original question around the
9:04
services that we offer, I talked a lot about our history and how
9:07
we started as a direct services provider.
9:10
That was really, it's been many iterations.
9:12
There was we, now there's WEOWA, which is the Workforce
9:16
Investment Opportunity Act and they have programs and lots of
9:20
dollars tied to what we call in school and out of school youth
9:25
programs. There are adult and dislocated
9:27
worker programs and all kinds of special grants that come down
9:30
from the federal government. They're distributed to the
9:32
states, then distributed into individual workforce boards who
9:36
then hire out a lot of their service delivery.
9:38
So yes, those are a lot of the programs that we run.
9:42
We're in I think 15 states right now running RIOA programs.
9:45
And then we also have a number of TANF programs that we offer
9:49
throughout the the country as well.
9:51
So those are Temporary Assistance for needy Families.
9:54
So you've got the Department of of Human Services, we've got
9:58
workforce and then we also have within our software division.
10:03
This is really where we are taking those best practices that
10:06
we have from working directly with career seekers for now 2
10:10
1/2 decades and we've built them into scalable platforms that we
10:15
are now implementing within workforce programs, entire
10:19
states for their workforce case management systems.
10:22
We also have departments of Corrections, for example, in the
10:25
state of Missouri. They utilize our Career Edge
10:28
platform as their work readiness program for all their returning
10:31
citizens, individuals that are getting ready to release back
10:34
into civilian life after incarceration.
10:37
And then we also work with a number of educational
10:39
institutions, whether they're community colleges, training
10:43
institutions and so forth that are preparing their students not
10:47
only for a particular career pathway, but also want to ensure
10:51
that those students possess the sustainable skills that they
10:54
need to to secure employment. So things like, you know, the
10:59
soft skill development that our employers are always asking for
11:02
with critical thinking and time management, that is what we
11:05
reinforce through our curriculum offers.
11:07
But then we also have a full career services management
11:10
system and case management system that is utilized by and
11:15
at the enterprise level for institutions to operationalize
11:18
and create staff capacity in those areas.
11:22
So what's the extent of the training that you provide?
11:26
You know, if I decide I want to start a career as a nurse, can I
11:30
come in and get the full education and certification?
11:34
Or am I getting like my license to be a nurse somewhere else and
11:38
I'm getting more of the soft skills from from you that are
11:42
going to help me be successful in that?
11:43
Career, that's that's correct. So we are, we partner with a
11:47
number of educational training providers that are offering core
11:52
programming in areas like healthcare, business, IT trades,
11:57
etc, pretty much the entire gamut of types of career
12:00
pathways that you could consider.
12:02
But the consistent thing that our employers are asking for is
12:05
that whether you're coming out as a registered nurse or an
12:08
automotive technician or have a business degree, that you also
12:13
should understand how to communicate with customers and
12:16
overcome challenges and receive critical feedback and know how
12:20
to interview and brand yourself. So we really look at ourselves
12:24
as the the platform that sits alongside all of that core
12:28
programming and is ensuring that not only are students learning
12:31
whatever core skill set that they are choosing to pursue, but
12:35
they're also leaving that educational experience with the
12:38
soft skills that they need to secure and sustain employment.
12:43
Do the that soft skill training differ for different career
12:48
paths? I want to be a welder.
12:50
So the soft skills that you're teaching me are different than
12:53
if I want to be a nurse. Or is it kind of the same?
12:55
Because listen, you got to, you know, you have to know people
12:58
and how to, you know, overcome difficulties and challenges
13:01
regardless of what your career path.
13:03
Is there are absolutely some common denominators that we
13:06
certainly are going to address the use cases and the examples
13:09
that we might give would be varied by right industry.
13:13
So you know, communicating with a patient versus a customer,
13:16
those types of scenarios. We might have some different
13:19
examples, but the skill of empathy and human connection and
13:25
you know, how to communicate and deal with conflict or work with
13:28
somebody when they're having a bad day, those are pretty
13:31
universal truths that would apply across any industry that
13:33
you may go into the workforce. How does what you're doing, a
13:38
career team differ from what maybe some similar organizations
13:41
are doing? Sure.
13:42
That's a great question. And I think that because we did
13:46
not start as a big box publisher that happened to have a solution
13:52
in this area in the career development or student success
13:55
arena, nor where did we start as a big software company that
13:59
suddenly decided it wanted to build a case management system
14:02
or career services management system.
14:04
We actually came as a services provider 1st.
14:07
And the tools that we built came.
14:09
We built originally to support our own staff, right.
14:12
We wanted to create scale and standardization and some
14:15
automation and best practices across our organization.
14:20
I think that's what makes us very special is that we are
14:22
truly practitioners and that the advice we're giving through our
14:26
online platforms on how to secure employment is coming from
14:29
doing the work every single day. So as there's changes that are
14:32
happening within the world of interviewing, we are addressing
14:37
that within our solutions at scale.
14:40
Now the other thing that is very unique about career team is that
14:44
because we come from so so heavily focused on the
14:47
individual career seeker and building out the the support
14:51
that they need in order to sustain employment.
14:55
And then we're backing into a lot of the operational
14:57
components of a case manager and workforce development.
15:00
So you know, application and intake, determining eligibility,
15:05
figuring out what kinds of documents that they need to have
15:08
captured that sort of thing. We're able to combine the
15:12
training and development of a career seeker with the
15:15
operational components of a career services operation.
15:18
So I'm not sure if that if you totally make sense in in this
15:23
context, but the idea here is that an individual who is, who's
15:28
going through the training and development process also has
15:30
some some operational things that they need to do.
15:34
And you mentioned recruiting a lot like you probably have
15:37
applicant tracking systems and things like that where you're
15:39
scheduling interviews and so forth.
15:42
That is the operational side of a career services operation or a
15:45
workforce development operation that we're pairing with the
15:48
training and development. So very often it will take my
15:51
partners 3456 vendors to create a career edge.
15:56
You have to have one thing for your externship tracking.
15:58
You have another tool for your placement verification
16:01
documents. You've got something else for
16:03
application and then taken determining eligibility.
16:05
You have yet another system for case management.
16:08
And most of the time in workforce, these systems are
16:12
they've been around for a long time.
16:13
So they're not necessarily born client facing.
16:16
What we've done is said we want to take the modern consumer
16:19
approach to all of these services and implement that in
16:23
such a way that we are meeting consumer demand within the
16:27
constructs of workforce development.
16:30
So what I mean by that is historically speaking, if you
16:33
were seeking workforce development services, you would
16:36
have to get on the bus, go across town between the hours of
16:40
nine to five, sit across a desk from a case manager, go through
16:44
the application and intake process, and then maybe you're
16:48
going to receive services that day.
16:50
That doesn't necessarily work, right.
16:52
We today we've got a, a consumer model where if I need to
16:56
schedule a pediatrician appointment for my child, I can
16:59
just pull up my phone and do that from my phone.
17:01
That's the type of innovation that we're bringing to workforce
17:04
development by building tools that are born client facing and
17:08
are including the expectations of the consumer that we have
17:11
today. And so you guys are saying, hey,
17:15
you no longer need to drive across town, you can open up the
17:19
app on your phone, you can schedule something.
17:21
And can you do the meeting remotely as well then?
17:24
Yes, we have integrations with all of the online platforms and
17:28
all of the other stuff that they may need.
17:30
OK Michaela, tell me about your work with working mothers and
17:35
why this is so important to you. Sure.
17:38
So I am a blended family of five children.
17:42
So I'm a working mom and I've been very fortunate to have a
17:46
lot of support resources in that experience.
17:49
I think that, you know the same things that I've applied to the
17:53
way that I am running my business, which is I, I often
17:57
ask myself, just because you can't doesn't mean that you
18:02
should, right? But in other words, I have a lot
18:07
of responsibilities in my household as well as in my
18:10
business. And very often I am running
18:13
programs that that I don't necessarily have to do myself.
18:17
So the ability to really learn how to create operational
18:21
capacity in my business as well as in my home has been a skill
18:25
set that I've that I've cascade across across both parts of my
18:29
life. So just as I guess one tiny
18:32
example, you know, when we're growing and scaling a business
18:36
and going from, like I mentioned earlier, being an individual,
18:40
going from a national sales manager back to an individual
18:42
contributor and taking on all of the different operational
18:45
responsibilities that that includes.
18:48
I have also done the same thing at my house, right where I was
18:52
running at the entire show. And then as the family grew and
18:55
as my responsibilities at work group, I've had to outsource and
19:00
bring in other resources to help create the operational capacity
19:03
that we need here. So, and tell me what in what
19:08
ways your own personal mission statement intertwines with the
19:12
company's mission statement? Sure.
19:13
So when I first came to a career team, I read their mission
19:17
statement and it was accelerating the human
19:19
condition. My personal mission statement is
19:21
to support people in creating fulfilled and abundant lives.
19:24
And so when I read those two things side by side, they're
19:27
really saying the same exact thing.
19:29
And so I, I think that that's been really exciting for me is
19:33
that I have built a business around how can I serve right?
19:38
So the, the days that I start to get mixed up in the numbers and,
19:42
and spending too much time in the P and Li kind of have to
19:45
take a step back and say, OK, you know, who would Michaela
19:48
ambassador to humanity, what approach would she take here?
19:52
And where are there additional channels or places that I can go
19:56
to support individuals? Because at the end of the day,
19:59
and this is something I tell my staff all the time.
20:02
Yes, there are KPIs, yes, there are performance metrics in every
20:06
single job, whether you're a case manager in, in workforce
20:08
development or running TANF programs.
20:11
And the difference between US and and then maybe another
20:15
industry is that by making that next phone call, you could be
20:18
potentially saving somebody's life, right?
20:21
You know, we have one of our our leaders in in our Delaware
20:24
office who has shared that there was one person who is planning
20:28
to take their life that day. And she took the extra time to
20:31
really sit across the desk and unpack the situation and could
20:34
just intuition to say something isn't right here and, and really
20:40
have an incredible conversation that led to that person making a
20:43
different life choice. And those are the kinds of
20:45
impacts that we can have every single day.
20:47
So that's why I try to tell my teams, yes, you know, there are
20:50
performance metrics. Yes, we are looking to see how
20:54
many people we're serving, but the impact of that is is
20:57
exponential. When you take an individual who
21:00
has faced incarceration in their lifetime and maybe they they
21:04
reduce recidivism in a particular state, Not only are
21:09
you moving the needle from a state's resident status, but
21:13
you're also, you're also changing the trajectory of a
21:17
family. You know, an individual who's
21:20
able to secure employment, sustain employment, provide for
21:23
their family. Those are the reasons that that
21:26
bad things happen in this world, right?
21:28
When you can't take care of your family, when you can't take care
21:30
of yourself, when you can't take care of your kids, you start to
21:33
see the systemic issues of child abuse, domestic violence,
21:37
substance abuse and everything else that goes along with it.
21:41
So that's the way that I look at this is those are my motivating
21:44
factors is every single day that I that I'm able to get up and
21:48
pound the pavement or get on an airplane and go speak in an
21:50
event, the potential impact of lives changed.
21:54
Yes, the rest of it solves itself, but that's that's the
21:57
motivating factor at career team.
21:59
So what's the ultimate KPI for you then, Michaela?
22:02
Oh, so my, my big picture vision is that what I've very heavily
22:08
observed within the government technology, I guess challenges
22:13
is that there's not really good ecosystems of communication.
22:18
And So what tends to happen is that we have, you know, your
22:22
Department of Labor and you've got your Department of Human
22:24
Services and then you've got your community colleges and all
22:28
these different entities or, or state-run programs, but
22:32
nothing's really talking to each other.
22:34
So what ends up happening is that we're we re traumatize an
22:37
individual when they come into the Community College and sit
22:41
across the desk from their counselor and have to retell the
22:43
story that they just told to their case manager, their TANF
22:47
program who they just told to the housing support authorities
22:51
and things like that. We aren't able to really move
22:55
the needle for that person because they're free.
22:57
They could potentially never want to come back through our
22:59
doors, right? The other thing that I would say
23:01
is we don't make it easy for these participants who are
23:06
already coming to us with barriers to success.
23:08
If they have to get on a bus and come across town and schedule
23:13
childcare to receive childcare services, there's actually a
23:16
barrier to the barrier we're trying to remove.
23:19
So those are some of the things that that keep me up at night is
23:22
I really want to take all of that the these different
23:26
entities that our career seekers are commonly engaging with and
23:30
build a single source of truth. So, you know, 30 years from now,
23:34
if I can look back and say Career Edge became a tool that
23:37
was engaged with our student populations from maybe the K12
23:41
system all the way through the community colleges, track them
23:44
through workforce development, through the Department of Human
23:48
Services. And we had kind of a integrated,
23:52
you know, like an electronic health record.
23:53
Right now, I've been visiting a couple of different healthcare
23:58
organizations and I'm able to share my records across these
24:02
organizations without having to download, upload fax files, all
24:05
that kind of thing. So the ability to create
24:07
something where we're operationalizing with the career
24:12
seeker, the actual end user in mind, I think that's where we're
24:14
going to see some pretty substantial changes and some
24:18
some some operational capacity building for these different
24:21
organizations that are trying to work together today in a much
24:24
more manual format. Michaela, did I understand you
24:26
correctly that you are either building or you have or you want
24:31
to build something that will track kids as they're kind of
24:36
moving through the education system and opportunities may
24:39
exist for them as they get closer to employment age?
24:42
Exactly. Right now we work with a lot of
24:45
out of in school and out of school youth.
24:47
We also run a number of of summer youth programs.
24:52
So these are programs that are around the country.
24:56
We actually do run them as a direct services provider in a
24:59
lot of our workforce programs. But then for other entities that
25:02
are running workforce programs, we are the software engine.
25:07
So in many cases when a summer youth program is occurring,
25:13
these participants, historically speaking, have had to fill out
25:16
physical applications. There's not an easy way to pair
25:20
them with an employer and they're tracking paper
25:24
timesheets and and things of that nature.
25:27
So we are this the software engine for places like the city
25:31
of Detroit that uses our system as their as our tool.
25:35
We also work with the Washington DC Marion Barry Summer youth
25:39
program. So lots of these big summer
25:42
youth programs utilize our software platforms, and I'd like
25:44
to take that at scale and figure out a way that we could back it
25:47
into the entire student life cycle.
25:51
Is career team a for profit non for profit?
25:54
We are for profit and we were only owned by an individual
26:00
owner until 2021. So just over three years ago, we
26:05
recapitalized and we've been able to expand our footprint
26:08
quite a bit since then. Yeah.
26:12
Would I be correct in thinking that there are other maybe
26:14
career development companies, workforce development companies
26:20
that in a way you might compete with that are using your
26:23
software as well? That's a great observation.
26:27
Yes. You know, there are direct
26:29
services providers in the workforce development arena.
26:32
They're similar to career team. You know, there are lots of
26:36
those types of organizations that are very much dedicated to
26:39
the services side. They're not necessarily software
26:44
companies. So that is something that makes
26:46
us a little bit unique in that a lot of our direct services
26:49
quote, UN quote competitors would potentially be using
26:53
courage inside of their operations.
26:56
Michaela, you're a certified trainer in the Bridges Out of
26:59
Poverty program. What is that program and how
27:02
does that training influence the way that you maybe work with
27:07
government and educational institutions?
27:10
Sure. I, well, I have to tell the
27:12
story of how I got into that work to, I guess, bring it to
27:16
light when I was in my early career, as in the publishing
27:20
industry, I, my, my territory was Northern California.
27:23
And there was a school in the San Joaquin Valley that I became
27:27
tremendous friends with a lot of the academic leaders there.
27:31
And they invited me to come to a faculty training that they were
27:34
having for their staff. And it was a Bridges out of
27:36
poverty training. I was not familiar with this
27:38
work at the time. It's the process.
27:40
It's Doctor Ruby Payne's work. And the first thing that they
27:44
had me do was complete 3 assessments.
27:47
And the first one was could you survive in poverty?
27:51
The second one was can you survive in the middle class?
27:54
And the third one was can you survive in wealth?
27:57
And I went through the middle class one.
27:59
That's how I grew up. Check, check, check, check,
28:01
check went through the wealth one, I would say maybe half of
28:04
the things on there I was familiar with.
28:06
But when I got to the assessment about living in poverty, I could
28:10
not check a single box and these.
28:13
Boxes are asking, have you ever experienced this kind of a thing
28:16
is that? Would you know what to do if OK,
28:19
so you know, have you ever navigated the public bus
28:22
systems? Would you know where to go if
28:24
you needed to receive food stamps?
28:27
You know, does your family like there's just all kinds of of
28:33
great questions that really threw me for a loop.
28:35
And what I figured out in reading through this assessment
28:38
is that poverty has nothing to do with intelligence.
28:42
It took more intelligence to navigate the, the things that
28:46
were on the list that that I couldn't even answer a single
28:50
question for. And that that struck me.
28:54
And so I think that, you know, my personal mission statement
28:57
was in place at that time. But I really chose at that
29:00
moment to focus my career on serving individuals who are
29:04
coming into into the workforce and into the educational
29:10
environment with some of these inequities that I was unfamiliar
29:14
with. And so I took it upon myself to
29:16
become trained in the platform itself and I've brought a lot of
29:21
those philosophies into our product design.
29:24
One of the tentamount ideas that we have every time we're
29:27
launching a new feature in Career Edge is that we assume no
29:30
prerequisite knowledge and we always deliver without judgment.
29:35
And that is important as we are looking to serve individuals who
29:41
maybe didn't come from a family where they've ever written a
29:43
resume or, or gone to a, an office job on a daily basis or
29:48
owned their own vehicles or things like that.
29:50
So those are those are some of the things that really stuck out
29:54
to me and and drive the heart and the heartbeat of our mission
29:57
at career team. You know, as the Chief Business
30:00
Officer, I imagine that you have to mix sort of big picture
30:05
vision with practical execution. How I don't know what's maybe
30:12
like a realization that you've had about balancing those bottom
30:16
line objectives with your passion for empowering
30:21
individuals to improve their life through education and and
30:25
better work for better work opportunities.
30:28
Yeah, it's a great question because I always say to my
30:31
teams, leaders are paid to think and that we work full time for
30:36
today and part time on our future.
30:38
So if if you in an executive role are spending all of your
30:44
work hours tactically executing against what's happening right
30:48
in front of you, you're missing the mark.
30:50
We have to give ourselves enough time and elevation and space to
30:56
to think broader and to say, OK, I have this solution in front of
31:00
me, but what if I just turned it on its side?
31:03
Could I reimagine this and could it serve a different purpose?
31:07
So that's a great example of the work that we're doing now with
31:09
the departments of Corrections we have five years ago.
31:13
We're doing no work in the docs because the technology
31:16
infrastructure to work with technology prior to release was
31:20
not there. DOC is.
31:22
Department of Corrections. So working with some of the, the
31:25
resident populations in the prison systems today,
31:29
historically speaking, it's been, you know, no technology,
31:32
no Internet, no anything. Well, guess what?
31:34
The DOCS are starting to become a little bit more sophisticated.
31:37
And if you have the right security infrastructure on your
31:40
systems, they make great candidates for for work
31:43
readiness programs. Because once you bypass all of
31:48
the basic human needs, the number one tool that a returning
31:53
citizen needs in order to stay out of the prison facilities is
31:57
a job. So having done that work ahead
32:01
of time, having learned how to, to interview and done their
32:04
resumes and understand their unique value propositions and
32:08
learn how to overcome the conversation around
32:10
incarceration before they exit is something that is really
32:15
beneficial to their objectives of reducing recidivism.
32:18
So where I'm going with that is, you know, thinking big picture,
32:24
they, this wasn't on our radar a few years ago because of the
32:27
technology infrastructure. But if you give yourself enough
32:29
elevation as a leader to really say, what are some of the
32:32
changing and emerging trends across all the different
32:35
channels that we serve that align with our mission, you're
32:37
always going to be able to find new use cases and ways that you
32:40
can innovate your platforms and services to reach broader and
32:45
and more populations. Speaking of Department of
32:49
Corrections, you know, I had a conversation with someone else
32:52
recently that kind of opened my eyes to people who are coming
32:57
out of the prison system and the, the extreme difficulties
33:03
that they face in trying to reassimilate, like, hey, I, I
33:08
want to, I want to get on track. I, I, you know, I want to
33:11
provide, I want to get a job. I want to be part of the
33:13
community again. And there are so few
33:17
opportunities that exist for somebody with a criminal record.
33:22
And there's sort of this perception that people who have
33:27
been formerly incarcerated, they're not going to be good
33:30
employees. They're not someone that you can
33:32
trust. Help me.
33:35
Help me paint a different picture for people listening
33:38
about the sort of the negative stereotypes that surround all of
33:42
that. Sure.
33:45
Well, first of all, there's a lot of states that are moving
33:48
away from even having a box on their applications asking if you
33:52
have a criminal background. So that is certainly a movement
33:56
that we're seeing far and wide and more and more states getting
33:58
on board with. There are also a lot of
34:02
employers that are very second chance friendly and have found
34:06
that those employees end up being the most reliable, the
34:09
most eager to work and have very, very little issues from an
34:16
insurance policy perspective. Or I guess a way to kind of help
34:21
soften the blow of of employers that are willing to work with
34:25
this pool. There are lots of federal
34:27
bonding programs and things of that nature.
34:29
So if an employer is nervous about this possibility and they
34:34
would like to, but they're, they're trying to figure out the
34:38
best way to do these sorts of things, partnering up with our
34:41
local workforce agencies, with the nonprofits that are
34:45
specifically focused on employment for folks that have a
34:50
a felony record can help them better understand what resources
34:54
are out there for them. Yeah, there.
34:57
And there's there's lots of transitional programs.
34:59
There's lots of opportunities for individuals to come in in a
35:04
work experience. And then if that is a good
35:07
solution for them, then they can come on and stay full time.
35:11
You know, and the one of the points that you just made there,
35:13
Michaela, was something else that came up with this other
35:17
conversation where it was like it was a little
35:20
counterintuitive. You know, these are folks that
35:24
have had so many struggles and they've had so many doors closed
35:27
in their face that when there is an employer who will open the
35:30
door for them and give them an opportunity that they are so
35:34
incredibly grateful that they end up being, you know, some of
35:38
the best workers, the most reliable, the most loyal.
35:41
That's been your experience as well.
35:42
Yeah. And listen, there's not a
35:44
universal truth to this. There's certainly going to be
35:46
exceptions to the rule, but I would say that you won't know
35:50
until you try and that there is a lot of promise that we're
35:55
seeing out there as of late. I've been working with
35:59
organizations that are teaching cyber security and coding boot
36:03
camps into broadcasting into the prison facilities in a secure
36:08
manner. And we're just seeing all kinds
36:10
of of new types of career pathways that are being
36:13
delivered prior to release. And it's really, really exciting
36:17
to see some of the work that's being done.
36:19
Are there any other common misconceptions about workforce
36:22
development or career readiness that you're always trying to
36:26
dispel? I don't know if I would say it's
36:29
a misconception, but I do think that there is a tremendous
36:33
opportunity for better collaboration between our
36:37
educational leaders and our workforce leaders and the
36:41
employer community. There's three legs to this stool
36:44
and when we are solving problems in a vacuum, we're missing the
36:50
mark. So by really better leveraging
36:52
the employer communities into the conversation, having true
36:58
training programs that lead to the the skill sets that our
37:01
employers are looking for, I think solves all problems.
37:04
And to the degree that our education leaders are willing to
37:07
sit at the table and think differently about their current
37:10
processes, the length of their programs.
37:13
You know, the traditional university four year degree,
37:16
master's degree pathway isn't necessary for so many of the in
37:20
demand jobs that are happening in this country today.
37:23
So the idea of erasing the stigma around some of our trades
37:28
programs and some of the incredible sustainable
37:32
opportunities that we have within this country's is
37:34
definitely the path that I see that we're on.
37:37
I was recently at a, a workforce and education conference and
37:41
there was a representative from one of the major construction
37:43
companies there and he was speaking to, I think it was a $4
37:48
billion backlog of construction projects that they're just
37:52
sitting on. And the reason they're sitting
37:54
on them is because they don't have enough employees to get
37:56
these jobs done, these jobs done.
37:59
So what if the conversation were to change within households
38:02
around this country, you know, to, to teach our upcoming
38:05
workforce that there is a lot of Employment Opportunity here.
38:09
Let's, you know, stop freaking out about AI and replacing all
38:12
of our computer jobs and actually look at where there's a
38:14
need for, for a labour qualified workforce in this country.
38:21
And it's, there's, it's all over the place, you know, healthcare,
38:24
the trades. And I asked the question during
38:28
that session of the $4 billion in backlog, are we talking about
38:32
casinos and hotels or are we talking about hospitals and
38:35
roadways? You know, because this is going
38:37
to affect everybody. And it turns out 50% of the
38:39
workload that he was describing is is very much related to
38:43
things that would impact our day-to-day, whether it's
38:45
building new hospitals, schools, infrastructure, bridges, things
38:48
like that. Wow.
38:50
So you mentioned healthcare, you mentioned trades.
38:53
Anything else that you're seeing come up on a recurring basis
38:56
where there's opportunities? Sure, I mean IT is definitely a
38:59
a strong area cybersecurity. Gosh, every single day it seems
39:04
like things are popping up with additional need for support in
39:06
those areas. You know, those are, I would say
39:11
the majors that I am consistently running into is,
39:15
but trades means a lot of things, right?
39:17
You've got welding trades, you've got plumbing trades,
39:20
electrical, all pipe fitters, all kinds of things that fit
39:25
into that. And what's kind of exciting
39:27
about those particular industries is that you can earn
39:31
as you go, right? Maybe you start with a level 1
39:34
welder certificate and get an entry level position, and then
39:38
your employer is now paying for your next certificate and the
39:40
one after that and you're seeing your earning go up as you go.
39:44
As opposed to going in, taking a four year degree out of the gate
39:47
and going $150,000 into debt and starting in an entry level
39:52
position where you know your student loan is your entire
39:55
paycheck. Yeah.
39:58
And Michaela, you've completed the Accomplished coaching
40:01
program. You hold some certifications and
40:04
executive coaching. I'm curious to hear in what ways
40:08
that coaching has shaped your leadership style.
40:12
Sure. And I would say Bridges out of
40:14
Poverty and the accomplishment coaching program had a very
40:17
similar impact. And I think at the end of the
40:20
day, so much of how we were raised impacts the way that we
40:25
see the world, the way we see our careers, the way we interact
40:28
with others. So with both of those programs,
40:32
I've really tried to take an individualized approach to
40:36
really understand the motivating factors of my of my own team and
40:40
the participants that we're serving.
40:43
And yeah, the, the challenge is with those types of programs,
40:46
not everybody can afford to go to an individual therapist or a
40:50
life coach or go to a, a very expensive for your degree
40:55
program. So how can we take these
40:58
concepts of, of really understanding who you are,
41:02
overcoming some of those emotional barriers to success?
41:05
Because that's what I would say going back to the roots of
41:08
career team. And when Sue Castillo said,
41:10
gosh, the the thing that's getting in the way of these
41:12
individuals, success is so much in their heart and so much in
41:15
their minds. So can we at scale create tools
41:20
that, you know, are going to allow an individual to unpack
41:22
some of those barriers and go into these academic and
41:26
employment opportunities with a level of confidence that they
41:29
didn't have before? And so those are the, I guess,
41:32
the guiding principles that I've taken from both of those
41:35
additional training programs and said, you know, how can we reach
41:40
backwards for context, not to make excuses about why an
41:44
individual, you know, can't break a cycle or move on, but at
41:48
least it helps us better understand who they are and put
41:51
the equitable structures in place to help them take the next
41:55
step in the ladder. You know, there's a question
41:59
that I like to ask most of my guests, Michaela, and I wonder
42:01
if you might have a rather special perspective on this
42:05
because of what you do. You know, a lot of folks I
42:08
talked to, a lot of employers I still talk to that say it's,
42:11
it's still a pretty tight workforce.
42:13
Like it's tight, tight labor force, hard to find good folks,
42:16
hard to hold on to good folks. Now, obviously you're mostly
42:20
involved in getting people trained and ready for those
42:24
careers, but I'm curious, as you sort of talk to your different
42:29
clients and interact with them, what are some things that you've
42:33
seen have been really successful and first of all, recruiting
42:37
good folks into an organization? And once you've identified that,
42:41
hey, they are good, we want to hold on to them to then retain
42:43
them. Like what?
42:44
What are sort of the strategies involved in and attracting the
42:48
right folks and hold on to them? Sure.
42:50
I mean, I don't think that I'm going to say anything that is
42:53
that unique other than one of the biggest things that I always
42:57
try to really hone in on during the hiring process.
43:02
I'll take the extra time to make sure that there is mission
43:05
alignment, right? And we all have a different
43:10
reason why we're choosing to do what we do.
43:12
But I think if you were to speak with any employee at Career
43:16
Team, there is something about being part of an organization
43:21
that is specifically focused on helping individuals with
43:24
barriers to success, helping somebody go from A to B or A-Z
43:29
that keeps them here. We could all go to work in any
43:32
industry. If, if that idea of, of helping
43:36
individuals is not in your bucket, then you're, we're
43:40
probably not the fit for you, right?
43:41
But maybe saving the oceans is. So if there is an opportunity to
43:45
really check mission alignment through the interview process
43:49
and then come back to it because, you know, I'm sure you
43:52
experienced this running your company as well.
43:55
At the end of the day, we're not 100% of my time is spent having
43:58
these conversations. I am, you know, in the weeds of
44:02
looking at project plans and troubleshooting technology
44:05
issues and working with our fiscal teams.
44:09
But I have the privilege of going out and seeing our
44:11
customers often and hearing from the students, hearing from the
44:16
participants in our programs about the impact that our
44:19
services or our software or the our partner organizations have
44:24
helped them achieve their goals. So we try really hard to make
44:28
sure that we are bringing that back to our staff on a
44:30
consistent basis. So as an example, every Friday I
44:34
meet with our teams, we go through a comprehensive review
44:37
of every project that's in flight.
44:39
And I'll always come back and say, well, hey, this week I was
44:42
at this event and here's the what we heard from the students.
44:45
And I think that everybody needs that shot in the arm and that
44:48
reminder of the why behind what we're doing.
44:51
And then, you know, spending the time I, I still maintain one on
44:54
ones with my teams. And probably 50% of the
44:58
conversation has nothing to do with KPIs and metrics.
45:01
It's how we doing, you know, how are we feeling about this and,
45:05
and what else can we tweak? And you know, I always tell my
45:08
teams, I work for you as much as you work for me.
45:11
So my job is to remove your barriers and get things out of
45:15
your way. And if I can do that, then then,
45:18
you know, people feel seen and supported.
45:20
And just like every other relationship on the planet,
45:23
where you start to see things breakdown is when people do not
45:25
feel seen and they do not feel heard and they don't feel
45:27
supported. So as a leader, if we can make
45:31
sure that we're starting off the game and the right set of rules,
45:34
we know that we are aligned from a mission perspective and then
45:38
we're checking in on that and checking in on people as human
45:41
beings. That's what I've seen be the
45:43
recipe to sustainable success. And our executive team at Career
45:48
team, many of us have been here for a very, very long time.
45:51
We are, we are as much as we work hard and we are competitive
45:56
and we want to do the right things and see our performance
45:59
thrive. We're also very much a family
46:02
and that that resonates across the board.
46:06
You know, in your role, we've talked a lot about this already
46:09
being very KPI driven. Obviously, the ultimate KPI, at
46:13
least from a business perspective is the PNL, right?
46:16
You're not running a charity that the numbers have to look
46:19
good and have to make sense. And as I think about a business
46:22
leader's role in trying to improve the PNL, there's sort of
46:25
these two categories of levers, right?
46:27
It's like one of them is how do we increase sales?
46:30
The other one is how do we reduce expenses?
46:33
In the past, as you've sort of thought about each of those
46:36
levers, has there been a a creative idea that has worked to
46:41
move either one of those? Sure.
46:43
I think that whenever you come up with a model that works well
46:47
in a channel, there's probably industry adjacent areas that if
46:51
you take your solution and it's square box and say, well, I
46:55
could just tilt it on its side or or relabel something this or
46:59
what would we need to do to make this work elsewhere?
47:03
You find especially where we are and you know, we've, when I
47:06
started with a company, I really only thought of students as our
47:09
customers and job seekers as our customers.
47:12
Well, guess what? There's a whole employment
47:14
community out there that has existing employees that need to
47:17
upskill in some of these areas or whatever the case may be.
47:21
So instead of I would say getting a broader definition of
47:25
customer has definitely helped us us to say once we've really
47:30
saturated in a particular channel, is there a way that we
47:33
we're not going to, you know, start a whole new business unit
47:36
or have to restart the product strategy?
47:38
Could we take what we have, turn it on its side and solve a
47:42
problem for another industry? So perfect example of that.
47:46
We launched our statewide case management solutions in the past
47:50
couple of years. And in doing so we figured out
47:53
that there's a lot, a ton of other types of organizations,
47:57
mostly social driven organizations that need case
48:00
management solutions. Maybe not at a state scale, but
48:03
what if we were able to bring this, this big enterprise
48:06
solution down to something that could work within the nonprofit
48:09
space or work within cities or, or counties and other places.
48:15
And So what we found is this is also a solution for veterans
48:20
organizations. It's a solution for not only the
48:23
departments of Corrections, but the nonprofits that are case
48:26
managing those recently released returning citizens as they're
48:32
making their way back into the workforce.
48:34
So while our workforce programs may call it application of
48:38
intake, somebody else might call it program or or intake process
48:43
or whatever the case is. So to the degree that we can
48:48
flex and be a chameleon based on the audiences that we're
48:51
serving, we're finding out that a customer's a customer's a
48:55
customer. Some of us call them career
48:57
seekers, some of us call them students, some of us call them
49:00
returning citizens. And we need to be able to pivot
49:04
and and move with those changes so that we can serve broader
49:07
audiences. On the expense side, I think we
49:12
just every year we try to say, OK, here's what things look like
49:16
this year. Where did we invest our
49:19
resources? Did that make sense?
49:21
Was there a return on this? Do we need to change our
49:23
strategy? Should we, should we be moving
49:26
in a different direction? And then also, are there things
49:29
that we're purchasing today that we can combine into other
49:32
resources? So I'm always looking at, that
49:34
is to say, you know, do we have 3 or 4 software systems that if
49:38
we purchase one, we could move all of that into one experience.
49:42
And that is actually very often what our customers are doing
49:44
when they're adopting Career Edge, right?
49:46
They're saying, hold on a second, we're buying courseware
49:48
over here. We are purchasing a labor
49:51
exchange or job board from another company.
49:54
We have an alumni community. We're also using another
49:57
background check service. But if we go with Career Edge,
49:59
maybe that single line item in our PNL is bigger, but we're
50:02
able to encapsulate four or five services and create some
50:05
economies of scale and some operational efficiency in the
50:08
process. So I'm doing that every day or
50:10
every year career team and looking across our organization
50:14
to see if there's ways that we can optimize our investments.
50:16
And that's exactly what our customers are doing as well.
50:19
I have to imagine that from when you first joined career team to
50:24
to where you are now, your role has very clearly evolved, right?
50:28
Very small organization, you're wearing all kinds of hats now
50:32
you've got a few 100 employees. You know, you're spread around.
50:35
What was kind of the biggest challenge for you in kind of
50:39
making those progressions along the way into, you know, sort of
50:43
the role that you filled and the way that you had to carry
50:46
yourself through the company? For sure when I first joined the
50:50
organization, I was our education division president.
50:53
So what that meant was one vertical, very focused.
50:59
I ran across the entire org like think of kind of AGM type of
51:03
thing where you're, you're doing the business development, the
51:06
marketing, the customer success, the product analyst
51:08
implementation and then even on like contracting and fiscal
51:12
side. So the entirety of the operation
51:15
as we've scaled, we now have more specialization, right.
51:19
So we have a general counsel, we've got as CFO, we've got
51:24
product teams and fiscal agents and people that are handling all
51:27
of these things. So for me, it's like I'm going
51:30
back to where I was in my previous role at McGraw Hill.
51:33
Not quite, you know, it's not as big of an organization as that.
51:36
So I'm not quite as specialized. But like I said on the earlier
51:40
part of this call, just because you can doesn't mean you should.
51:43
So I find myself going into a task and I'm going, oh, wait,
51:48
wait a second. I need to actually let go of
51:51
this and have somebody else take take care of it.
51:53
So I'm trying really hard and that has been the biggest
51:56
transition is to let go of certain tasks so that the
52:00
organization can scale and that we're all working within our
52:03
superpowers. And you know, I am by no means
52:07
the best person at some of the fiscal and and operational
52:11
components of the business, but I wore that hat because out of
52:14
necessity. Now that we're in a different
52:16
place, I need to let every single team member play in their
52:21
role and let the orchestra shine brighter than the individual.
52:25
Oh, I. Like that, Michaela, I'm going
52:29
to shift gears on you here for a moment and I would like to hear
52:33
about a serious challenge that you've worked through, either
52:36
personal or professional or a combination of the two, What it
52:40
was like getting through that and some lessons learned as you
52:43
got to the other side. Sure.
52:46
I mean, I can speak to so many. I think that you know, going
52:49
from an individual individually owned company to having
52:55
investment resources and that that transition that I've just
52:58
mentioned of being a division leader and then now scaling into
53:03
a chief business officer role where you have your hand and a
53:06
little bit of everything. But you're, you're very focused
53:09
on one particular area of the business that has been extremely
53:14
rewarding, but also challenging to say as as I will admit, you
53:18
know, I like to have control for situations, but I also recognize
53:24
that the company and can't grow the way that we needed to.
53:27
If, if I'm, if I'm having individual ownership all of over
53:31
all these different components. But I would say bigger than
53:35
that, what I have often said is that when I went from McGraw
53:40
Hill to a career team, I had to learn that there's different
53:43
definition of success for a business based on their goals,
53:48
right? An individual owner of a
53:51
business is going to think about success very, very, very
53:54
differently than something that's private equity backed or
53:57
has VC funding or is looking to exit or go public.
54:01
And so aligning your day-to-day and your objectives as an
54:06
executive to the definition of success that you're tied to can
54:11
be very challenging and, and especially when it changes
54:15
virtually overnight. So that has been something
54:17
that's been so exciting to say. Some of the things that I didn't
54:20
feel were possible when we were, we didn't have some of these
54:23
other resources. Now they are and I've been given
54:25
that freedom to fly, which has been so exciting.
54:28
Scary, right? But when you've got great
54:32
leadership backing you, incredible CEO, wonderful board
54:35
of directors that says, awesome, go, go try these ideas out and,
54:39
and whatever investments that we need to make to make that
54:42
happen, that's it's really, really exciting.
54:45
And that's, I think that the way that I've overcome that
54:48
challenge of going from one definition of success to another
54:52
is to kind of reframe my brain to say, this is a different job
54:56
that you have today. And you need to think, make sure
54:59
that the lights are still on and that you're making sure your
55:02
customers are taken care of. And that the the mission and the
55:04
reason that people have chosen career team for all these years
55:07
is still there. But that you're also taking
55:10
advantage of the opportunity that you have today to grow into
55:13
new areas, which in our case means helping more people.
55:16
I imagine that has to be a lot of fun, knowing that you have
55:19
that flexibility and the resources behind you to
55:22
experiment a little bit. It is.
55:24
And I also think that we need to shake it up right.
55:28
We're never, if we stay stagnant for 10 years in one role and we
55:33
think of our definition of success the same way year after
55:36
year after year that we're actually becoming a hindrance to
55:39
our business and not necessarily the wind at our own back.
55:43
So I'm always doing that. I'm, I'm constantly asking, am I
55:48
thinking broadly enough? Have I?
55:50
Have I gotten out from under the weeds enough to really think
55:53
about our next strategies and and and challenge myself to
55:57
think bigger and more expansively about where we may
55:59
go next? Mikayla, any books, mentors,
56:03
experiences that have been particularly helpful for you in
56:06
your path? Sure, lots of all of the above.
56:10
I think my favorite book, though today still is the same one from
56:13
forever ago, which is the go giver.
56:16
I don't know if you've ever read that book, but it's a very, very
56:20
simple concept around and I think it's the it's actually how
56:24
I've run my business and my network for since the beginning
56:29
of my career. It's just the idea of looking
56:33
past the situation right in front of you and whatever is
56:35
really kind of self-serving to your individual contribution,
56:40
IEA go getter and and looking at how you can solution for
56:45
whichever problem that you're solving.
56:46
So in other words, I've had many ACEO or chief academic officer
56:53
that has called me over the years to ask me about things
56:56
that have nothing to do with my products.
57:00
And I think that that's the biggest feather in my cap is
57:02
when you can be looked at as an industry ambassador or somebody
57:06
who is bringing ideas to the table that happens to be the
57:10
chief business officer of career team and and offering the
57:13
courage solution. It always pays off in the end.
57:17
And I can't tell you how many times my relationship with one
57:20
of our current partners started totally not related.
57:23
Maybe they needed a referral for a new person for their team or
57:28
an introduction to a vendor that has nothing to do with us.
57:31
And then downstream, when the timing was right, when the need
57:34
was there were their first phone call.
57:36
And that's something that I'm very committed to.
57:38
And and I think the go giver and their principles really aligned
57:42
with that, that message. That's great.
57:45
It's surprising to me. I haven't heard of that book
57:47
before, but I've just put it on my list to pick up, so thanks
57:50
for that recommendation. You bet.
57:53
I just got one more question for you, Michaela.
57:54
But before I'd ask, I want to do 2 things.
57:56
First of all, everyone listening today, I know that you love
57:59
today's content. Please hit the like Share
58:00
subscribe button on your favorite podcast app.
58:03
Michaela. I also want to let people know
58:04
the best way to get in touch with you.
58:06
What would that be? Sure, LinkedIn is probably the
58:09
easiest way to find me. My e-mail address and contact
58:12
information is there just Michaela Pearson, so pretty easy
58:15
to find and then through our website, my bio and all that is,
58:19
is pretty easy to find there as well.
58:21
Terrific. Last question for you.
58:23
I'm curious what you see the big changes are that are coming
58:27
either for your industry in general or career team more
58:31
specifically in the next couple of years.
58:32
Any particular projects, innovations, new directions that
58:38
you're excited about? Sure.
58:40
Well, I mean, just in the last couple of weeks, we've had our
58:43
first joint calls between departments of Corrections and
58:47
departments of Workforce development.
58:49
So that idea of building a ecosystem that makes it easy for
58:54
a, a citizen or a participant to migrate from one state
59:00
department to the next and have a, a, a experience that is
59:06
consistent. I see the, the beginnings of
59:09
that. So I'm really excited about some
59:11
of those possibilities. And we'll be really curious to
59:13
see what that looks like as we go forward.
59:17
But, you know, there's, there's a lot of change coming.
59:18
There's, you know, a new administration coming in and I'm
59:22
sure that's going to affect a lot of the performance
59:25
benchmarks for any of the state agencies.
59:28
So we'll be very much paying attention to those changes and
59:32
seeing if and how our technology services can better align to
59:37
meet the objectives and ensure that these dollars are going
59:42
towards a good investment that's that's helping individuals
59:47
either reduce their government dependency or or achieve better
59:50
wage employment and sustainable careers.
59:54
Very admirable. It's going to be fun to kind of
59:57
watch as the progress unfolds. OK, Kayla, I want to be the
1:00:00
first one to thank you for sharing both your time and your
1:00:03
story with us today. I really appreciate it.
1:00:05
Absolutely, Really appreciate you having me today and thank
1:00:08
you so much for bringing these stories out there and and for
1:00:11
the great work that you do. Thank you for those kind words,
1:00:14
folks. That's a wrap on another episode
1:00:15
of the Inspired Stories podcast. Thanks for learning with us
1:00:18
today.