Tuesday Talent: Where Talent Comes From, and How You Can Shape It

Struggling to find and keep the right people? You are not alone, and you are not without support.

Behind every hiring challenge sits a network of local, regional and state partners built to help employers develop their talent. The challenge is knowing where to start, who to call and how your business fits into the larger workforce development system.

This introductory Tuesday Talent session will demystify the workforce development system for business owners and leaders who have never engaged with it. Attendees will leave with a clearer understanding of how the system works, where their business fits and practical steps they can take right away.

What You’ll Learn

• How the workforce development system is structured
• Which local, regional and state partners support employer talent needs
• Where your business fits within the system
• How to begin engaging with workforce partners
• Practical steps employers can take to support talent development

Who Should Attend

This session is a plain-language introduction for business owners and leaders who are new to workforce development. We will map where talent actually comes from, starting earlier than most people realize, from middle school career exposure through high school career and technical education, community colleges, and the partners who connect employers with job seekers every day. We will look at how the system is funded and organized at the national, state, and local levels, and why so much of it exists specifically to serve employers.

Most importantly, you will see where your business fits on a spectrum of engagement, from simply using existing resources to leading and shaping the talent pipeline itself. We will cover free, do-it-this-week practices like skills-based hiring, along with higher-impact opportunities such as hosting interns, bringing real business challenges into classrooms, and joining the boards and partnerships that keep the system aligned to employer needs.

You will walk away with a clear picture of the system, a sense of where you can plug in, and a concrete next step that aligns with your business’s current stage.

About Abby

Abby Ault is the Founder and Principal Consultant of Innovate Work Consulting, a Northern Colorado firm specializing in workforce development, strategic facilitation, and talent pipeline program capacity building. She brings more than fifteen years of experience helping employers, educators, and workforce partners build systems that connect people to good jobs and connect businesses to the talent they need. 

Abby’s career spans national and Colorado-based workforce initiatives. She previously served as a Project Deputy Director and Senior Technical Assistance Consultant at the American Institutes for Research, leading work on a U.S. Department of Labor contract, and has held senior roles supporting Colorado’s workforce ecosystem. She is an experienced facilitator of sector partnership and Talent Pipeline Management strategies and holds an Everything DiSC Certified Practitioner credential. In addition to workforce systems development, Abby helps organizations build stronger talent strategies and more effective teams.

Abby lives in Loveland, Colorado, where she runs her consulting practice.

Join us for a practical introduction to the workforce development system and how your business can begin using it more effectively.