Closing the jobs awareness gap
Impact Stories
June 29, 2022 – Future of Work

Closing the jobs awareness gap

Share

By Roy Spence

In the United States, every generation is called to do whatever it takes to leave the next generation with a country that is safer, stronger, and more united. These days, it can certainly feel like we are on the path to not living up to that calling.

At a moment when Americans seem to disagree about everything, is there any issue on which we can come together? 

Welcome to the MakeItMovement.org. We deeply believe that there is one thing that unites all of us, and that thing is right in front of us. We can’t see it because politics, not purpose, is driving the issues of the day, but it is there. The one thing that unites every parent and grandparent, regardless of politics, is that we all want our children and grandchildren to be successful — personally, professionally, and financially. 

But too many parents and grandparents — not to mention students — also worry that this future success isn’t possible. They wonder: Is the American Dream still alive? 

Yes, it is. In fact, the American Dream is more alive and possible for young Americans from all walks of life than ever before. That’s because for the first time in U.S. history, we have a massive surplus of high-skill/high-income careers open right now where millions of young Americans can make $50,000 to $100,000 by the time they are 20 or 22 years old, doing what they love to do. The problem is they have no idea that these careers even exist. 

Why not?

Because we never told them. Americans: we have a problem. We have a jobs awareness gap. 

That’s where MakeItMovement.org comes in. Our purpose is to use marketing and the power of awareness as a force for good to support school counselors, teachers, and parents helping students discover their purpose and talents while they are still in middle and high school. Using a fun and interactive platform, students are connected to a whole new world of high-skill/high-income careers that they didn’t know about. Watching students, we have found that when they discover these careers, they are blown away. 

And now, we have the experience and data to know that for sure. 

For more than a year, with the enthusiastic support of public school superintendents, teachers, school counselors, and parents in Austin and central Texas, we have used digital tools and event marketing to reach thousands of middle and high school students. Our data shows that because of the positive marketing impact, students are now much more confident that there is a high-skill/high-income path for them to use their talents to make a good living after high school.    

The MakeItMovement.org is on a mission to scale in the fall of 2022 all over Texas and then all over the United States in 2023. So if you believe that most of the country’s problems can be solved if the next generation of Americans respects the dignity of all work and has the chance to build a great living and life doing what they love to do and are good at, we agree.

Let’s band together around purpose, not status-quo; around the one issue all Americans actually deeply believe in: that we want our children and grandchildren to be successful personally, professionally, and financially. When we do, we will have at least tried to live up to our duty to leave the next generation with a real opportunity to make a good living and a good life in this country. 

We are the MakeItMovement.org. Please join us. We’ve got work to do.

Roy Spence is founder of The Make It Movement. He also is co-founder and chairman of GSD&M, a leading marketing communications and advertising company, and co-founder and CEO of The Purpose Institute, a consulting firm that helps people and organizations discover and live their purpose.

This viewpoint is part of an ongoing series, Driving Transformation. In this series, we amplify the voices of a diverse group of scholars, nonprofit leaders, and advocates who offer unique perspectives on the intersection of work and learning.