Our model · Innovation with evidence
Workforce Development That Builds Skills and Social Capital
Telling someone to network is a starting point. Giving them a place to practice, receive feedback, and build trust turns that advice into something they can use.
re:WORK TRAINING connects career learning with opportunities to put it into practice. The Go To Market Career Academy brings a sales strategy to the job search. The community gives learners people to learn from and engage with. MissionXP helps organize the learning and activity behind the process.
That combination is central to our approach to workforce development: build capability and create opportunities for professional relationships to grow alongside it.
Watch: a professional community in practice
Read the video transcript
Hey, y'all. My name is Audra Duren, and I am the social impact lead for Chicago at LinkedIn. re:WORK TRAINING is one of our signature partners, and what that means is that we help them incorporate LinkedIn trainings into their curriculum so that their participants can use LinkedIn platform to
the top of its capabilities. Because re:WORK has done such an amazing job of already teaching participants of how to leverage it appropriately, we're going to be focusing on mock interviews with re:WORK participants. So our coaches on the LinkedIn side are going to be walking through
a mock cold call, giving feedback, providing coaching, and just overall networking with somebody who works at LinkedIn.
Make access something people can practice
Professional networks can carry information, context, and introductions that are difficult to obtain from a job posting alone. A learner still needs to know how to prepare, ask a useful question, and follow up respectfully.
In the video, Audra describes professionals helping with mock interviews, a mock cold call, and feedback. Those activities create a specific reason for a candidate and a professional to interact. The candidate gets practice; the professional gets an opportunity to understand the person’s strengths and development needs.
Trust does not come from a contact count. It grows through the quality of those interactions and what people do afterward.
Use technology to support the work between conversations
We built MissionXP to support learning, missions, and the activity behind a career strategy. It gives our approach a place to connect preparation with action and records that can inform program and partner reporting.
AI can be useful for organizing research, rehearsing communication, and developing a first draft. It should support a learner’s judgment rather than stand in for it. Facts still need checking, messages need to reflect the person sending them, and private information needs care.
The purpose of the tool is practical: help people prepare, act, reflect, and keep moving. A platform alone does not create a trusted relationship or guarantee an opportunity.
Let participation strengthen the community
As learners practice outreach, they can introduce more professionals to re:WORK. Alumni can return as mentors, community members, or supporters. Volunteers may bring colleagues into the work. Each contribution can create another opportunity for someone to practice and learn.
This is the community growth cycle behind the model. It is also a direction for sustainable growth: use shared learning and a wider network to reach more people. Lower costs per learner or faster outcomes should be demonstrated with data as the program grows, rather than assumed.
Keep the evidence as clear as the ambition
Activity, relationships, and employment outcomes answer different questions. A completed mission shows a learner did a piece of work. A practice conversation records an interaction. A documented hire or promotion records a career event. Those measures should not be treated as interchangeable.
Our Innovation & Evidence page explains current public measures, including the distinction between outcome records and unique people. It also describes limitations in the underlying records.
This article introduces the model. For a fuller collection of community perspectives and videos, explore Bridging the Network Gap. The work is strongest when the story, the experience, and the evidence can be read together.