Measuring Training Outcomes That Matter: Beyond Completion Rates
Grant funding is available to help workforce development programs grow. But accessing these opportunities can depend on something that’s difficult to do—crafting a compelling story that matters. This is a common challenge in both workforce development and for nonprofit programs as a whole: how to showcase measurable long-term impact with data that matters to funders, partners, community leaders, and program participants.
Additionally, in workforce development, completion rates are often used to show a training program’s success. This metric is simple to track and report, and most funders require it from their program partners. However, as training programs and funders respond to a dynamic labor market and the growing challenges that job seekers face, completion rates alone do not tell a robust workforce development story. Programs that want to show a more meaningful long-term impact need to find ways to track, understand, and relay more complex program metrics.
Choosing Training Program Metrics That Show Impact
The reality is that when a job seeker completes a career training program that does not always lead to an immediate job offer—let alone one that offers sustainable, long-term growth. It’s time to go beyond completion rates and start measuring key metrics, including long-term employment, career progression, and community impact.
There are many challenges that hold individuals back from securing a job after finishing their training program. Today, job seekers face the rising cost of transportation, housing, childcare, and healthcare, which can serve as a barrier to finding and keeping a job. Other people may struggle to find relevant employment opportunities due to a lack of professional connections in the field. In addition, securing a job offer does not always translate into a sustainable career with the upskilling opportunities needed to advance. Finally, many local job opportunities do not pay a wage that is required to live and support a family in the area.
These are just some of the challenges job seekers face. Training programs that are only measuring success by the number of people trained without identifying and helping reduce barriers to long-term employment are leaving some job seekers behind. In contrast, programs that focus on more than just completion rates have a chance to tell a more powerful success story—if they collect and understand the right data to do so.
To paint a fuller picture of your training program’s impact, consider tracking these key metrics:
- Job Placements within Relevant Fields – Are graduates getting jobs that match their training? Training programs that partner with employers and other workforce development players should ensure that they can show their impact on relevant industries and employer needs.
- Employee Retention and Advancement – Do program graduates stay employed for 6 months or longer? Do they have clear career pathways that include advancing into higher-paying positions with more responsibility? Capturing the sustainability and opportunity for advancement shows the relevancy and long-term value of the training program.
- Wage Growth Over Time – What is the difference between participants’ wage pre-and post-training? How does their post-training wage increase over 1, 2, 3+ years? Tracking the long-term economic impacts of workforce development shows its wider influence on the participant and local community.
- Employer and Employee Satisfaction – How do employers rate the performance and preparedness of program graduates? How prepared do graduates feel to meet the demands of the job? Metrics like this help to build a strong case for future employer partners to participate.
How To Simplify The Data Collection Process
If collecting and analyzing long-term data sets like these seems overwhelming, here are a few simple ways to begin:
- Survey program graduates at regular intervals (3, 6, 12 months) to track job placement, wage, and satisfaction data. Use mobile-friendly tools that make it easy for graduates to respond and secure for your team to collect the data.
- Compare it with public data to show impact, including state wages, industry outlooks, and unemployment records.
- Collaborate effectively with employers to gather qualitative and quantitative information on graduate performance from the tools these partners already use. When possible, automate data sharing to simplify it for employers and training program staff.
- Invest in a platform with secure data collection, storage, analysis, and reporting tools to allow you to track and measure program outcomes over time.
Letting Data Tell Your Full Story to Funders and Employer Partners
Workforce development funders want to invest in measurable impact, not just activity. Smart employers are showing the real-world impact of their programs through metrics like job placements, wage gains, and career mobility. By investing the time and resources to track and measure long-term outcomes laced with storytelling, these programs help funders better understand their return on investment—in human potential and economic sustainability.
To attract new employer partners, training programs must show that their graduates are job ready. Today, that may mean more than job skills, with more employers looking for talent with the soft skills to lead and grow. This includes critical thinking and communication. Technology skills gaps are also growing in more industries, with job seekers of all ages and skill levels needing more tech skills than ever to succeed in their career pathway. When training programs can show the success of their graduates in their fields and on-the-job, it makes partnering with them an easy “yes.”
Across the country, career training programs are doing work that transforms lives and communities. They are partnering with employers to co-develop training programs that provide job seekers with the skills and experience they need to secure high-paying jobs in growing industries. By tracking both short-term and long-term outcomes, identifying challenges to career success, and understanding the data that matters to funders and partners, they can better prove their impact. And when programs combine that data with personal stories of success, they paint a more compelling picture for funders and employer partners.
At CareerEquity, we help workforce programs measure what really matters. If you’re ready to go beyond completion rates and tell a story that funders and employers can’t ignore, we’d love to talk.
