The Burning Glass Institute’s recent report lays bare a growing crisis in our workforce system: while over 1.1 million credentials are now available in the U.S., only a small fraction deliver the outcomes job seekers are promised. According to the report, just 12% of credentials result in significant wage gains, and even fewer lead to upward mobility or successful career transitions.
That means far too many learners—especially young adults and those from underrepresented communities—are investing time, money, and hope into programs that don’t deliver. The emotional and economic cost of that disillusionment is real. And while we continue to push credentials as a streamlined path to opportunity, the outcomes tell a different story.
At Social Capital Builders, we believe the solution isn’t to abandon credentials—it’s to restructure how and when we introduce them. In our work across youth and workforce development programs, we’ve seen that when job seekers are connected to industry stakeholders early on, everything changes.
- They gain clarity on which credentials actually matter to employers.
- They become more motivated and committed to completing training that leads somewhere.
- And most importantly, they have someone who can help them put that credential to work—whether by validating it, recommending it, or referring them to real opportunities.
This is why we advocate for a simple but powerful shift in strategy: connection before credential.
Building Social Capital into the Front End
Social capital—the quality connections a person has to people, institutions, and opportunities—is not a nice-to-have. It’s a critical factor in workforce success. Unfortunately, most programs treat social capital-building as an afterthought, if they include it at all. They focus heavily on skill development and credential attainment, but neglect the equally vital process of helping participants connect to people who matter in the labor market.
True social capital programming helps job seekers:
- Understand what social capital is and why it matters (social capital literacy)
- Analyze their existing networks (social network analysis)
- Strategically build and maintain new relationships with industry stakeholders both inside and outside of their communities
This approach doesn’t rely on chance encounters or luck. It builds a system where job seekers are socially embedded in the industries they want to enter—making credentialing efforts far more likely to lead to economic mobility.
Tackling the Real Problem: Opportunity and Access
The real challenge we face isn’t a shortage of training programs. It’s a shortage of access to opportunity. And opportunity—real, lasting, transformative opportunity—doesn’t live in a certificate. It lives in relationships.
If we want to close equity gaps, improve credential ROI, and build stronger pathways to employment, we must combine rigorous credential evaluation with intentional social capital strategies. That means structuring workforce programs to measure not just skills and certifications, but also access, relationships, and activation.