Work For America to Open Application Period for Next Talent Accelerator Cohort

Earlier this year, Work for America (WFA) launched its Talent Accelerator program, a free virtual workshop designed to help city HR and operations teams enhance how hiring works inside their organizations.

The program’s first cohort took part in an eight-week virtual workshop, entitled Transforming City Hiring Processes, where participants mapped their end-to-end hiring processes, identified where delays occurred and built a concrete plan to cut time-to-hire.

On July 27, WFA will begin accepting applications for the second cohort of its Talent Accelerator program. This workshop, Data-Driven Hiring for Cities, is a free, eight-week, virtual cohort-based “sprint” designed to offer practical tools and peer support to city HR and operational leaders who are ready to build data-based hiring process improvements, according to WFA.

The cohort will include a small group of cities participating in weekly facilitated, structured cohort sessions, one-on-one coaching sessions and opportunities for peer exchange. Each city will complete a final presentation summarizing their hiring performance findings and proposed improvements.

Over the workshop’s eight sessions, participating cities “will uncover opportunities to use evidence more effectively to improve hiring outcomes by examining how data is collected, managed and used across their hiring process. At the workshop’s conclusion, WFA said, each city taking part will have:

• Defined priority hiring metrics
• An understanding of reliability of hiring data and baseline performance
• A prioritized set of practical data practice improvements to address challenges
• A brief for city leadership outlining findings and recommended next steps
• Connections with peer HR and operations leaders facing similar challenges

WFA will also host information sessions on July 29 and August 26 for anyone interested in learning more about the program or the application process. Cities interested in participating in the fall cohort can apply here.