This employer engagement guidebook has been developed for the inaugural and future cohorts of the Lab’s Community College Growth Engine Fund (CCGEF or the Fund, for short). The first of its kind, the Fund supports a national cohort of community colleges and systems, in partnership with employers and regional stakeholders, to create new earn-and-learn pathways to economic mobility—over the course of four years, the Fund will test and scale micro-pathways with learners and employers.

Prior to, or at the start of, moving forward with the design of micro-pathways, we recommend that institutions explore their current employer relationships. The Lab has devised an Employer Engagement Matrix plotting tool to facilitate this process. Upon reflecting on the current state of employer relationships, your institution may identify both gaps in the breadth of employer relationships and opportunities for deepening existing relationships. The remainder of this guidebook lays out a series of steps to bring more employers to the table, as well as how to identify which relationships are candidates for deepening and how to go about it.